Here are my thoughts on the QB prospects that i watched:
(Rated on a scale from 1.0 to 8.0 with 1 being a no brainer number 1 overall pick and 8 being an undrafted free agent)
Elite Franchise Starters:
…Sorry Panthers, Texans, Colts, Falcons, Lions, and Raiders. This bucket is empty for 2023. Better luck next year.
Day 1 Starters:
C.J. Stroud Ohio State RSO Height: 6'3" Weight: 218
Rating: 1.25
Mobile with a good arm. Good to great but short of exceptional in almost everything except maybe pocket awareness. Accuracy, processing, arm strength: he’s solid and has hot streaks where he’s even better than that. Occasionally gets caught not feeling the blitz quick enough. Is this what Daniel Jones would have looked like in an elite college program?.. That comment isn’t as disrespectful as you think. Not coming from me at least. I liked Jones coming out. Admittedly, taking him at 6 overall was a massive gamble, but i never understood the people that had him outside of the top 100. He was a fringe first round pick with starter potential. If you have a need and you like the guy, draft him wherever it takes.
Stroud grades out higher than Jones for sure, but a sliver of me wonders if we’re being tricked by the talent advantages at OSU.
Stroud’s performance against Georgia in the college playoffs seems to indicate he belongs as a top tier prospect. If he can leverage that performance to the standard of how well he plays, watch out. I think he’ll be good but his lack of elite skills in any one trait has me thinking his CEILING might be Dak Prescott-esque to where he eventually cracks the top ten on NFL QB ratings lists but also has stretches where people wonder how good is he really?
Bryce Young Alabama JR Height: 6'0" Weight: 194 Rating: 1.4
Elusive but not dangerous with the ball in his hands. If you’re not tired already of people wondering whether his slight frame will hurt his NFL career, you will be by next week. Is this what short, skinny Joe Burrow would look like?..with less consistent accuracy.. and processing. Ok fine, so Burrow isn’t a great comp. But what popped Burrow into my mind watching him was Young’s pocket movement. The accuracy is there.. sometimes. Then he’ll go through stretches where receivers are making adjustments on the ball or he tries to go deep and the precision just isn’t there. The processing is fine, but not elite. But the way he slithers around the pocket and almost always knows when and where to move without dropping his eyes.. THAT’s his superpower. I’d even put him ahead of Burrow in that category. Burrow is a better rusher than Young though. People like to bring up Kyler Murray because Young is small and the agility is there, but Young doesn’t appear to have that extra gear as a runner. He looks like he’s jogging when he gets downfield. Maybe it’s just deceiving because he’s smooth, but i think he lacks high end speed. You can see it when defenders pursue him out of the pocket. He’ll try to juke and if the defender doesn’t fall for the fake and just crashes in for the tackle Young doesn’t quite have the burst to get away. Watch, he won’t run a 40 before the draft (I actually wrote that statement three months ago. Guess what, he didn’t run).
So what is Young as a pro prospect? He’s entering the league at a time when the memory of Drew Brees is fading, Kyler Murray is continuing to rack up injuries annually and Russel Wilson and Baker Mayfield have fallen from the ranks of top QB’s. Pundits are starting to resurrect the old barriers that used to limit opportunities for small QB’s as long term starters. Fortunately for him the supply on QB’s is still low and by my count 10 to 12 teams are thirsty for young franchise talent (tack on another 10 teams to that if you’re really being honest). Add it all up, Young appears to be a talented player with high end character. I don’t think he’s a slam dunk to go high, but he’ll likely go top 5. In a stronger class i’d say he’d fall down somewhere closer to the middle of the first round. Comparing him directly to Stroud you might think the electric pocket presence would give him the edge, but my concerns about his athleticism and size knock him down a notch and Stroud gets the nod as the safer bet. Young has a slightly higher ceiling but the chances that he achieves peak performance are lower.
Developmental Starter:
Anthony Richardson Florida RSO Height: 6'3" Weight: 236 Rating 1.5
Moves well inside and outside the pocket. Agile enough to evade and fast enough to escape. Uses greasy fast speed to break long runs regularly.
Mediocre processing. Sporadic accuracy. Hits at all levels, but misses badly too. He isn’t ready. Like i said above, if you believe in a quarterback take him wherever you think you need to to get him. Think Richardson will go top 5? Fine, go get him, but patience is the key. Do something different than every other team that drafts a QB high. Start him in his rookie year.. but only enough for him to get a taste to know what he doesn’t know. Let him learn the league. Learn defensive schemes. Figure out his life.
Give in to the hype and the pressure to go all in right away and i don’t think you’re maxing out his potential. Richardson is the X factor in this class. Someone will drool over his athletic traits and snatch him up.
Backup Fodder:
Stetson Bennett Georgia RSR Height: 5'11" Weight: 190 Rating 3.4
The fourth annual Tyler Huntley Memorial award goes to.. Stetson Bennett?? It seems weird to give an award for being the most underrated QB prospect of the year to a guy that just won back to back national titles, but here we are. I really didn’t expect to like this guy going into this and in a lot of ways i still don’t.. usually i’m smitten with the winner of the THMA. It typically goes to a player that i want on my team that i think has an outside chance have a moment in the league. Bennett doesn’t cross those thresholds for me the way others have in the past like Bailey Zappe or the original man himself, Mr. Huntley.
Is it because Bennett is following in the footsteps of Jake Fromm and we expect the same not-really-pro-caliber outlook? Is it the sloppy recent public intoxication arrest? Maybe it is just because his name is Stetson Bennett and i can only picture him cruising around late at night with his bros Hunter and Truman making cringey mischief (Actually..not too far off. See TMZ).
No, Bennett doesn’t really profile as a likable prospect that i can get behind and i don’t really think he has high end potential, but watching him play there are pro caliber traits. He doesn’t seem to be getting the time of day from draft analysts, but is he really that different than Mac Jones? Low ceiling, 16-20 tier starter at best but probably a solid backup. Cerebral, good instincts. Doesn’t have a cannon for an arm. Isn’t going to throw with laser precision. But he’ll move around a little bit and make a good smart play with the ball. Jones and Kenny Picket got first round nods and chances to start. I wouldn’t advise a team to go that direction with Bennett but i like the idea of him coming in for a few weeks when your starter goes down and playing well enough to not sink your season. This is way rich compared to other rankings I’ve seen. Sorry, i don’t like it either, but he’s just better than the rest of the class.
Will Levis Kentucky RSr Height: 6'3" Weight: 232 Rating 3.5
Rugged muscle bound dude with a cannon arm. Intangibles supposedly off the charts. I’ve heard him knocked for his muscularity and inability to make finesse throws in a Tim Tebow sort of way. He looked fine on short to intermediate throws to me. He’s not going to throw it through a key hole but he does alright and even feathers a ball over coverage every once in a while. Although, if he’s going to throw a deep ball the dude is going to have to be WIDE open. If he has any long range accuracy i didn’t see evidence of it in the games i watched. Granted, Kentucky was pretty run heavy and focused more on short range passing. His pocket awareness is mediocre at best. He’ll slide around to avoid pressure occasionally, but i also saw him get earholed NOT from the blind side a couple times where he just didn’t read or feel the pressure and an edge guy lit him up. I don’t think his processing is quite where it needs to be either. Some guys just have that sixth sense where they know when and where to let it rip (and more importantly when not to pull the trigger). Levis is not one of those guys. He’s getting lumped into a big four in this class but i don’t think a team should sign up for him as plan A. Need a backup that might get an impromptu chance to start and surprise us?.. I think he’s a good option. Anything more aspirational than that and i’m worried.
Jaren Hall BYU JR Height: 6'1" Weight: 209 Rating 4.3
THMA honorable mention. Jaren Hall was robbed! The media is outraged! Hall profiles closer to what usually sucks me in as an underrated QB prospect that i’m rooting for with a decent chance to surprise people.
He’s tall enough. His arm is ok. His instincts are ok. Mobility seems to be trending up as a prerequisite to excel at the position and he has that.. Not the elite game breaking variety, but he can keep a defense honest, keep plays alive, and pick up some first downs. What sets him apart from the athletic quarterbacks ranked lower is his potential with the more typical IT traits for QB prospects. Processing, pocket awareness, accuracy.. Hall doesn’t wow on any of those fronts but he flashes. There are shreds of ability there that i think can develop where other guys i don’t see much hope.
Probably only a Backup:
Hendon Hooker Tennessee RSR Height: 6'4" Weight: 218 Rating: 4.9
Quick, nice running skills. Navigates through traffic and upfield for 5 to 7 yards with ease. Scattershot accuracy. Only accurate within 15 yards and loses way too much ability to locate the ball when someone’s in his face. Torn ACL late in the year. Likes to sit in the pocket and stay calm.. but gets rocked now and then because of it. He has backup potential on his running ability alone. Not hopeless as a passer but has to find some accuracy somewhere. Really simple offense with a lot of slants and crossers. Decision making is ok but i’m not confident he’ll make the the hard throws. He seems to have the leadership skills and the demeanor you want, but tragic flaws facing blitz pressure and throwing downfield just can’t be ignored.
Jake Haener Fresno State RSR Height: 6'0" Weight: 195 Rating 5.3
Smart and accurate on short to intermediate throws. Not a gifted runner, but not a statue. Limited deep ball.
Clayton Tune Houston SR Height: 6'3" Weight: 220 Rating 5.6
Looks like a tank in the pocket. Moves like one too, but if he gets rolling into the second level he’s a headache for defenders breaking tackles and flashing surprising speed. It’s like driving as Bowser in Mario Kart. No acceleration, but if he gets up to speed watch out. Not a standout thrower on any level, but flashes enough to take on as a development project.
Tanner McKee Stanford JR Height: 6'6" Weight: 226 Rating 5.8
6’6” and not a stiff. There should be room for him on someone’s roster. Not ready to be a qb2 yet. Makes quick decisions. Delivers the ball consistently but often a foot or so underthrown creating more contested ball situations than need be. Offense doesn’t ask a lot. A lot of quick game in their offense so it’s difficult to tell what you really have but he’s worth a roster stash.
Practice Squad All-Stars:
Max Duggan TCU SR Height: 6'2" Weight: 210 Rating 6.4
Has enough running ability to intrigue some ambitious GM. YOLO magician throwing the ball downfield.. but more like the sad kind that does kids’ parties, not the David Copperfield T.V. special kind. Takes too many risks and gets burned in college. I can only imagine what will happen against pro DB’s if he doesn’t reign it in.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson UCLA RSR Height: 6'1" Weight: 205 Rating 6.9
Good command. Decent runner. Needs to develop as a passer. Pummels short to intermediate routs. Not much of a downfield threat.
Adrian Martinez Kansas State SR Height: 6'3" Weight: 225 Rating 7.8
Has an it factor. Good frame. Nice urgency. Almost no downfield throwing abilities. It feels like i said that ten times up above. Apologies to the Martinez family..he makes those other guys look like Justin Herbert throwing it long.
XFL or Bust:
Malik CunninghamLouisville RSR Height: 6'1" Weight: 200 Rating 8+
Position change? Classic college QB. Good runner. Slings the ball, but not really in a good way.
Tanner Morgan Minnesota RSR Height: 6'2" Weight: 216 Rating 8+
Looks a little bit like Matt Ryan and even wears number 2. Plays a little bit like him too but more like the late career version. Lots of RPO’s but a lot more R’s than P and when he keeps it it’s a short to intermediate slant which he throws just okay. Not much threat to run or throw deep or escape pressure.
Aidan O'Connell Purdue RSR Height: 6'3" Weight: 210 Rating 8+
Lumbering pocket passer. Sitting duck. Makes some throws but doesn’t have nearly enough pocket mobility or processing power to make up for his lack of athleticism.
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