Mason Rudolph - Grade 75
This is the best quarterback of the class. Throws a really
nice ball. What I really like about him is his pocket presence and ability to
extend plays. He has prototypical size at 6’5” 230 for the quarterback
position. The most obvious comparison is Ben Roethlisberger. He has more polish
to him than Big Ben. Ben has lousy footwork and he never really learned to have
a smooth drop. Rudolph has a nice drop. Not as much arm strength as a Big Ben
but he is a sure-fire playmaker that gets a knock for playing in the no defense
Big 12. The reason the smart teams are scouting him is because he’s the best QB
of the class. Don’t listen to the media. Fake news.
LaMar Jackson - Grade 71
What I like about LaMar Jackson is that he improved his
completion percentage every year. He has plus arm strength and plus
athleticism. This quarterback has the highest ceiling of the class, because of
the athletic ability and to take a broken play to the house, or extend it and
find a man downfield. He’ll get knocks for his accuracy but what your job is to
put him in a scheme that highlight his traits to get the most out of him. This
would be a West Coast/Spread/RPO/Read option system. He can use his legs and
the short and intermediate pass game to make first downs and put him in manageable
3rd down situations. Too often this season he was not in manageable
situations and the talent around him sucked. This is a guy where you want to
get him to 3rd & 4 where he can throw it short, hand it to the
RB (i.e. SaQuon Barkley), or keep it and run for the first down. If we’re
short, we’ll go for it on 4th down. Whereas Aaron Rodgers if you
throw the ball four times you’ll get ten yards every time, with Jackson, if you
have this run first manageable 3rd down situations mentality with
him at the helm you’ll make the first down every time. Honestly, who is
stopping Jackson and Barkley tandem on 4th & short. No one. The comparison
on him is Randall Cunningham because of the loose arm action with great arm
strength and the freakish athleticism that makes you go wow.
Josh Rosen - Grade 69
The thing about Rosen is he doesn’t do anything great but he
doesn’t have any true weaknesses. He’s just above average and solid across the
board. For that, I envision he will fall on draft day. I want my QB to have
bravado and I’m not sure what the big deal is with him. I guess it doesn’t come
off that well because you got Mayfield who is worse but since he was a walk-on
and his parents aren’t doctors it’s like a plus and you call it passion. I don’t
know. What I’m looking here with Rosen is a Matt Ryan type. This is a solid,
safe selection and you know you have a franchise quarterback. It’s not going to
be a home run by any means but there’s nothing like ending up on third base. He’s
above average across the board and if you surround him with talent he might end
up getting you a ring before it’s all said and done.
Josh Allen - Grade 63
The best tools in the box for Josh Allen would be his pocket
presence and arm strength. He has some decent mobility and is pretty good at
extending plays and he has the arm strength to make difficult throws on the
run. He’s almost at his best when he’s in trouble and then rolls either way and
slings in 40 yards downfield. Maybe just don’t block for him and then let
himself get out of it. He throws flat footed and sometimes treats the drop as
something that you’re supposed to do not something that builds up arm strength.
His best throws come from outside the pocket. What I think he needs to work on
is to clean up the footwork from inside the pocket and a good QB coach will be
able to handle that. His velocity is considerably down from inside the pocket
and if he throws with timing then it should actually be higher if he’s using
his weight properly. I always thought he was boom or bust but I’ll put his
floor at Ryan Tannehill and his ceiling at Philip Rivers. Rivers is like top
20. He’s got a flashy arm but unless he starts maximizing the potential there
he’ll just be your average top 20 QB at the next level.
Baker Mayfield - Grade 60
Baker is the most accurate QB in this draft class but Baker’s
got some problems going into the next level. In terms of production, Baker was
the most productive quarterback but going from the Big 12 to NFL defenses is like
night and day. Rudolph won’t have that same problem because he has the size, escapability,
and footwork. Projecting Baker to the next level, he has average athleticism, size,
and arm strength. That’s a shame, because I think this is a really talented
football player. You think he has this crazy athleticism but then you see he’s
a mid 4.8’s in the 40 and realize that the Big 12 is just that awful when it
comes to producing talent. Maybe his skills will play if you put him in the
right system. He needs a West Coast type system and I think you’ll have to give
up the RPO spread type system with him at the next level. The EDGE rushers are
just too athletic. He is going to have to get the ball out fast and use his
accuracy in the West Coast system to hit guys underneath in that timing system.
The comparison on him is Jeff Garcia. You have to remember with Garcia he did
well in San Francisco and Tampa Bay in those schemes but with the Browns and a
spread system he was released some 10 games into a 5 years contract. I love his
passion and bravado but he’s just a few tools short in the tool box. Unless
they cater to his skillset. Not his perceived skillset.
Sam Darnold - Grade 58
Here he is. My man Sam. Sam Darnold is the beneficiary of a
few good games as a Freshman and rode the wave all the way to finding himself
picked in the top five. Excuse after excuse is given for this man and I’ll
never understand why. Once the media gets ahold of a Freshman that performs
well they never let go. It’s this notion that if he is doing this at this stage
of his career than what can he become going forward. The first problem with
Darnold is a below average arm strength. The weakest arm out of these QBs. You
watch the film and the ball just takes forever to get there. His second problem
is the inconsistency. He’ll throw balls on the money and then he’ll overthrow
the WR by five yards. He has poor pocket presence. You blame the OL but yanno
Sam if you audible or go hot or change the play and not hold the ball for so
long then you won’t get sacked. It’s never a Sam Darnold problem since he was anointed
the chosen one by the media since his Freshman season. It’s he has no blocking,
he has poor coaching, and the problem is Sam Darnold. When I look at a
quarterback, one of the most valuable traits is his decision-making and Darnold
just doesn’t have a good combination of thinking he can make throws with his
below average arm strength. I watch DB highlights and I keep seeing Sam Darnold
INT’s. I watch Sam Darnold highlights and I’m like that ball is picked. In the
NFL, that’s an INT. What else do I got with this guy, average athleticism. He
extended plays at the college level but that’s not gonna play in the NFL. I got
this guy as an Andy Dalton. He is just an average across the board. The
difference between him and Rosen is Rosen is above average across the board.
They’ll call that polish and you could see that in the USC-UCLA game. The fact
that Darnold finds himself rated ahead of Rosen is perplexing. When Sam Darnold
goes top five, he’ll be one of the biggest busts in NFL history.
