Kyler Murray - 2019 NFL Draft Scouting Report

I always enjoy looking at the obvious outliers of the NFL Draft. As a little guy, I especially love when there are size concerns involving a prospect. This year may be the most enjoyable example as we get to look at Oklahoma Center Fielder and sometimes Quarterback, Kyler Murray. I did watch a decent amount of Oklahoma this year, but I didn't really think Murray would forego the guaranteed money he had coming from the Oakland Athletics to take a stab at the NFL. But the guy just kept producing big games, and now he is projected to be a first round pick and possibly the first quarterback taken. I took a closer look at his games against Alabama, West Virginia, and Baylor.

My first note on Kyler Murray was "He be fast." I wrote that because, as this play shows, he do be fast.

There are mobile quarterbacks, and there are generational athletes, and Murray looks like he might be a part of that latter category. There is the chance that he tests in the Michael Vick range during the combine, and that is going to force some teams to think long and hard about the former Sooner.

Murray knows he is fast (it's kind of hard not to notice that about oneself), and the confidence in his athleticism helps so he can keep his eyes downfield as he escapes pressure.

Here, he feels the pressure coming from his left, and starts jogging to his right, sprints, and then goes back to a job as defenders close in on him to complete a pass near the first down marker.

Here is some very impressive patience from Murray.

This looks like an absolute nothing play. It's an incompletion where Murray never really moves, but I LOVE that he doesn't move. He recognizes that his offensive line has created a clean pocket against a three-man rush, and he is totally safe to just hang out and wait for someone to get open. It's tough to tell from the camera angle, but it appears that his receiver may have given up on the route a little bit, but Murray may have overthrown it either way. Still, I love that there is no panic in his process.

This play also shows that patience from Murray, although he does move around a little more on this play.

The reason I wanted to show this is that this play is on fourth down in the fourth quarter of a game that would determine who makes the Big 12 Championship game. Everything is riding on this play, and Murray just waits, directs traffic, scrambles out, waits, directs traffic again, and fires the ball to his receiver breaking towards the sideline. The throw is low, but the receiver does a good job of still making the play and helped ice the game for the Sooners.

As you may have guessed, Kyler Murray is really good at throwing on the move.

On this throw, he looks like a baseball player throwing it, and maybe baseball will help him to throw accurately with different footwork. It's not traditional, but it sure looks effective.

I mentioned his patience earlier, and here he does a great job of scanning the field before making another great throw.

He starts off looking to his left before moving back to the center, and then gives a quick look to his checkdown receiver before going back over the middle for a touchdown. And he recognizes that his offensive line has their blocks taken care of, so outside of bouncing on his feet, he doesn't move from his initial drop.

Another fourth down where Murray calmly executes the play and makes a nice throw.

He is very good on back shoulder throws as I saw him consistently beat teams with this type of throw.

As much good as there is with Murray, he is not a perfect prospect. Here is a very bad throw where he fails to read the coverage properly.

He manages to miss both a guy undercutting the route on the right and a guy undercutting the route on the left as either guy had a better shot at the ball than his receiver, and it's an easy interception for the defense.

I saw enough on tape to make me concerned on his ability to read zone coverage.

Here, he starts looking to his left, but switches to his tight end running over the middle and gets tunnel vision. The tight end has a step on his immediate defender, but there are three defenders in teh area, and he's lucky that this pass does not get picked off. Murray likely didn't see a ton of great defenses this year, so seeing how he handles different coverages will be the biggest key to his future success.

So now it's time to talk about size, and I will be curious how Kyler Murray measures out when it comes to hand size.

I did see some unforced or lightly forced fumbles that are a slight concern. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but any quarterback who loses an extra four or five balls without throwing it is something to keep in mind.

As for the height issue, I didn't see a lot of batted down balls, and he didn't seem to have trouble scanning the field, so I'm of the belief that if it didn't show up on tape, it probably isn't a major concern. The other thing that has been brought up is that he looks slight of frame, and that has to be a bit of a concern, because it doesn't matter how good of a player he is if he can't stay healthy. From what I saw, he looked good at not taking big hits. It's the difference between Russell Wilson's health and RG3's. Wilson knows how to minimize the impact of hits where RG3 took brute force, and Murray's ability to avoid big hits definitely resembles Wilson. Still, Wilson is pretty damn thick compared to Murray so it still has to be somewhat of a concern, but he's shown as much as you can outside of adding 30 pounds on his frame to make you think that he knows how to stay healthy while playing a violent sport.

As a fellow small guy, I always cheer for the undersized. I have also noticed that it usually gets blown out of proportion. Kyler Murray is short for a quarterback, but so was Baker Mayfield last year, and although Murray is shorter, there is nothing that he did on the field to make this nearly as big of a concern as it's being made out to be. Right now, it seems like it is between Murray and Dwayne Haskins for the top quarterback in the draft, and in that scenario, Murray is a slam dunk. I don't think he is the prospect that Baker Mayfield was, but in a weak quarterback class, he is the clear top option.

Previous Scouting Reports:
Noah Fant - Iowa Hawkeyes - Tight End
Dwayne Haskins - Ohio State Buckeyes - Quarterback
TJ Hockenson - Iowa Hawkeyes Tight End
Amani Hooker - Iowa Hawkeyes - Safety
Josh Jacobs - Alabama Crimson Tide - Running Back
Daniel Jones - Duke Blue Devils - Quarterback
Anthony Nelson - Iowa Hawkeyes - Defensive End

Daniel Jones - 2019 NFL Draft Scouting Report

I have to admit, although it was always on my list of things to do, I never actually watched Daniel Jones in his college career. I would even put Duke games on, but it's Duke, so I'd forget about it and start watching WALTER matches on YouTube. The good news with that is I come in completely fresh on the Blue Devil signal caller. I gave him his first real look by watching his games against Clemson, Northwestern, and Miami (psych, that game turned into a monsoon) Virginia.

The first thing that really jumped out at me is that Jones seems to do a good job of quickly going through his progressions.

He looks left initially for the curl route on the outside, but with the linebacker in a zone underneath, he recognizes that he has no chance at that route. He then moves back over the field where his slot receiver is running the dig, and he fires the ball in there for the first down.

Here is another nice example of Jones quickly going through a read and throwing the ball in to his receiver.

It can't be done much better than this. He looks left, doesn't like what he sees, quickly goes to his second receiver which should be wide open as the only two linebackers who would have a chance of stopping the route underneath either bite on the play fake or swing out to cover the running back, so at that point, it's pitch and catch and Jones throws a nice ball for his receiver.

He seems comfortable in the pocket and doesn't unnecessarily panic while going through those progressions.

Anytime you face a team like Clemson, it's very easy to get happy feet, but even with his internal clock probably telling him that he is in danger, he stayed calm and scanned the field before finding his tight end wide open. Another thing I noticed is even when he was under duress, he did a really nice job of keeping his eyes downfield while doing his best to avoid the rush. This gave him the opportunity to make plays even after his protection had broken down, especially since he appeared to be an above average athlete.

Although his technique was usually clean, one thing I saw repeatedly is that he won't finish his dropback before throwing the ball.

He just continues falling backwards while throwing the ball. Obviously, there is pressure in his face, but I saw this multiple times where he would fail to complete his footwork on the initial dropback and just drift backwards while trying to throw the ball which is not a recipe for success. This one is especially egregious as his feet are nearly touching when he releases the ball.

Deep ball accuracy was definitely an issue as I saw more interceptions than completed passes to his own team.

This one is especially bad as he decides to throw this ball deep before the ball is snapped. Virginia has two guys covering him, and there is no possible way of completing this pass. He underthrows the pass, and it is an easy interception for the defense. I saw him throw one great deep ball in the games I watched, but so many times he would over or underthrow his receivers while trying to go down the field. I am somebody who thinks deep ball accuracy is often overblown, but if I was a team considering drafting him, I would have to see better efforts in other games to find proof this won't be an issue at the next level.

I know the completion percentage was below 60% for his career and just above for his final year, but outside of the struggles on deep balls, I would say the majority of that were his receivers letting him down with drops. In the short-to-intermediate game, I don't think accuracy will be an issue.

One other small note is that he took a lot of sacks and had a lot of balls batted down at the line of scrimmage against Clemson. I'm not sure if I can take much from that or just chalk it up to being up against Clemson so he never really had a chance.

Here was his most impressive play.

PUNTING...IS...WINNING.

Daniel Jones checks a lot of boxes. He struggles on deep balls, but he can scan the field and shows good accuracy in the short-to-intermediate routes. He's mobile, he keeps his eyes down field under pressure, has decent accuracy, and yet I still just didn't feel all that impressed with him. It took me until the third game to realize the issue, and I just didn't see him having the guts to force balls into tight spaces. He would throw underneath, even on third downs as opposed to taking risks. The windows only get tighter in the NFL, and considering he wasn't willing to push things in college, I have serious doubts that he can be a successful starting quarterback in the NFL. For me, he's a backup where maybe he can end up as Chase Daniel, plugging along and filling in for a game or two here and there but not somebody you can rely on to win you games. As much as I believe the tape doesn't lie, for Daniel Jones, it's more about what isn't on tape than what is.

Previous Scouting Reports:
Noah Fant - Iowa Hawkeyes - Tight End
Dwayne Haskins - Ohio State Buckeyes - Quarterback
TJ Hockenson - Iowa Hawkeyes Tight End
Josh Jacobs - Alabama Crimson Tide - Running Back

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For all you Dukies who are Jonesing for more content, here is Lukewarm Jonah's take on the Blue Devils signal caller.

Next up on the quarterback scouting table is Daniel Jones.  I actually watched four games instead of three because I just needed to see one more tape session on him.  Let’s start out with Daniel Jones taking on Clemson.   One of the first things I notice is his strong arm.  Jones definitely has a rocket.  He also has good athleticism and makes or extends plays with his legs.  Duke has lots of dropped passes, I wonder what his numbers would have looked like if his guys could catch well.  Jones also throws enough deflections at the line for me to notice, that’s got to get cleaned up at the next level.  Jones had some mixed results under pressure, but man, there was a lot of pressure.  This probably resulted in the heavy amount of shorter throws.  Jones throws pretty well on the move.  He lofts a lot of his deeper passes, which worked against the coverage he was seeing.  One thing I liked is that Jones looks off receivers well.   

Next up we have Daniel Jones playing Temple in their bowl game this year.  Jones shows a nice touch on his deeper throws.  He puts air under them, but the right amount of air for people to run under them and catch them going forward.  The great thing about this game is that his guys catch them and you’re able to see what type of plays can be made when it all comes together.  His best throw is probably his short touchdown where he fits a slant into a tight spot, really between three defenders.  Lot of speed on this ball.  The Temple game was a showcase for Jones, this is what Kiper will be showing when he talks about how great he is. 

Daniel Jones against Miami, this is an interesting one.  First of all, the weather for this game was ugly, I mean pouring down rain and the field is soaked.  This led to lots of short passes and runs by Jones.  There were some bad throws, he missed a lot of guys, overthrew a lot of receivers.   There were also some dropped passes, that could have turned into something.  He does make a couple of pretty good back shoulder throws, which is an important throw to have at the next level.  In this game, he made some bad decisions, he was lucky to get away with only the turnovers that happened.  I will say Jones looked much better later in the game when the rain stopped pouring down.  It’s tough to judge anyone in these kind of extreme conditions, but the NFL does play games outside and it does rain.

After watching the offensive line get blown up, and Jones play in a monsoon, I really wanted to see Jones play against one more team.  Let’s take a look at Daniel Jones versus Virgina.  There are some bad drops deep.  Jones puts the ball in a place where it should be caught in one on one situations and the receivers don’t make the play.  These are game changing situations, and I would expect most of these catches to be made in the NFL.  Jones is also not afraid of coverage, which I don’t know how to rate.  One of the things you hear is that open is very different in the NFL than it is in college.  The one on one coverage that he put balls into in this game are the kind of throws that need to be made at the next level.  Unfortunately, Jones also makes a bad interception in double coverage in the end zone.  This is the kind of throw he can’t make at the next level because the secondary in the NFL will almost always make that play.  He shows off his strong arm in this game, has really good zip on the ball and hits guys on the run.  More bad blocking from Duke in this game which allows Jones to show off more of his athleticism.  He really does move around well, but scrambling doesn’t work as well in the NFL.  He needs to focus on moving in the pocket to extend plays more, but not trying to run for gains as often.

Jones is a little rough around the edges right now.  He has a cannon and is actually pretty accurate.  His decision making needs some work as he likes to throw 50/50 balls a lot.  He also runs too much for the NFL, but his athleticism is obviously a gift.  He’s an up and down quarterback, but if he can put it all together he can be a real quarterback.  I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with real talent around him.  I’m not looking forward to Kiper talking about nothing but his size and arm strength.  Jones threw for 60% in his career with guys dropping plenty of balls.  I like how he throws on the move.  Jones is a step below Haskins in my opinion, but he’s certainly got the talent to be a very good starting quarterback in the NFL if he makes a few better decisions.

Sam Darnold - 2018 NFL Draft Scouting Report

The final quarterback I wanted to take a look at before the draft is the one that many consider the best one in the entire draft, University of Southern California's Sam Darnold. Darnold's buzz really began a little over a year ago with a memorable Rose Bowl victory over Penn State where the teams combined for over 100 points. Before the 2017 season began, Darnold was seen as the guy for a quarterback needy team, and he may have still held onto that spot, although there is quite a debate going right now. I decided to take a gander myself by watching his games against Notre Dame, Texas, UCLA, and Stanford.

The first thing I really liked from Darnold was his anticipation on throws.

Here, he throws the ball before the receiver has made his break and hits him just inside the sidelines where he can make the catch before heading out of bounds.

Darnold also shows good vision down field, even when getting pressured.

Here, it looks like he is going to do a full bail out to his right, but he realizes that the rush has slowed and he has some space. He gets his eyes back down field, finds a receiver, and delivers a beautiful ball down the middle of the field. 

An issue that you see repeatedly is how he immediately looks to bail out of the pocket when he feels any sort of pressure.

On the play above, he could have taken one step to his left and been free and clear to throw a ball anywhere in the field of play. Instead, he took 20 steps to his right and was forced to throw the ball away to avoid a worse outcome.

An issue that people have been bringing up a lot are turnovers. Both fumbles and interceptions were an issue for him in college. I feel like the former can be repaired, but his interception issues are very real. He would often miss high on passes which often will lead to interceptions. Other times, he would attempt to force a ball in, and sometimes it looked great, but when it failed, it did not look nearly as great.

One thing you do have to give the guy credit for is his leadership. He keeps his cool no matter what the situation is. It was the thing that got him national attention a year ago in the Rose Bowl against Penn State, and it continued this season. USC was down to Texas 17-14 with less than a minute remaining, and he just started throwing dimes. First, he threw a great pass to get his team in range to tie the game.

And he continued making great throws in overtime.

When the pressure is on, Darnold does not let it get to him.

You see that confidence throughout Darnold's game. He is unafraid to make make any pass no matter how tight the window.

Here, he shows incredible touch to put it right over the defenders in a place where his receiver can make the easy catch towards the back of the endzone.

Confidence is great and all, but occasionally confidence kills.

He again tries to lay the ball up for his receiver, but this time the double coverage is too much as Darnold underthrows the pass and the Stanford defender is able to make the interception.

Summary
Honestly, I just couldn't get excited about Sam Darnold.

There were some nice throws, some poor decisions, and yet despite never wowing me, it is pretty impressive how well USC did with him at quarterback.

It took me four games, but I finally found out who he was: Brett Favre, without a cannon for an arm. He isn't always accurate, scrambles better than his athleticism would make you believe is possible, and will make throws that make you scream, both good and bad. But without that cannon of an arm to fit into ultra tight windows, I'm not sure how exciting of a prospect you have at that point. In the wild west of the NFL, a gunslinger with a BB gun doesn't seem like much of a gunslinger at all.

The good news is that if quarterback doesn't work out, he could definitely have a future at the fullback position.


2018 Scouting Reports
Josh Rosen - Quarterback - UCLA
Josh Allen - Quarterback - Wyoming
Mason Rudolph - Quarterback - Oklahoma State
Lamar Jackson - Quarterback - Louisville
Baker Mayfield - Quarterback - Oklahoma

Baker Mayfield - 2018 NFL Draft Scouting Report

You know what the most fun thing about Oklahoma quarterback, Baker Mayfield, is? No matter who you talk to, every single person seems to have a strong opinion of Mayfield. Somehow, nobody is on the fence about this guy. Either he's a gamer who knows what it takes to win in the biggest games, or he is the next Johnny Manziel, who is going to give more headaches for his own team than the opposing one. I'm much closer to the former than the latter, as I think the worst thing he really did was grab his dick at a team that had been playing dirty trying to stop him. There are worse things. Still, I wasn't sure what to think of Mayfield as a quarterback, so I took a deep dive and checked out his games against Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Kansas State.

The first thing that I really liked is his ability to scan the field and work through progressions.

On this play, you can see his first option is off to the right side, he then looks all the way to the left before coming back to the middle of the field to find an open receiver 15 yards down the field on third down. He also does a good job of stepping up in an open area of the pocket so the rush coming around both edges never gets near him.

Pocket awareness was something that he was able to consistently show as he has a much tighter pocket on this play.

This play isn't going to wow anyone in the stat sheet, but it's one of my favorite plays from Mayfield. He takes the snap halfway into his own endzone. Ohio State is only sending four, but they send a stunt on the offense's left side. Mayfield recognizes that he has some space to move up, skitters his way up, sets his feet and delivers a throw that gets the offense out of trouble. There are so many quarterbacks that panic and throw the ball away or try to run the ball to keep it out of the endzone. This play is an excellent indication of Mayfield's awareness and composure.

That brings me to the next positive point with Mayfield, and that is his patience.

There are so many times where quarterbacks just throw the ball away in this situation just to play for another down and not take a loss. Instead of just standing still, he moves out of the pocket to give him some space, directs traffic and gets a positive play.

Now I must also point out that sometimes this can be a curse, as he does have a tendency to always look to make a play instead of throwing the ball away to avoid a loss. He took a lot of coverage sacks as he was always trying to make something happen, but it was often taking sacks instead of interceptions as he didn't force a ton of balls. I will say that he greatly benefited from having such an excellent offensive line as pressure usually took a while to get to him.

Another thing is that Oklahoma moved him outside of the pocket a lot. It's a smart strategy, but it does make me question how well he will handle being primarily in a pocket and possibly not having as dominant of an offensive line.

Another thing that may make people nervous is that he is full of frenetic energy, almost jittery when he is behind the line of scrimmage.

It looks a bit spastic, but this may also be what helps him with his footwork as he never gets stuck in one spot, and he can quickly set his feet and fire the ball as he looks for open receivers.

And Mayfield is a good athlete. He's not going to set the world on fire with his running ability, but he can utilize it to make plays.

That stiff arm isn't going to be in any instructional videos, but it got the damn thing done.

I've seen people question the arm strength, but I do not see it as an issue. It's not elite, but it's not a detriment to his success either. The good news about the arm is that he is by far the most accurate quarterback I have seen so far this year.

That's a thing of beauty. And just for fun, here's another great throw.

Summary
As you can probably tell from the evidence above, I really like Baker Mayfield. The only major prospect that I haven't checked out yet is Sam Darnold, but Darnold is going to have to be pretty damn amazing to knock Mayfield from my top spot. I would take him over both of the Joshes without hesitation.

Is height an issue? It is, but we have seen guys around his height succeed, and he shares a lot of qualities with guys like Drew Brees and Russell Wilson. My biggest concern is whether he can handle tighter concepts outside of a spread offense. But here's the thing: He shouldn't really have to. The best offenses are the ones that gear their schemes to the quarterback as he is the most important player on the team. If there are offenses designed to turn Jared Goff from the worst quarterback in the league to one of the best, Case Keenum reclamation, and Nick Foles winning a Super Bowl, I'm pretty sure it won't be mission impossible to design an offense where Baker Mayfield succeeds in the NFL.

Are there character concerns? I mean, sure, there is enough reason to be concerned, but I don't think any of this shit actually matters. He made a bad decision when intoxicated, grabbed his dick, and tried to plant a flag in astroturf. The last one is the most concerning as that just ain't gonna work, man. The other things just aren't a big deal. If I was a fan of a team that needed a quarterback (it is so weird to be a Bears fan and not be in this boat), I wouldn't hesitate putting Mayfield in charge of my franchise.

2018 Scouting Reports
Josh Rosen - Quarterback - UCLA
Josh Allen - Quarterback - Wyoming
Mason Rudolph - Quarterback - Oklahoma State
Lamar Jackson - Quarterback - Louisville

Lamar Jackson - 2018 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Lamar Jackson is a Heisman Trophy winner who was pretty damn successful as a college quarterback at Louisville. This has not stopped people from completely dismissing him as a quarterback prospect in the NFL. It's not for a normal reason, as everyone seems to agree that he has a great arm. Most also agree that his accuracy leaves a little to be desired, but so does Josh Allen, and yet nobody is mentioning him as a guy who could use a position change. So you know what that means? It's because he's black. Yep, we're still doing this bullshit. But I'm not quite ready to move Jackson to wide receiver just because his skin is more cinnamon than sugar. Instead, I decided to take a look at his games against North Carolina, Florida State, North Carolina State, and Purdue.

Although everybody brings up how fast Lamar Jackson is, it undersells what his athletic ability to only look at him as a runner. He uses his speed and footwork to create space to make plays with his arm just as much as he does it with his feet.

This play is a success at the snap, and the defense has no way to stop it, as even without the wide receiver on the outside coming in to help with a pick, Jackson is able to get outside the pocket for an easy pitch and catch to his receiver.

Here, North Carolina State sends a perfect blitz up the middle and Lamar Jackson is screwed...

or maybe not. This looks like NC State called their play in Tecmo Bowl, and Lamar Jackson turned into QB Eagles to make a ridiculous play for a first down. Seriously, this play looks nearly identical.

If you send a great blitz up the middle, you better be damn sure that your defensive ends can contain, because Jackson will put on the burners and make you pay if he gets some open field.

One issue that showed up repeatedly was his inability to keep his eyes down the field when he gets pressured.

When he gets that pressure, his head goes down, and he's looking to make a play with his feet. When you have legs like Jackson, it's understandable, but if he can stretch out plays and keep looking for receivers, it would open up some big play opportunities.

The following was one of my favorite plays from Jackson, because he actually did evade pressure, put his eyes back up field, and make a hell of a throw across the middle of the field.

That is the ideal way that he would be able to use his athleticism in the NFL. His offensive line breaks down, but instead of going for a full flee, he sees that there is still a pocket if he can maneuver. He does so which gives him enough space to fire the ball down the middle of the field for a first down.

More often, even the threat of pressure with a closing pocket would be enough to get Jackson out of rhythm.

He has good protection on this play but fails to reset his feet, and he throws the ball well behind his receiver crossing over the middle.

Something that I noticed but couldn't confirm was how much better he was at throwing the ball over the middle of the field than he was toward the sidelines. I looked for passing charts for the season but couldn't find anything, so I can only say this anecdotally, but he seemed to be much more effective when he didn't need to worry as much about footwork than he was when he had to adjust and throw towards the sidelines.

Here is a nice touchdown pass where he sets it up by looking to his left to freeze the linebacker over the middle before pivoting and firing it to the open receiver in the endzone.

But this is not a strength of his game. He rarely scanned the field, but I think that is mostly by design. He did show this ability on occasions but never with much consistency. He often gets dead set on a certain receiver and just waits for that guy to get open with the second option being bailing out with his feet.

But let's not forget about what those legs can do.

I should have warned you that the clip was NSFW, because blowing up a crease like that can only be described as pornographic.

Summary
There is a lot to like about Lamar Jackson. He has some incredible physical gifts that have led him to great success. There is also a lot of room for improvement. He doesn't have much experience in working through reads, panics with pressure, and his inconsistent footwork leads to inconsistent results. Still, those physical traits are pretty damn incredible. Honestly, his struggles are pretty close to what you see in Josh Allen. Now, if you want to dream about what a quarterback can become, I would way rather take a chance to dream on Lamar Jackson's potential than I would Josh Allen.

With his physical traits, there is no way to find a quarterback with a higher ceiling in this class, but he also has major deficiencies that give him a relatively low floor. Most people are saying that he won't be a first round pick, and I do understand that. But I feel like coaching staffs have done a much better job of fitting schemes to their player, and because of that, I really can't imagine him getting out of the first round. You may say I'm a dreamer, but when it comes to NFL front offices, I can just about guarantee that I'm not the only one.

2018 Scouting Reports
Josh Rosen - Quarterback - UCLA
Josh Allen - Quarterback - Wyoming
Mason Rudolph - Quarterback - Oklahoma State

Mason Rudolph - 2018 NFL Draft Scouting Report

After hitting up both of the Joshes in the first two week, it's time to move on to somebody with a different first name in Mason Rudolph. Rudolph has been incredibly proficient during his time at Oklahoma State, but the biggest questions around him involve how much credit the scheme deserves and how much his incredible receiving corps deserves. I took a look at his games against Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, and Pittsburgh.

The first thing to know is that his receiving corps really helped him out. It wasn't just that they made contested catches, it was that they got so open that it would be nearly impossible to not make a completion with these guys. Seriously, watch out for James Washington Jr. That dude has a lot of Steve Smith in his game. He's built like a spark plug and knows how to attack the ball out of the air. Rudolph did usually manage to hit his guys, but one thing I would have liked to see him improve on is leading his receivers on routes. Often times they had to slow down or even settle in a spot to make the catch instead of accelerating through to create yards after the catch.

Along those same lines, he underthrew a lot of his deep balls, and some of them were downright ugly.

This one is caused by poor footwork, and I think he did feel more pressure than was there on longer developing plays. This is why he could sometimes throw a great deep ball if he felt comfortable and stepped up to deliver while other times, his footwork and resulting pass would be a mess.

It's kind of tough to judge Rudolph since their offense is centered around underneath routes. Seriously, he makes Alex Smith look like Rex Grossman with the lack of risks he is willing to take. It's also an offense designed around pre-snap reads, so there wasn't a whole lot of reading the field when that first option wasn't open.

One thing I really like about Rudolph is that he keeps his eyes down field, even when he is feeling pressure.

He knows he's not going to impress anybody with his mobility, so he looks to avoid the rush, but then gets his eyes up to see if there is any way for him to throw the ball. He gets just enough space to throw the ball to a wide open receiver in the end zone.

Unfortunately, he also makes a lot of bad decisions in the red zone.

When the field shrinks, Rudolph gets way too much confidence in his arm, and his receivers do not have the room to get wide open with less real estate to work with. The ball above is totally inexcusable as there is literally no way for him to complete that pass as they have two defenders on the receiver, yet Rudolph feels pressure and throws the ball anyway.

Conclusion
As you can probably tell, I wasn't overly impressed with Rudolph. I feel like the above evidence is a more negative picture than actually should be there, but it's pretty boring to just remark about different traits and calling them fine. He showed flashes of good pocket awareness, but he doesn't read the field well, and I think he's going to have to work on his anticipation as the windows get a whole lot tighter in the NFL. In a perfect world, he could turn into Nick Foles. But we're not dealing in a perfect world, and I really don't see anything more than a backup at the next level.

2018 Scouting Reports
Josh Rosen - Quarterback - UCLA
Josh Allen - Quarterback - Wyoming

Josh Allen - 2018 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Last week, I started off the 2018 scouting reports with Josh Rosen of UCLA, so this week I figured I would keep the Josh Train going and head north to Wyoming to look at Josh Allen. I will admit that going into this that I already had a bias against Allen. It seems like people are coming up with excuses on why his on-field play should not matter as much as the tools, because the guy looks like an ideal quarterback.

But one of my skills is having an open mind. I assumed that Mitch Trubisky sucked, and then I watched him play, my jaw hit the floor, and I begged and pleaded for the Bears to take him. Apparently I begged too much as they traded a whole lot to have that opportunity when they could have just stayed at three. So the question becomes, will Josh Allen's play change my mind? To find out, I took a look at his 2018 games against Colorado State, Utah State, Central Michigan, and Iowa.

The first thing that jumps off the screen is that the rumors of his arm strength are very real. The guy has a cannon.

I'm not sure if I have ever seen more of a rocket pass in my life. That thing is an absolute rope. Honestly, if you want to advocate for Josh Allen, just show somebody the first quarter of the Central Michigan game. It's incredible and shows all of his good qualities while hiding his weaknesses.

He also does have the ability to put some touch on the ball, as he shows with this throw.

I'm not sure if the pump fake did anything, but it looked cool. But this was one of his most impressive throws as accuracy and touch are some of the big question marks with Allen.

When he has a clean pocket, he has the ability to move through progressions.

But when the pocket isn't as clean, he gets uncomfortable quickly, and his first instinct is to bail.

Since he bailed and threw off his back foot, he couldn't put any mustard on the ball and gave Josh Jackson his first interception of what would be an incredible year for the Iowa cornerback.

Speaking of embarrassing interceptions, here is an intercepted screen pass.

Again, he throws off his back foot and throws it three yards short of his intended target. I thought that would be the worst one, but it's not even close compared to this last one.

Because he was, yet again, throwing off his back foot, he couldn't manage to throw the ball out of bounds and managed to throw an interception while throwing the ball away. That's beyond embarrassing.

These issues weren't just caused by an inability to deal with pressure. Even in a clean pocket here, he just fails to set his feet and sails the throw on the deep pass.

And this is why he struggles with inaccuracy. I do think he deserves a little leeway when it comes to completion percentage because the surrounding talent at Wyoming was not the most impressive in the nation, but shitty mechanics lead to shitty results.

Athletically, he's not special, but the thing that stands out most about him running is he takes so many unnecessary hits. I couldn't believe how many times he was running along the sideline and dropped his shoulder instead of just running out of bounds. If he was a running back, I'd love the toughness, but he's a quarterback, and the most important ability is availability. They had a lot more designed runs than seemed necessary or beneficial.

I will say he does a hell of a job staying up on first contact in the pocket, as he was able to spin out of a lot of sacks. It mostly just gave him enough time to get rid of the ball, but as a football expert, I know that not losing yards is better than losing yards.

Summary
So, in the end, what do you have? You have a beautiful frame for a quarterback, with a rocket arm, solid athleticism, but considering the shit footwork, he has no idea how to use it. There will be many front offices that agree with that assessment but think that as long as they can clean up the footwork, they'll have a hell of a quarterback. But if it was so easy to clean up that footwork, why didn't a coach already do it? Add on to that the fact that he has a complete inability to deal with the slightest bit of pressure, you are praying for a miracle when drafting Josh Allen. Josh Allen is a blueprint for what a quarterback should look like, but he is also the blueprint of a quarterback who fails to impress at the professional level. Some team is going to watch that first quarter of Wyoming's bowl game and that tunnel vision will help them ignore every red flag along the way. If I was a fan of a team that needs a quarterback, I would be sick to my stomach come draft day. As a Bears fan, I don't have much to smile about; at least I can smile about that.

2018 Scouting Reports
Josh Rosen - Quarterback - UCLA

Josh Rosen - 2018 NFL Draft Scouting Report

It's another year in the NFL offseason which means it's another year of teams dreaming on college prospects that they believe will turn their franchise around. Nowhere is this more prevalent than at quarterback where I have heard smart people claim that quarterbacks could be taken with the first four picks (it would take trades in order for this to happen). Today, I am starting my breakdown of the top quarterbacks with UCLA's hot tub-lovin' boy, Josh Rosen, by taking a look at his games against Washington, USC, Texas A+M, and Arizona State.

I'm going to just get this out of the way to start. I am not about to analyze Rosen as a person. I don't think anything he has said or done publicly should be a red flag as his worst crimes seem to be thinking for himself and putting a hot tub in his room. The former is not a crime, and the latter is totally awesome. So let's focus on his contributions on the field.

The first thing that stood out is the man throws a beautiful deep ball.

You really cannot do a better job than that. Not only does he hit his man in stride, but he leads him towards the sideline away from the defender to make it an easier catch for his receiver. In fact, let's look at another one, just for fun.

Again, that is some beautiful shit right there. There are many quarterbacks who can never throw a ball that well on a deep route, yet Rosen shows pretty tremendous consistency when placing the ball down the field.

On top of that, I thought he did a very good job of leading his receivers on his passes.

His accuracy led his receivers away from defenders or gave them the best opportunity to create yards after the catch. Now, no quarterback is perfect, and when Rosen did miss, he tended to miss high which is dangerous as those tend to be the passes that get intercepted by the defense. Overall, I thought he had plus accuracy, but it's not an elite skill at this point.

Maybe my favorite quality about him is his patience in the pocket.

Here, he shows a great feel for the rush, as he steps up and delivers the pass to his open receiver running underneath the coverage. This was actually an area that could use some improvement as he was usually good at feeling backside pressure, but pressure up the middle or on his front side gave him a lot of issues.

It's really confusing as it's understandable for a guy to not feel pressure on the backside, but he doesn't see it when it is coming right at his chest and seems to freeze up when they collapse the middle of the pocket. Lately, teams have done a much better job of scheming for guys who do not have the best pocket awareness, so it is certainly not a death sentence. I don't think he's anywhere near the level of Blaine Gabbert when it comes to troubles with pressure.

Something else that I noticed is that he had a disproportionately high number of balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. I'm not totally sure if this was an issue of release or awareness, but it there were enough balls batted down that it made me take notice which is not usually a focus of mine.

Rosen also shows a tendency to take chances when that is not advisable. Here, he had driven UCLA down to the red zone against USC but threw a bad interception going for the touchdown.

It's unclear if he's staring down that receiver the whole time or just looking left, but he's making the safety's job pretty damn easy as he has an easy break on the ball for the interception.

When it comes to athleticism, he's not going to set the world on fire. He's more smooth than explosive as an athlete.

It all looks correct, but he's just not moving as fast as you hoped he would be. He will not be considered a mobile quarterback as the man is the very definition of a pocket quarterback. When he was put on the move, even within the pocket, he became incredibly inconsistent with his accuracy. He has to clean that up, move with purpose, and reset his feet so he can still throw accurately when his pocket isn't clean.

With that being said, I'll end on a positive and say that he does a good job of processing information when going through progressions. He's able to quickly scan the field and work to his second and third progressions.

Summary
In the end, I like Rosen as a prospect, but I don't love him. He shows some incredible talent throwing the football, but there are other aspects to being a quarterback. He sometimes tries to force the ball in, he doesn't handle pressure well, and he doesn't show effective mobility at this point. I think the best comparison is to Eli Manning. On the bright side, Manning won two Super Bowls; on the downside, he has driven fans mad since he first started with the Giants due to inconsistency and poor decision making.

I think that drafting Rosen gets you a solid starting quarterback, but probably not a franchise changing one. 

The 2018 XFL Mock Draft - Quarterbacks

Last week, Jonah shot me a text that he would like to have a Fantasy XFL Draft. I kind of hemmed and hawed at the idea, as I really didn’t want to go through that pointless of an exercise. Then I realized that I really wasn’t doing anything more important with my life, and it would be hilarious when I selected LeBron James with my first pick and OJ Simpson with my second pick. Unfortunately, Jonah clarified that they would have to realistically be able to play in the league and not currently playing another professional sport. That screwed up my entire draft plan, but I did my best to recover.

Admittedly, both Jonah and I did minimal research before the draft and did all of our analysis during the draft. This meant that there was little rhyme or reason to any picks past the first two rounds. So instead of breaking this down round by round, we are going to go by position groups. We also only did a two-team league, because I cannot imagine finding enough nerds to have a 12 or 16 team XFL mock draft. We did do a whole 53-man roster, so you could imagine these guys being spread around across the league. Today, we start with the quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks
Team Jonah: Colin Kaepernick, Zach Mettenberger, Ryan Nassib

Team Joe: Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III, Rex Grossman

Joe: Although the picks usually didn’t matter, we did both select quarterbacks with our first pick. Jonah went with the obvious choice of Colin Kaepernick, so then I panicked and went with Johnny Manziel as my number one quarterback. Although Manziel was a pariah in the NFL, he will most certainly be a fan favorite in the XFL, as this league is all about attitude. 

But Manziel is definitely not guaranteed the starting spot. I brought in some great competition as I have RG3 who is likely a more athletic version of Johnny Football and would likely be considered the favorite for the starting position, although he will inevitably get injured so it won’t be hard for Manziel to see playing time.

On top of that, I have Rex Grossman. The wily veteran who just loves to sling it deep. He is the veteran presence that can let them know what it takes to make it to a Super Bowl.

Maybe the greatest thing about these quarterbacks is that I might have three of the highest selling jerseys in the entire XFL. Manziel’s jersey could say “Johnny Football,” “J Football,” or just straight, “Football.” Griffin has “RG3” on the back of his, but my top selling jersey will inevitably be Rex Grossman’s “Sex Cannon” jersey. Sure to be a hit with the kiddos.

Jonah: Believe it or not, I took this draft very seriously.  My original idea was that I could build a roster of players that would win a few games in the NFL with nothing but available players.  Then I realized the XFL was coming back so I could just build an XFL roster that would be as talented as the lower half of the NFL.  With that, Kaep was the obvious first pick in terms of football skill and marketability.  The guy could start for 5-10 teams in the NFL so he’s a no brainer, and you either love him or you hate him.  Either way people want to watch him succeed or fail.

Mettenberger is a favorite of mine.  I watched him play as a rookie in Tennessee and he was pretty average, but a rookie playing average on a terrible team is pretty good.  I’m very confused why he hasn’t gotten another shot.

My original XFL lineup included another quarterback who should be starting in the NFL, Matt Barkley.  He was signed by the Cardinals so Mettenberger moved up to backup and Nassib got a spot on my squad.  Nassib is talented, strong armed but short for a quarterback.  Another guy I’m surprised doesn’t have a roster spot somewhere in the NFL because at least he has potential to be good instead of the potential to not be terrible like some of the quarterbacks who keep getting paid.

Joe: One thing I worry about with Jonah’s team is that he’s likely going to have to depend on Mettenberger and Nassib as Kaepernick will inevitably be fired in a grand public display if he chooses to kneel during the national anthem. And buddy, you’re going to have to trade a whole lot if you want to get the Sex Cannon on your squad. 

Jonah: I love Mettenberger and Nassib has potential, plus there’s plenty of quarterbacks out there like your boy Ricky Stanzi or my boy Nathan Enderle, or everyone’s boy John David Booty.  As for your quarterbacks, Manziel and Griffin should still be in the NFL, well Griffin at least and Manziel has the ability.  I really hope Rex Grossman finds his way onto an XFL roster because I will bet you that against XFL competition he throws more picks than TDs.

Joe: That wraps up the quarterback talk. We should have something on running backs later this week.

How Can the Minnesota Vikings Replace Teddy Bridgewater?

Lukewarm Jonah is taking the reins today since his favorite team lost one of the best young QBs in the league.

Today the likelihood of a Minnesota Vikings championship run took a big hit when Teddy Bridgewater went down with a freak, terrible injury.  I know Joe is no Vikings fan, but he is a Teddy Bridgewater fan.  Though the news today was terrible, the regular season is rapidly approaching.  The Vikings have Shaun Hill healthy and that’s about it.  Second year quarterback Taylor Heinicke looked great last preseason, but is also injured.  It’s clear that the Vikings need to find a quarterback, but the question is who?  I’ve got a few suggestions that aren’t being talked about that I hope the Vikings listen to.

Zach Mettenberger may be their best option, so I’m going to lead this list off with him.  I’m a little confused why no one wants a third year quarterback who played average football on a terrible team during his rookie year.  He played a little below average last year, still on a terrible team.  I watched plenty of his games as a pro and saw plenty of potential.  The fact that this guy got cut is baffling to me.  Anyways, you have a young quarterback with starting experience and some upside.  Maybe the biggest positive to Mettenberger is that he’s a free agent.  He doesn’t cost a draft pick, just a roster spot and a pretty cheap contract.

Next up is a favorite of Joe and myself, Matt Barkley.  He’s the current 3rd string quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.  He was acquired from the Eagles for a 7th round pick, so giving a 6th rounder for him seems like a price that Arizona would be happy to receive.  This is another guy that I’m confused by the lack of opportunities he’s got.  He went from assumed number one overall pick to fourth rounder who couldn’t find any playing time, even with all the terrible quarterbacks who seem to find constant work.  He’s a guy with a high ceiling, and I’d happily trade a 6th rounder for him.

Let’s look out east for a couple of quarterbacks from the mighty Philadelphia Eagles.  That’s right a couple.  Chase Daniel is the obvious target.  A guy who by all reports was the best quarterback on a couple of teams he’s been on.  Many people wanted to see him play when he was in Kansas City, and if he stays in Philadelphia I would bet a large amount of money he starts at least one game this year due to talent alone.  However, the Eagles have Sam Bradford as their starter and Carson Wentz as their future quarterback so do they really need Daniel?  So who’s the other quarterback on the Eagles I mentioned?  None other than Mcleod Bethel-Thompson.  Who you ask?  Current Eagles fourth string quarterback, likely to be a free agent very soon, Bethel-Thompson had two runs with the Vikings and showed glimpses of greatness, even though it was in the preseason.  He’ll be a free signing that can back up Shaun Hill and potentially come in and spark the offense if Hill struggles.

I can’t finish the article without mentioning my personal hero Nathan Enderle.  6’4” 240 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal, if he’s signed the Vikings will finally win that ever elusive Super Bowl.  Really though, I wish he actually got a chance in the NFL because he’s got a big arm, he’s accurate, and he’s used to moving around in the pocket and avoiding pressure.  The only good part about him not playing is he would have started for the Bears and led them to way too much success.

Someone else who must be mentioned is Joe’s personal hero, the anti Colin Kaepernick, Mr. America Ricky Stanzi.  He’s available, loves America, and was a successful quarterback at the University of Iowa.  I’ll have to defer to Joe for any real insight into Ricky Stanzi (Joe's insight: He seems like a really good dude. That probably doesn't make him a great option at QB, but I'd definitely let him watch my dog), but he can play on the Vikings as long as he comes out to Real American.

What Would You Give Up For Johnny Manziel?

With the draft coming up this week, there are teams that are still trying to figure out what to do about their quarterback situation. Obviously, two teams will solve their issue with Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. Although I like Brett Hundley, I doubt he will set the world on fire from day one, and I can't imagine he will earn a starting job to start the 2015 season. Still, that leaves one guy who might be worth a shot in solving a quarterback problem. That man is Johnny Manziel.

A lot of people think that Manziel is already a bust, but I'm not sure if we learned much of anything from his performance. Before the draft last year, there was a consensus that Manziel was a first round pick. Just because he struggled in limited playing time in an offense (both in scheme and personnel) that didn't exactly play to his strengths, it doesn't mean that the guy has no chance at success in the NFL.

The fact that his off-the-field concerns have only intensified in the last year is a pretty bad sign, but it also presents an opportunity. Cleveland is doing everything they can to avoid committing to him, so they may be ready to sell. The question becomes, what would you give up to acquire Johnny Football?

The first thing to figure out is whether you want Jonathan F. Football at all. As a team without a good quarterback (Bears), I am definitely interested in the opportunity to acquire a young quarterback with potential. Ideally, the Bears could just do a straight swap of Cutler for Manziel, but with the draft this week, I think it is best to look at it from a draft pick perspective.

Would I give up a first round pick for Johnny Manziel? That is a pretty easy answer. No, I would not give up a first round pick for Johnny Manziel.

Would I give up a second round pick for Johnny Manziel? On talent alone, I think the move would make sense, but he does have some pretty big question marks that have surfaced, both on and off the field. I'm certainly not paying sticker price for Manziel, so although I would give it some consideration, I think I would pass on the opportunity to get Manziel for a second round pick.

Would I give up a third round pick for Johnny Manziel? Aw crap, we're really on the border now. I think I would need to get a 5th back in the deal to pull the trigger on it, and that would make it worth it. They could probably get me with a 6th if they decided they really wanted to push it. The talent is still there with Manziel, and you have to take chances to get a quarterback who has the potential to be very good. It's worth the risk at that point.

Would I give up a fourth round pick for Johnny Manziel? No negotiations necessary, I would immediately make this happen.

But I'd still rather trade Jay Cutler for him instead.

Sacks Are Worse Than Interceptions

So the title of this article may be slightly misleading, but it is meant to make a point. Obviously, in a game, an interception is far worse than a sack, but when it comes to evaluation, a lot of times those sacks show more negativity about a prospect than an interception would. Stats in football are still in its early stages, and although they get better every year, I still favor the scouting side of the game over anything that numbers may tell me. That is why I would likely feel more comfortable taking a quarterback with issues with turnovers than one who has issues taking sacks.

Don't get me wrong; interceptions are bad, and they are often worrisome. But a lot of times, these turnovers can be explained away. If you see a quarterback try to force a ball in, it could mean that he has trouble reading defenses, but it could mean that he is confident in his abilities to squeeze a ball in there. The best way to learn is by making mistakes, and if a quarterback can learn from throwing interceptions, it can serve as a valuable lesson as opposed to a reason to dock a player. I'm not trying to go as far as saying interceptions are a good thing; I just want to point out that they are not nearly as bad as people have made them out to be.

The problem with sacks is that they often show a lack of awareness. Some sacks can be explained by poor offensive line play, others can be explained by well-executed blitzes, but even in the most extreme circumstances, they can never explain away all the sacks. Pocket awareness is incredibly important for a quarterback to be successful. If the first option isn't open, it means that a quarterback may have to maneuver the pocket to buy some additional time to find that open receiver. If he can't do that, it is incredibly unlikely he can have a successful NFL career.

In evaluation, stats are a news article, and scouting is the editorial. You can learn what happened from the stats, but you can't possibly know the reasons or the future impact without the scouting. Sacks and interceptions are both bad, but just because interceptions are worse during a game doesn't mean they are worse for a quarterback's future.

Deep Ball Accuracy Is Overrated

When watching tape of the top quarterback prospects in this upcoming draft, I start to notice things. One of these things is that deep ball accuracy is overrated. It is something that gets stressed with the pundits, but it doesn't tell you much about a quarterback prospect.

It's basically the equivalent of kicking 50+ yard field goals. Do we really know who's best? It is such a small sample size that judging accuracy is very difficult, but as long as the kicker has the leg strength to get it there, you should be fine. Quarterbacking is the same way. It doesn't matter what a quarterback's completion percentage is on the 30 deep balls he throws during the year, just that he has shown that he can be accurate and that he has the arm strength to get it there. Although a completed deep ball is a huge play, having the ability to complete that deep ball is more important to the game as a whole as it keeps safeties back which gives more room underneath on routes that are easier to complete.

Sometimes, quarterbacks are going to miss deep balls, other times, they will throw it perfectly, but trying to make a sweeping judgment on a tough throw with a small sample size isn't going to tell you much about how that quarterback will perform in the future.

Sidenote: When searching for a banner image, I typed in deep throw, Google images definitely thought I meant deep throat, so that was...something.

Marcus Mariota - 2015 NFL Draft Scouting Report

With the college football season over, the 2015 NFL Draft season immediately starts up to fill that void. I plan to take a look at all of the top quarterback prospects but will also be willing to take suggestions if there are prospects at other positions that you would like to see analyzed. But my bread and butter is quarterback play (a position I still feel is underrated in the draft). Today, I wrap up the series by taking a look at Oregon Ducks Quarterback, Marcus Mariota.

Statistically speaking, you cannot get much better than Mariota. He absolutely dominated during his final college season and led the Oregon Ducks to the National Championship game. Most casual football fans assumed that he would be the first quarterback taken, because Winston threw more interceptions and interceptions are bad. As I'm writing this, Winston has gained the edge, but I'm not really worried about consensus, I'm worried with how these guys produce. Courtesy of Draft Breakdown, I was able to take a look at his 2014 games against Michigan State, Florida State, and Ohio State.

Awareness
The first thing that people seem to bring up with Marcus Mariota is that his offense made him tough to evaluate. Honestly, I don't think scouting an Oregon player is more difficult than scouting an Alabama player. For Oregon, it is scheme that gives them an advantage, but Alabama brings in nothing but the best recruits so it is easier for a player to shine with all of that talent around them. With the efficiency in the design of Oregon's offense, I was worried that Mariota wouldn't have to go through progressions on throws. For the most part, this was true, but he did have plays where it was necessary, and he showed aptitude. This is a good example:

He looks to his left, but then works his eyes back towards the middle where he sees that his receiver has a step on the defender. Even with good coverage, there is not much you can do when a quarterback throws a ball like that.

Pocket Presence
If you give him a comfortable pocket, he can carve up a defense. Once the pressure comes crashing in, he takes a lot of sacks and will too often throw off his back foot. Here is a play where he sees pressure coming but has plenty of space to step up and make a throw.

Unfortunately, he throws off his back foot and misses a wide open receiver. He's going to have to learn to throw in tight pockets, so not being able to step into a throw like that is definitely worrisome.

This is another example of Mariota adjusting his throwing motion when the pocket closes in on him.

He likely has enough room to make that throw, but he hesitates on it, and then short arms the throw.

Still, it's not all bad, as he did show the ability to move well in the pocket on this play.

He starts by looking to his right, adeptly slips a rusher, sees that things are still crowded in front of him, so he looks up, spots an open receiver and makes a touchdown throw.

Wow Plays
Full disclosure: I take notes while I watch the games, and I pressed pause and wrote, "I keep saying that he is very good, but I never get the feeling of greatness." Then I watched the very next play and started laughing at my stupidity.

There is so much that is right with this play. First off, the throw is great, but that pales in comparison as to what he does mentally here. Marshall is his third option on this play, but he is so quick at going through his reads that it doesn't matter. His first option is the tight end, but the linebacker in zone takes away that, so he looks to his left but the receiver on the outside is not open, he works his eyes back to the middle and fires a great pass to his receiver who is streaking open.

The issue that people have with Mariota is the offense. He wasn't asked to do the same things that Winston was required to do. Still, he showed flashes of having any ability that an NFL team is looking for. The biggest question mark I am left with is whether he is willing to trust his arm and pull the trigger by throwing into tight coverage. The physical capabilities are there; it's just a matter of believing he can squeeze the ball into tight windows.

Overall
There is a reason that everybody puts Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston far ahead of all of hte other quarterbacks in this draft. Although I have found myself liking the skills that Brett Hundley brings to the table, he is a step below these two quarterbacks. But this is the (likely) the last guy I will be looking at, so who's #1? Well, it really depends on what you want.

Marcus Mariota gets really bad comparisons. He gets compared to Colin Kaepernick, but he has less arm strength but maintains a tighter delivery, makes more accurate throws, and is far better at reading a field. I have also heard Alex Smith, but I think he is a far more dangerous quarterback in every aspect than Smith. The guy I see is Randall Cunningham. He doesn't quite have the arm, but he makes up for it with his accuracy. Meanwhile, I see Winston as a non-athletic Andrew Luck. They both make stupid throws, but they also do incredible things when it matters, and they are guys who find ways to win.

When it comes down to it, the offense that you want your team to run should be the difference maker between the two prospects. Jameis Winston fits that bill for more teams than Marcus Mariota, but Mariota would be good in a Winston offense, while Winston drops off quite a bit if asked to do what Mariota does. In the end, I have Winston a hair ahead of Mariota, as Winston has consistently displayed the ability to stand tall under pressure and deliver passes while Mariota has only flashed it. Off the field, there are plenty of question marks, but on the field, Jameis is the best talent in this draft.

Quarterback Prospect Rankings:
1. Jameis Winston - Florida State
2. Marcus Mariota - Oregon
3. Brett Hundley - UCLA
4. Shane Carden - East Carolina
5. Bryce Petty - Baylor
6. Sean Mannion - Oregon State
7. Garrett Grayson - Colorado State
8. Blake Sims - Alabama