Edit: I did not include his coaching career because I wanted to focus on him as a player.

Welcome back everyone to my inconsistent series full of players that weren't exactly great, but more of the good/fringe great. Hell they might've even sucked but you remember them!

Today, I'll be talking about Jim Zorn. He wasn't just a mediocre Head Coach, he was a infuriatingly average to above average QB, who just so happened to have a legendary Wide Receiver, Steve Largent. (He was Jerry Rice before Jerry Rice was Jerry Rice if you don't know that name.)

Anyway! Back to Zorn!

Collegiate Career (1973-1974)

By way of...wtf? Cal Poly Pomona?? I've never heard of this school. What the hell. After being benched in Junior College because his coach didn't like his leadership style, Zorn transfered to Cal Poly Ponoma after he accepted a half scholarship.

He actually did okay there and earned All-American honors! Well..."Little" All-American honors but it still counts. He also earned Little All Coast and was named the Southern California College Division Player of the Year.

He was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1987 as his plaque reads, "The most acclaimed student-athlete in the history of Cal Poly Pomona athletics. A former head coach of the National Football League's Washington Redskins (2008-09), the Cerritos native established 44 school records during his two years at CPP and was named a Little All-American QB in 1983 where he led the nation in total offense."

Not too bad Zorn.

Professional Career (1975-1987)

He went undrafted amongst 19 other drafted QBs. Number one overall pick was Atlanta Falcons Steve Bartkowski, another decent pick was Steve Grogan...and that's about it. Nothing to write home about when it comes to QBs in this draft.

Zorn had decent size, being 6'2 and weighing 200 pounds. Maybe because he was a lefty? Idk. But he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Cowboys, didn't do jack on the practice squad, and was sent to be a bum for an expansion team.

Seattle Seahawks (1976-1984) Zorn was signed to the expansion Seahawks for a backup role, after sitting football out for a year. Immediately, he made heads turn with his ability to connect with his dynamic receiver, Steve Largent, earning the starting job.

The results? Well not too good. They only posted a 2 win season. Zorn set a record for attempts by a rookie in a season with 439 and led the league with 27 ints. Yeesh.

Next year saw some improvement though! They won 5 games, Zorn cut down on interceptions with 19 and upped his TDs with 16, but he only started in 10 games due to injury.

Finally, in only their 3rd year, Zorn helped guide them to a 9-7 record by posting 3,283 yards, 15 tds, 20 ints, on a 56% completion rate and added 290 rushing yards with 6 tds. (Largent also posted his first of many 1k seasons.)

More of the same in '79. Another 9-7 recprd and Zorn threw for 3,661 yards, 20 tds, 18 ints, on 56% completion with 279 rushing yards with 2 tds.

So in '80 the wheels sort of fell off and I couldn't find out why. The coordinators stayed the same, the head coach stayed the same, the offensive weapons were there...it just didn't translate to wins as the team underperformed. They had a 4-12 record and Zorn did Zorn things again. Over 3k yards, 18 tds, 20 ints, mid-50's completion rate, just...meh results?

Same thing in '81.

Nothing noteworthy of the strike shortened '82 season.

FINALLY! Something happened in '83. Team went 9-7 but our boy Zorn got benched for Dave Krieg after 8 games and going 4-4.

Unfortunately, Zorn would never regain a starting role consistently in the NFL, having small stints with Tampa Bay and Green Bay.

He retired after 11 years but still should hold his head high for his career because he accomplished some cool things. Such as:

• 2nd team all-pro in '78

• NFL All-Rookie team in '76

• Seahawks ring of honor

• His three consecutive 3,000-yard seasons were tops in team history, since broken by Matt Hasselbeck in 2005, and he was the first Seattle quarterback to record back-to-back 300-plus yard games—a feat he accomplished twice.[

Pro stats: TD–INT: 111-141 Passing yards: 21,115 Passer rating: 67.3 Rushing yards: 1,504 Rushing touchdowns: 17

He was actually named NFL.com's 8th best mobile QB in 2008. I bet he's unranked now but nevertheless, he did have am impact on the game.

An interesting article I found from Wordpress.com "Zorn was thrown to the wolves. Expansion franchises chew up and spit out quarterbacks like they chew up and spit out head coaches….from his second year through his fourth, and again in his sixth, Zorn performed above the league average. And unlike Krieg or Hasselbeck, he did it despite little surrounding talent."

Let me know what you think of the write up! What's good, what sucks. I'm a bored nfl fan in the offseason. I take requests, I just ask that the player be retired at least 10 years and is not in the Hall of Fame.

Here's some highlights:

Here's some of mine:

The only quarterback drafted by the Broncos that won a playoff game with the Broncos was Tim Tebow

Lamar Hunt based the interlocking "KC" in the Chiefs logo off of the interlocking "SF" in the 49ers logo

The Colts are descended from the Dayton Triangles, one of the NFL's original members

Like how left handed pitchers have advantages in baseball, do left-handed quarterbacks have any advantages that right-handed quarterbacks don't have?

An annual tradition for me is when I get past my annual 4/15 deadline at work, I prepare a three round mock draft.

I had a lot of fun making this, definitely a what i would do, not predictive. I tried to keep team needs in mind using the most recent reddit survey, but sometimes BPA was just too good to pass up. For some reason I kept making trades with the Chargers. So maybe it won't be the most realistic Chargers draft. But it is certainly a fun one.

Would love to hear your comments!

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It’s time! We’ve broken down in detail the best prospects at every single position now and we close that series out with the quarterbacks. Not only are these of course the most important players on the field, but this is the toughest group to evaluate, because of the different offensive systems they operate in, how we don’t fully understand what their decision-making is based on, with different coaching points and paths to arrive at that point, what they mental make-up looks like, the importance of their supporting case and so many other factors. There I don’t claim to be perfect – like nobody is, especially when it comes to this position – but we steadily try to learn, as the requirements for playing under center at a high level continue to change.

Looking at this year’s class, I believe we have a guy at the top who should be the number one overall pick in basically any draft – at least since I started dabbling into scouting about nine years ago. I believe there’s only one other name worthy of being a top-five selection and he’s being completely overthought. Three more quarterbacks have top-50 grades for me, before we get into a couple of mid-day two options. There are two names I look at as high-floor players with the potential to start for a couple in the right situation, before we get into day three flyers with intriguing arm talent and/or athletic skills.

Here’s what the list looks like for me:

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1. Caleb Williams, USC

6’1”, 215 pounds; JR

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A top-ten recruit and the second QB behind only Quinn Ewers, Williams took over for the struggling Spencer Rattler at Oklahoma in 2021 midway through their week four rivalry game against Texas, Over the whole season, he completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 1912 yards, 21 touchdowns and just four INTs, along with another 442 yards and six TDs on the ground, He decided to follow head coach Lincoln Riley to USC the following offseason, where he won the Heisman trophy and was a first-team All-American, thanks to completing exactly two thirds of his passes (333-of-500) for over 4500 yards and 42 touchdowns, compared to just five picks, along with nearly another 400 yards and ten scores on the ground.

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Physical make-up & arm talent:

+ His arm is like a toy, where he can play around with angle-angles, release points and speeds, yet his mechanics operating within structure are very clean

+ Shows some of the quickest hands you’re ever going to see, whether that’s throwing screens, hitting throws off RPOs – without having to get his base aligned perfectly – or aborting the fake on play-action

+ Can really hit that back-foot and rip the ball over the middle of the field – any type of curl/hook routes, he throws with conviction, driving the ball with great velocity

+ Features one of the prettiest deep balls in the country and formed an incredible connection with Jordan Addison at USC in 2022

+ Yet, he can also throw the ball on a line with the best of them and you see some lasers, with his feet not being aligned accordingly at all

+ Understands when to take speed off the ball and make it easy for his targets to catch and run with it

+ Can shorten up his strides as he hitches up into the pocket and create enough force with limited space around him

+ Has such a loose arm, where he just flicks it over his head whilst falling away on his back-foot or shortens his release as he has to wait that extra beat for the receiver to come open with the rush coming in

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Processing & decision-making:

+ Every eligible is live at all times with Caleb, whether he’s operating time or he creates a secondary play

+ Looks comfortable spreading out the offense with empty sets and working the underneath areas in the quick game

+ Willing to take easy-access throws based on leverage or too much space in-between defenders

+ Is able to shorten his drop and zip in seam routes against shell coverages with too much cushion

+ Maintains his composure with pressure around him, whether he has to spin out of a sack and knows where to go with the ball once he gets his head back around, or has to release it whilst running up into the pocket

+ You consistently see a great base and the ability to pedal away from pressure points while staying ready to launch the ball

+ What makes Williams’ success in ’22 truly insane is that he had the highest time-to-throw mark among all NCAA quarterbacks with 200+ dropbacks (3.24 seconds), yet was near the bottom of the list with a turnover-worthy play rate of just 1.8%, and he led the FBS in with an insane PFF passing grade of 78.9 when under pressure, with just 2.0% of those plays being labeled as turnover-worthy, despite his time-to-throw going up to a college-high 4.62 seconds

+ In the 2023 season-opener against San Jose State, Williams had a play where he had to pick up a bad snap and was able to hit a receiver 45 yards from the launch-point off his back-foot almost with insane torque created through his hips

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Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

+ Has the vision for secondary and tertiary windows for throws to guys working across the field

+ And he’s very sturdy back there, finding ways to slip off defenders and keep himself alive – He’s so strong in his lower half to shrug off potential sacks and still get the ball out

+ Intoxicating play-maker, who makes college defenders look like they’re little kids a lot of times with the way he can dance around, wiggle himself out of muddy pockets and create stuff playground-style

+ Some of the throws he can make whilst rolling to the left, snapping those hips around and drilling guys at the sideline to beat a trailing defender, are mind-boggling

+ It almost feels like Williams is playing with the defense at times, as he hangs at the top of his drop until the last possible moment, trying to wait out a throw down the field, before shooting through a lane and still getting positive yardage

+ Very shifty, making defenders miss with some impressive sideway jukes and incorporating some head-fakes, and you constantly see defenders stop their feet due to Williams giving them a little wiggle or head-fake and then being able to get around them

+ Stronger than his frame would indicate, to take hits and power through tacklers when needed in order to get to the sticks

+ Has that Patrick Mahomes quality, where he may not have the greatest timed speed, but he constantly looks faster than it and you saw some explosive runs when given a lane – Showed that on his very first series once he took over for Spencer Rattler at OU against Texas and he wiggled through the line before hitting the jets for a 66-yard touchdown

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Weaknesses:

– Last season, there wasn’t a lot of “playing on time” and moments where he just takes the lay-up for solid yardage, in favor of looking down the field and eventually switching to creation mode – because he could

– Doesn’t read the positioning on go routes and/or places the ball appropriately to the back-shoulder for his guys at times

– You love the ability to make the football field his own playground, but he’ll need to learn when he can’t put the game all on him and try to make the impossible happen, while being loose with holding onto the ball

– His grades under pressure absolutely plummeted in 2023 – which manifested itself in the worst way against Notre Dame – as he went from number one to 113th in PFF grade with no pressure (93.4) compared to under pressure (39.1)

– Takes too many hits he doesn’t have to and still should learn when to throw the ball away a couple more times, as his pressure-to-sack conversion rate went from 16.0% to 23.2% between his two years as a Trojan

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Caleb Williams has been the slam-dunk number one overall pick for the last two years and since I wasn’t around for actually evaluating Andrew Luck coming out of Stanford, he’s the best quarterback talent I’ve watched. Now, he’s certainly not perfect when it comes to the calibration of what he can get away with, avoiding negative plays and protecting his body. However, from a physical perspective and his ability to translate information on the fly, it’s all there for him to become of one the elites in the game. While we did see Caleb enter chaos mode more than you’d like this past season, a big reason was protection constantly breaking down and him having to move around, yet even though I did describe his style of play as backyard football-ish, what I did appreciate is him typically not bailing the pocket but battling to stay inside that space. The issue simply was that he would compound mistakes by trying to go beyond what the offense was delivering. Yet, since we all expect him to land in Chicago of course, I think he’ll have more reliable targets, at least solid protection and maybe most importantly – when he steps back onto the field, the other team didn’t score on every single possession. At USC, he went 12-0 when his defense allowed less than 34 points and five of eight losses came when they allowed 43+.

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2. Drake Maye, North Carolina

6’4”, 225 pounds; JR

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A top-ten quarterback recruit in 2021, Maye was an instant sensation for the Tarheels ever since taking over for Sam Howell under center as a true sophomore, and he was named the ACC’s Player of the Year, completing 66.2% of his passes for over 4300 yards and 38 touchdowns versus seven interceptions, along with another 700 yards and seven TDs on the ground. This past season, the numbers were down a little bit across the board (63.3% completion rate, 3600 passing yards, 450 rushing yards and 33 total TDs vs. nine INTs), which dropped him down to second-team all-conference.

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Physical make-up & arm talent:

+ Brings excellent size and mobility for the position, along with the incredible arm talent

+ Has all the clubs in his bag as a thrower, being able to deliver with touch, different arcs and arm angles

+ Can absolutely rifle in dig-routes between the safety and defender on the hash

+ You see balls be placed perfectly away from trailing defenders and to where his guys can make plays on it 40+ yards down the field

+ Understands when to take heat off the ball as he’s just flipping it to somebody on the run

+ Has the requisite arm talent to deliver the ball without any platform to step into throws as defenses bring pressure and he’s fading away

+ You see some highly impressive touch throws fading and/or falling away with a defender coming free, as he lofts the ball in stride for one of his guys on longer-developing crossing routes

+ Drives balls to the sideline whilst rolling out as well as any QB in this class – the way he can flick the ball off the wrong foot whilst moving sideways, to either laser it to the sideline or deliver it over the top 40+ yards down the field seems way too easy

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Processing & decision-making:

+ It feels like he has that poise and maturity already in his game, where things are just happening slower for him than the other 21 guys on the field

+ Had ten more big-time throws (45) than any other QB in the NCAA in ’22 (vs. 16 turnover-worthy plays), along with the highest PFF grade on deep passes (97.5), before finishing second in BTTs (35) and top ten in and TWP rate (1.9%), along with the third-highest deep passing grade in 2023 (96.8)

+ Playing static zone coverages, where you give Maye some soft spots to fire balls into is a death sentence

+ Isn’t afraid at all to attack tight windows and will go for those deeper throws instead of deferring to somebody with a leverage advantage underneath

+ His ability to feast on double-post concepts and heavy play-action with receiver crossing deep down the field was as good as any QB in the country, being able to make the right read on deep middle safeties and delivering optimal layered passes horizontally and/or vertically

+ Typically doesn’t panic and drop his eyes when he has to pat the ball an extra time

+ His pump-fake is a tool that can affect defenders on the back-end as well as guys trying to track him down, to make them look silly

+ The Tarheel coaches didn’t present him many answers vs. the blitz and he took sacks that he might not have if there was something built in – when the defense did declare on dummy-counts, he typically punished them for it

+ Watching the UNC tape, as good as Maye’s counting numbers were, they could’ve been significantly better if receivers were able to break away from their guys, were more friendly in terms of adjusting their routes or passes didn’t just go off their hands a couple of times every game, which he was charged for interceptions that weren’t actually on him at all

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Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

+ So light on the balls of his feet bouncing around and consistently maintains a throw-ready posture, even as plays enter the secondary phase

+ Can bob and weave around the pocket, to create secondary plays, along with having the innate feel for how the picture is going to develop

+ Even as he’s got somebody wrapped his legs, there are times where Maye is able to still put throws on the money

+ Capable of creating a lot of torque and delivering the ball on the money across his body and against the direction he’s moving

+ More elusive than you might think, dipping away from bodies and slipping through creases – made some insane plays extending and finding escape paths before taking off as a runner himself, altering directions suddenly

+ Decisive when he does decide to take off himself and has some shocking wiggle to him, to make the first man miss

+ Bounces off some glancing shots and shrugs off guys trying to twist him down from the side, while being really tough to get a shot on QB sneaks in short-yardage and goal-line situations

+ Accounted for 42 conversions on third and fourth downs with his legs over the last two seasons combined

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Weaknesses:

– Can be a little bit robotic with his mechanics with an error in the system, where he locks out his front-foot and doesn’t always get himself aligned to the target, which see his ball-placement suffer as a result of that

– Clicks his heels and drifts inside the pocket quite a bit, which creates more favorable angles for opposing pass-rushers, and he’s a little too early to take off when he has a chance to take an extra hitch and allow receivers to clear the coverage

– Regularly is a beat late on throws to guys who are tightly covered, but would create a small opening for the ball at the break-point and the separates that second hand from it, as he double-clutches at times (even if it’s understandable that he didn’t trust those guys a whole lot)

– Would benefit from getting to his checkdown a little bit quicker if nothing is available down the field and he just needs to keep the offense moving – let coverage dictate taking the free yardage

– Definitely has some hero ball tendencies that he needs to calibrate heading into the pros, where he still trusts his arm to whistle in balls with the window already closing or is still looking down the field with a defender wrapped around his legs, instead of throwing it away

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Drake Maye has officially become the most overthought prospect in this draft. Yes, there are certainly things that need to be cleaned up in terms of his footwork and some of the subsequent (odd) misses, having to recreate that trust in his new teammates to not always put on the superman cape and some of the uber-aggressive decisions. However, I would rather have a guy who is willing to push the envelope and create big plays for my team than trying to instill that confidence to it rip. And something that isn’t brought up enough – only one of the interceptions he threw last season came on third or fourth down. So he wasn’t just throwing balls up there, but rather was trying to move the sticks and put points on the board, whilst being pressured on 33.5% of dropbacks over the past two seasons and dealing with a receiving corp with only one guy (Josh Downs) that I would’ve selected earlier than the fifth round – and even that guy he only had for 11 total games. What he offers in terms of size, arm talent, composure and mobility is exactly what the NFL is constantly looking for, even if he may be a little rough around the edges. That’s why I’d still be surprised if he isn’t the second player off the board and think it would be a mistake to take any of the other names on this list, who I believe are clearly a tier down from him.

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3. Bo Nix, Oregon

6’2”, 215 pounds; RS SR

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Nix came in as a top-100 recruited freshman with Auburn and won his first career game in a huge showdown versus Oregon with a game-winning TD pass to Seth Williams – the start of one of the most productive connections in the SEC from that point on. Over 8000 combined passing and rushing yards (800 on the ground) and 57 touchdowns later (versus 16 interceptions), he ended up transferring to the Ducks. He had a tremendous debut season for Oregon, with career-highs across the board – 71.9 completion percentage, 3593 passing yards, 29 passing TDs (versus seven INTs), plus rushing yards and 14 scores on the ground. Yet, his numbers were even more spectacular this past season, completing 77.4% of his passes for 4508 yards (9.6 YPA) and 45 touchdowns compared to only three interceptions, along with another six scores on the ground. He “only” finished third in the Heisman voting, but the Pac-12 recognized him as their Offensive Player of the Year over Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. – the only team Oregon lost to (twice).

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Physical make-up & arm talent:

+ Was far from a pin-point passer when he came in, but has really improved with his consistency in accuracy and has become a much more capable pocket passer

+ While the Oregon offense feasted on spacing and leverage advantages underneath, Nix has some highly impressive layered throws on tape, to beat defenders below and just behind the target

+ Correctly reads and places the ball beautifully away from defenders on slot fade routes

+ Has no issues driving the ball to the sideline whilst rolling to either side, getting his shoulders squared up when going left, to hit even deep outs and comebacks

+ Delivers some real zingers into the honey-hole against soft cover-two looks

+ Can put plenty of mustard on the ball whilst on the move, being able to fire the ball into his guys on the sideline, even with a defender on their back-hip or he may be releasing off the wrong foot

+ Finished just 0.1% behind the top mark for adjusted completion percentage among all QBs with 100+ dropbacks in 2022 (82.3%) and then set the record for raw completion percentage for a season this past year (77.4%)

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Processing & decision-making:

+ His ability to play on time and target in a more traditional dropback offense his first year at Oregon was stunning for me, in particular with the quick decision-making necessary for their spread approach

+ You give him off-coverage on the outside and he will just hammer away with his hitches and speed-outs all day long

+ Regularly beats defenders with the throw, as they’re driving on the route and the ball is placed away from those guys, also allowing them to spin/turn away for yards after the catch

+ The way he adds in that extra hitch to give his receivers to break open as they work across the field or generally towards grass was big in 2022 – You saw great patience on several occasions on muddy looks when they ran mesh concepts and he needed to let those get sorted out, at times with receivers running into each other

+ Tremendous with maintaining a vertical passing stature throughout, with his front-shoulder tilted up a little bit, before flipping it out to his back, as the defense is now drawn way back and it leads to some massive gains

+ Showcases impressive awareness for guys dropping out of overloaded looks and then the patience to slide away from pressure and allow his receivers to clear those guys, understanding they’ll simply get to a spot

+ Nix has become so much more mature with just throwing the ball out of bounds as he’s approaching the sideline or dirting it to the feet of his back, indicated by an FBS-low 1.0% turnover-worthy play rate in 2023

+ Massively improved his play under pressure in year one with the Ducks, with the same PFF grade in those situations (70.8) as Alabama’s Bryce Young, and then improved that to an insane mark of 91.2 last season – only Jayden Daniels and HE HIMSELF put up a better overall passing grade than that

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Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

+ Has that mindset of extending plays and creating explosives, with the slippery ability to set up those opportunities

+ Is able to direct back towards the line of scrimmage after getting sideways and hitting receivers streaking vertically

+ When he does throw balls off platform and even across his body at times, he typically does so pulling his targets back down and away from coverage

+ Understands how to manipulate rush angles in order to set up lanes for himself to slice through, often times pulling them too far up the field and then taking off

+ Was an elite sack-avoider at Oregon, registering the eighth-lowest pressure-to-sack conversion rate among all FBS QBs with 100+ dropbacks each of the past two seasons (6.5 and 7.6% respectively)

+ Features the mobility to get away from the rush the rip off big chunks if you play man or don’t have a spy on him – You better be disciplined in your rush lanes

+ Pulls his feet out of the grasp of would-be tacklers from the side regularly, averaging 9.6 yards per scramble and producing first downs on 67 of his 100 total carries over the past two years combined

+ Has the burst to get out to the corner if edge defenders take a couple of shuffle steps inside against read option plays with a tight-end leading after coming across the formation and stuff like that – definitely helps out his backs with the way he carries out play-fakes and pulls edge defenders with him due to the potential of him getting around the edge on zone read and similar concepts

+ Recognizes where the bubble is for the defensive line and how he can squeeze through in order to convert in short-yardage on sneak plays

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Weaknesses:

– You see him pat the ball and make himself vulnerable for getting stripped a lot, if the primary read isn’t there – which it was with great frequency

– Just blindly trusts play designs at times and even though they’re clearly not there, just pulling the trigger anyway – Georgia’s defenses have eaten Nix alive, understanding where those offenses wanted to attack them and having people in those areas

– Gained more yards on screens (749) than any other QB in the FBS and you rarely see him throw those intermediate routes to either sideline, with a bottom-ten mark in percentage of air yards (38.8%)

– Not somebody who will re-set his base working through progressions without moving off the spot, becoming a first-read-and-create type of QB

– You’d still like to see Nix still calm his feet and use intricate, subtle movement around the pocket more efficiently

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While you don’t really see this type of profile project well to the pro level, considering Bo set the NCAA record for quarterbacks with 60 collegiate starts, the continued growth he’s showcased has turned around the opinions of a lot of analysts – including me – who didn’t consider him a serious draft profile a few years ago at Auburn still. I never thought we’d see him operate this cleanly and pick apart defenses as a pre-snap decision-maker as he did in Oregon’s spread passing attack. Because Nix was asked to play a lot more in-structure and work underneath, has made people forget he can absolutely attack all areas of the field and that he’s more than capable of creating second-reaction plays whilst breaking the rules of the defense. That’s what makes him intriguing to me, because I believe he has the requisite arm talent and now also mental capacities to work the entirety of the field, while still having that playmaker gene and being able to pick up crucial yardage himself if necessary. Seeing him struggle so much with consistent accuracy during the Senior Bowl certainly damped that enthusiasm to some degree, but considering how much he was able to rely on guys being in specific spots these past two seasons with the Ducks, it is somewhat understandable. I believe for a team that wants him to be that triggerman rather than condensing formations and not giving him a lot of clean pictures – which will be a challenge to adjust with less on his plate based on offensive designs and defensive looks – he can be a quality starter for a long time worthy of going in the mid- to late-first round.

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4. Jayden Daniels, LSU

6’3”, 210 pounds; SR

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The third-highest ranked quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class, Daniels completed 60.7 percent of his passes for just under 3000 yards and 17 touchdowns versus two INTs as a true freshman at Arizona State. He only appeared in four games of a shortened 2020 season and put up pretty much the same per-game numbers, before elevating his completion percentage to 65.4% as a junior, but his yards per attempt (7.9) went down and he tossed the same number of TDs as INTs (ten each). Daniels transferred to LSU ahead of the 2022 season and led the Tigers to an SEC title game appearance, accounting for over 2900 yards and seven TDs versus only three INTs through the air, along with nearly 900 yards and 11 TDs on the ground. This past season he took his game to a new level, putting up new career-highs in completion rate (72.2%), passing yards (3812), yards per attempt (11.7), rushing yards (1134), yards per carry (8.4) and total touchdowns (50), whilst only throwing four interceptions. That earned him the Heisman trophy.

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Physical make-up & arm talent:

+ Despite having that lanky build, Daniels packs a pretty compact release and clean, repeatable mechanics

+ Can whip the ball out in a hurry if his receivers are about to get to voided space on spot or sit routes, where you see his speed up his drop and get his feet set in a hurry

+ Delivers the ball on time and target on deeper in-breaking routes, being able to beat driving safeties with the throw

+ Has the whippy arm to hit guys in the chest on wrap-around and digs after clearing the underneath defense

+ Doesn’t need a lot of space to hitch up and create velocity as a thrower and even when he has to retreat, he has the flexible arm to deliver with a high trajectory

+ Very accurate outside the numbers on vertical shots and was one of the most effective slot fade throwers college football has ever seen when you take his 2023 highlight reel, dropping them perfectly into the bucket – hit three touchdowns exactly that way to start the 2023 Ole Miss game

+ Took advantage of his bigger targets in the red-zone and goal-to-go situations, delivering the ball helmet or higher

+ Shows the flexibility on pocket-movement stuff to roll one way yet deliver the ball to a target that is level to him on a horizontal level seemingly effortlessly

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Processing & decision-making:

+ What you like about Daniels inside the pocket is that he rarely bails but rather climbs up and then takes off through lanes that present itself to him

+ Yet if the middle is clean, he will bounce on the spot and can push the ball way down the field as his receivers break free late

+ Consistently reads leverage the right way and makes the correct decision on spacing concepts

+ Got better last season at progressing to in-cuts from the backside if he didn’t like what happened to the field (with trips sets)

+ Quick to get his cleats into the ground speed up his process by replacing a blitzer or attacking voided space on coverage rotations

+ Correctly reads leverage of his receivers on go balls, whether he allows them extra room to detach or puts a lower trajectory on it when hitting them back-shoulder

+ Shows the ability to get split-field safeties turned the wrong way with the direction of his helmet and shoulder-fakes

+ When he does take and miss shots down the field late, it’s always to where the pass falls incomplete, rather than giving defenders chances to make plays on it

+ His 0.6% turnover-worthy play rate in 2022 was the lowest mark among all FBS quarterbacks with 100+ dropbacks and his 1.6% rate in 2023 was tied for fourth-lowest, compared to the third-highest big-time throw rate (8.4%)

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Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

+ Does a nice job of manipulating rush angles by gaining further deep and forcing defenders to overrun him, as he works back up towards the line of scrimmage

+ Electric dual-threat QB, who can eat up ground quickly as a runner and looks like he’s gliding as he goes horizontally or vertically

+ On designed carries, he understands how to get second-level defenders to commit or D-linemen to peak inside of blocks, before making them wrong for doing so

+ The subtle adjustments on the fly without ever losing speed was something that showed up over and over again, as he efficiently navigated around bodies in space and took advantage of his teammates helping him out by landing blocks down the field

+ This guy is one of the most slippery moves you will ever find, where routinely you feel like he will be taken down, but somehow he gets by defenders

+ Has that ability to make tacklers miss in a phonebooth frequently by putting on the breaks in a heartbeat and making guys fly by

+ Never feels like he’s straining as a runner, getting away from defenders in second gear and routinely pulling his knees up and feet out of the grasp of would-be tacklers

+ Displays true angle-destroying speed when he splits defenders in the back-seven or strides down the sideline

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Weaknesses:

– Lacks some rhythm to his drops, to where the ball comes out in order to hit timing-based routes right as they come out of the break and too often places the ball slightly behind his targets on crossers or flat routes, slowing down his guys and negating big YAC opportunities

– Still very much a one-read-and-go quarterback, who was able to turn a lot of plays into positives thanks to his legs without reading the field and on nearly half the snaps where he’s asked to move off the spot, he ends up running instead of becoming a “pocket play-maker” who keeps his eyes up even as he moves around

– Registered a pressure-to-sack conversation rate of above 20% in all five seasons as a starter and last season in particular, only 50.6% of his pressured dropbacks even resulted in a pass attempt, speaking to his eyes dropping once he sees any color flashing

– Until this past season, he tended to be too conservative as a decision-maker and had drives stall on him, because he wouldn’t attempt more tight window throws, while in 2023 the answer a lot of times was taking shots outside to his two incredible receivers, who came through for him constantly

– 49% of his total passing yards that year came on hitches or fades – His willingness to attack and the accuracy at doing so over the middle of the field is very limited

– The comparison to Johnny Knoxville some people have made is very fitting when he takes off, looking at how he’ll run into defenders like a young Josh Allen, as if he wasn’t super skinny and somebody might snap him in half

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Since the most common comparison for Daniels is two-time Ravens MVP Lamar Jackson, I have to say that it was unfair to put these on the same level as far as their Heisman campaigns are concerned, considering the difference in weapons those two had around each other, as well as how it relates to their NFL projection. Jayden has shown continued improvement in terms of ball-placement, in particular attacking the defense vertically, and as a decision-maker. As I like to say with true dual-threat guys, his legs can buy him time for the development that has to make place mentally, as it provides an additional element – as long as he learns how to protect himself. I do however believe that he still has a long road ahead of him as a progression-style passer and problem solver when opposing teams are able to take that dimension away from him structurally. As incredible as Daniels’ numbers were during that Heisman campaign, he was 1-3 vs. ranked opponents and in blowout wins over Georgia State, Army and Grambling State, he put up 17 TDs and no INTs. With his willingness to hang in the pocket, I can see him putting up some big numbers if he adds more touch throws on the intermediate level to his arsenal and is paired up with an offensive play-caller who can enhance his strengths, but I believe there’s a steep drop from the top tier of Caleb Williams and Drake Maye when you think about the different avenues through which they can win.

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5. Michael Penix Jr., Washington

6’3”, 220 pounds; RS SR

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Just outside the top-500 overall recruits in 2018, Penix ended up redshirting his true freshman season three games in for him due to a torn ACL. Over the next two seasons, he completed 61.6 percent of his passes for over 3000 yards and 24 touchdowns versus eight interceptions, plus four more TDs on the ground. Penix threw a couple of pick-sixes against Iowa in the 2021 season-opener and was lost for the year in the Maryland game (fourth week in) unfortunately, before deciding to transfer to Washington ahead of the 2022 season, where he re-established himself to the nation, with career-bests across the board (65.3 completion %age, 4641 yards and 31 TDs vs. 8 INTs), making him the second-team All-Pac-12 selection behind Heisman winner Caleb Williams. This past year, not only did he make first-team all-conference, but also finished behind only LSU’s Jayden Daniels for the Heisman Trophy and All-American ballots, whilst receiving the Maxwell award, given to the best quarterback in the country.

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Physical make-up & arm talent:

+ Has a rocket launcher attached to his left shoulder, which enables him to threaten the whole field and test tight windows as well as drop it into the bucket for streaking receivers

+ At Washington, you were able to see his balls cut through the wind on days while the quarterback on the other side struggled, splitting hook-linebackers and safeties in two-high looks with absolute lasers regularly

+ Fully capable of launching the ball from one hash all the way towards the opposite sideline to drop it into the bucket for guys on slot fade routes

+ He’s not afraid of far-hash throws in the 10-19 yard range and he really rips those deep curls and digs that other quarterbacks are hesitant with at times

+ Capable of speeding up his release process and getting the ball out with his feet not aligned at all as he’s just getting into his dropback, when he sees an easy access throw present itself, even outside the numbers

+ Has the ability to alter his arm slots and side-arm some RPO slants/glance routes after riding the back initially or get it out quicker from his hip on guys sitting down in voids of zone coverage

+ When throwing the ball over the head of shallow zone defender, you see him add some arc to those balls and not allow guys to just get a hand on it

+ You can do some pocket movement stuff and ask him to launch the ball to guys way across the field, where he features a quick shoulder turn to get set up

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Processing & decision-making:

+ His ball-placement generally is often to where only his receiver can get their hands on it, leading guys towards the sideline or putting it high and away from the position of the defender – Just one of his 20+ yard passing attempts was deemed “turnover-worthy” by PFF, which was actually picked off

+ Recognizes when a corner has his back turned and isn’t in position to defend the back-shoulder fade, constantly giving guys the upper hand on those

+ Even though that Ryan Grubb offense thrived on attacking down the field, it also accentuated Penix’s ability to tear apart static defensive looks, whether it’s pre-snap alignment advantages or how they put shallow zone defenders into conflict

+ Does well to get single-high safeties turned the wrong way, in order to let it fly towards the opposite sideline

+ Has those big 10.5-inch hands to make those full-on hard pump fakes with his second hand off the ball and he sets up shot plays very well, where he may fake a screen one way and then quickly re-sets to fire backside post routes

+ Doesn’t need a whole lot of space to spread the ball all across the field like a garden sprinkler, sort of shooting from the hip

+ Not afraid to hang in the pocket with the walls kind of closing away, to allow routes to develop and fire the ball in there

+ There were so many plays where Penix stood in until the last possible moment with a rusher barreling in and pulling that quick trigger to whip throws

+ Led the FBS with 43 big-time throws last season – eight more than any other QB (Drake Maye) – yet only had a 2.0% turnover-worthy rate (tied for 12th)

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Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

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The rest of the analysis can be found !

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6. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan

6’3”, 215 pounds; JR

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7. Spencer Rattler, South Carolina

6’0”, 210 pounds; RS SR

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8. Michael Pratt, Tulane

6’2”, 210 pounds; SR

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9. Jordan Travis, Florida State

6’1”, 200 pounds; RS SR

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10. Devin Leary, Kentucky

6’1”, 215 pounds; RS SR

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Incredible potential:

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Joe Milton III, Tennessee

6’5”, 245 pounds; RS SR

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The next names up:

Kedon Slovis (BYU), Austin Reed (Western Kentucky), Taulia Tagovailoa (Maryland), Gavin Hardison (UTEP), Carter Bradley (South Alabama) & Michael Hiers (Samford)

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If you enjoyed this article, please visit & feel free to check out my video on the !

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Twitter: @ halilsfbtalk

Instagram: @ halilsrealfootballtalk

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Hi everyone! I'm a senior in college and for my final stat project, I decided to consider if we can accurately predict the order of the NFL Draft. As part of the project, I need to collect data and I figured this thread would be a great place to get a wide range of fans that are both passionate and knowledgeable about the draft. I would greatly appreciate if y'all could help me out! Thank you!