NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 163. Final QB Rankings For The 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through their final Top 5 quarterbacks for the 2023 NFL Draft, with plenty of talk about which quarterbacks round out their Top 10s as well.

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we are giving you our final quarterback rankings for the 2023 NFL draft you guys know the drill we're going from five to one saving the suspense for last me and Connor going back and forth talking about who we have as our top five quarterbacks.

But of course, those who have listened to the program and ranking episodes before know that we'll talk about some guys who just missed out on the top five, guys who are rounding out the top 10. We're going to talk about as many quarterbacks in as much detail as possible. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers joining you for what is the

first installment of many in which we go through our final positional rankings as we ramp up to the 2023 NFL draft. Connor and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago as we were setting up the schedule and we're like, man, we'd love the guest mock draft series. And we know a lot of you out there loved it too. But when it came to the end of the series, it was draft week and we realized we hadn't given you guys any of our final thoughts on prospects. So we kind of wanted to prioritize that a little bit this year, see if that works going into next year and the years to follow. But I am excited to get back to it because I really like doing these rankings episodes. Connor, I know you like it as well. And of course, we had to start with the position that everybody

talks about at quarterback. So how you doing, my friend? Very excited for this episode. I'm good, man. I am too. It's about time, right? And I like that we waited this long because here's the reality. Our quarterback thoughts are so layered in this show, going back to last May or June. We're like, hey, we really, and I know we did top fives then, but throughout the entire year, we do mock drafts. They're highlighted by quarterbacks. When we have conversations in trades, they're highlighted by quarterbacks. So a lot of you listening probably know that, you know, we really like Bryce Young or CJ Stroud and we'll get into, um, the depth of this class quite a bit as well. But it is one of those groups that it's worth waiting on. There are some surprises, I think in this class, when you get into the tape compared to narratives, it feels like around

this quarterback class, there is a pretty good consensus building at the top, but we'll see how it goes today, Trevor. And it's, I'll say this, after last year, where you and I were doing this podcast together, it is very nice and refreshing to have multiple top quarterbacks at the top of a draft again. Oh, yes. Now, to be fair, we still talked about quarterbacks a lot last year.

Oh, yeah, we did. We just didn't talk about them in the same light that we get to talk about these guys. You guys know the format. If you've listened to this show before, what Connor and I will do, this is every ranking episode. We're going to go from five to one, give you our top five guys. But then, of course, at the end of the show, we watched a lot of these players. And so we'll give you our thoughts and some players that we think are just outside the top five

because they're a little bit further down the list. With this being, when we say final, I really say final. It's just like we're not going to dedicate a full episode to just this position again. I think that when you and I get to our final big boards on draft week, that's going to be the opportunity where we really get to say, OK, I've got this quarterback, this depth quarterback slotted exactly here. boards on draft week that's going to be the opportunity where we really get to say okay i've got this quarterback this depth quarterback slotted exactly here this is where i see them in the class this is where i see them um overall and so you'll get a little bit more of that but when

we say final what we're really just talking about is like this is the last episode we're really gonna um devote a ton of time to it so yeah buddy i i have a bad feeling as one does we're gonna have the exact same top five but i wonder if we see these prospects a little bit differently i wonder if we have them tiered a little bit differently have them in different buckets different groups different outlooks and so as i try to do i'm gonna give you the floor i going to allow you to start things off and kick it off here at number five. Who is your number five quarterback in this 2023 NFL draft class? I think the tiering system helps, right? Because, yeah, I do feel a consensus building around.

So in tier three for me at QB five, and it was a lot closer than I expected, is Hendon Hooker. And let me tell you, Trevor, I really I did struggle with this for a while. I watched, ironically, not during the season, but in the last two weeks, I've watched way more of Hendon Hooker and Will Levis than anyone else. Like, I felt pretty comfortable with price young and CJ Stroud going back to summer and then kept up with their tape all year where, and even Anthony Richardson, when he had such a great opening to the college football season,

I'm like, this is a guy that everybody needs to watch in the first round with hooker and Levis who were on this rollercoaster this year, hooker more because of the injury. Levis more because of a lot of varying reasons. Some supporting cast, some just struggle with play. I mean, it was a little tougher to break this down. So as I stare at my big board right now,

I have Hendon Hooker at the 40th overall spot. And I've already given away Will Levis' next, which isn't shocking anyone, at 37. And they're both in Tier 3 for me. I don't. OK, we talk about the quarterback tax. These guys are probably going in the first round. And I really feel that way about Hooker, as I've said before, too. I wouldn't be shocked to see him sneak in on the back end of round one. I don't think he's in the top 10 or anything like that. These guys are tier three guys. They have flaws in their game. They're both older prospects at

the quarterback position, which is not as common typically unless you fully dominate and then you go in the first round. Joe Burrow comes to mind. So with Hooker, we'll center in on him here. Number one, really enjoyed watching him. Really did. I think that he is a lot smarter than given credit for. And what I mean by that is everybody goes,

oh, but Tennessee's offense and it's one read. And yes, I understand that. But Hooker still sees things pre-snap and is an incredibly smart player in terms of handling the football. I mean, when you just dive in. So he's got the big body, six threes, 217. He is a sixth year senior. He obviously transferred from Virginia Tech. He's got 10 and a half inch hands he's got these massive hands that he controls the football with team captain smart tough uh I mean sure he's 25 I think he's gonna turn 26 during that rookie season the mechanics and dropbacks to me are consistent and fluid with Hendon Hooker and that's experience that's comfort uh that's work ethic.

I wrote, once again, tremendous care for the football with just five interceptions on 631 pass attempts over the past two seasons. I don't care what offense you're in, what planet you're playing on, and he played in the SEC, everybody. That's incredible. And it shows up on tape, And here's the deeper look. He went from nine turnover-worthy plays in 2021 to just four in 2022. So he's getting even better with the football. I wrote, he drives the ball outside the numbers,

but he needs to cut down on passes thrown high. Ball placement is put in an advantageous area for his receivers and away from DBs. A lot of air under deep balls, but extremely effective when he pushes the ball down the field. 30 of 68 on 20 plus yard throws with 13 touchdowns and one interception. All right. I just talked about a guy you think is going number one overall besides the age.

So let's get into where it's not all sunshine and rainbows for Hendon Hooker. He's got to get better under pressure. It's bad. And it's not, uh, it's not, you know, obviously undraftable. It's not day three bad. It's a fact though, that he was only pressured on 23.6% of his dropbacks. He completed only 51.2% of the passes. His, uh, yards per attempt went down to 6.9 and here's the last one he took 27 sacks that is a lot of holding on to the football and for somebody that he's an interesting athlete right i don't think he has incredible escapability in terms of quick twitch but when he does get room to run wide out of the pocket he's got long striding build-up speed so he's not this quick twitch escape artist and I think when we talk about Bryce Young that's in his game a little

bit where it's shoulder dip it's quick feet reset in the pocket with hooker it's a little bit longer but when he gets going down the field that's why he can break off these 20 plus yard runs because he's got long speed and that brings me to the 566 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 2022. He also fumbled seven times, but I loved that buildup speed. So with hooker, your concerns are of course, improving under pressure. The fact that he will turn 26 during the season next year, and he's coming off the ACL, but the guy has all the traits you could ask for at the position. And I think in the right mold, assuming health, he is going to be a starter at some point in the future. And in hooker, I think does get too much crap for the offense that he's in because high

being open and him throwing a deep ball. And those are those are his words at the combine yeah you know there is something to look buddies in an offense where josh hypo was in his bag the last two years and these guys are open and he's hitting them and i think that because you cannot just throw all of his good production and statistics out of the window because of that but what does give me hesitancy with Hennon Hooker, and I'll explain where I have him because I do have him number five, but I'll tell you, he's a lot closer to Tanner McKee, who I have at six,

than he is at Will Levis, who I have at four. And the reason why is because when pressure ramped up, as you mentioned, when the throwing windows got tight, the ball placement started to escape him. And you could tell he just he was not as naturally accurate with the football when things were not in structure. So I don't want to take away from the good that Hendon Hooker does, but when things become out of the structure, whether it was beyond the first read or whether the safety was coming downhill a little bit quicker than he thought or the pressure was in his face and he had to get rid of the ball

a little bit sooner than timing or whatever it was, whenever that throwing window got smaller, I felt like you watched his effectiveness, which is what a lot of people are going to boast with Hennon Hooker. You watch that effectiveness drop pretty significantly, at least in the four games that I was able to watch of him. So I think that that's something that's a major talking point of him for sure. I thought the arm was

pretty adequate is is the way that i have it in my scouting report i don't think it's anything it's going to be like a major liability but he's certainly not pushing the ball like stroud and like levis and and um and anthony richardson are but um i i think that think that the arm strength is adequate dude what was up with the the the feet just going into quicksand at times do you do you catch on that why i don't understand like he would hike the ball and then all of a sudden his feet would plant and there's there's guys like flying all around him and he's just a statue and he's staring at where he wants to go now some of that is rhythm some of that is timing where he's making sure that his foot's in the ground when he needs to release the football

and i understand that you still could be a lot lighter on your feet and it wasn't an always thing with him but it did happen a lot more than i thought it was going to and so the footwork was a little odd the throwing motion in the release though beautiful he's got the big hands you can tell he's got a really good grip on the football it's got a tight spiral that's how it's allowed to go far deep down the field with that kind of high trajectory on it. It's a really pretty pass when it comes off of his hand. But yeah, I mean, when I look at Hooker and when I think of his evaluation, I also had him in, where's my tiers here? I had him in tier three, but I also have two other quarterbacks in tier three. Okay. And that's Tanner McKee and Aiden O'Connell actually is the other one who I have,

who Aiden would be seven for me right now. Now within the tiers, I will say this, because we're going to get to this and I'm going to have to clarify this again. Even though I kind of see them in the same bucket, I do have a clear one, two, three within the bucket. It's not just these guys are all in one tier, pick one, it doesn't matter. It's some of them are further along. Some of them are for certain systems.

Some of them have different pros and cons. But ultimately, I feel like the ceiling is somewhat similar for these quarterbacks. And when I looked at Hennon Hooker, I don't think I have the faith that he can be a consistent starter at the NFL level. And even if he gets the opportunity to become the starter, I wonder if he's not going to have a play style. That's always going to be like, but can we do better? Cause you know how that happens with quarterbacks where, you know, know shoot even we're talking about it with gino smith right now right gino smith that's who he that's his spec like high-end spectrum to me okay okay when i watch hen and hooker i'm like and i've watched a lot of gino in my life i scouted him when he was at west virginia he was drafted by the jets

right he started to turn the corner with the jets and then he got punched in the jaw and it took a long time after that not metaphorically either folks not metaphorically yeah no no no no no no no like literally he hennon hooker's best reminds me of seattle gino to a t so and and that's kind of where i come back to with hennon hooker is gino just had an awesome season and they're still thinking about replacing him when they got a higher draft pick so that's what gives me a little bit of hesitation with loving hooker as much as some other people have draft mock drafting him really high whether it's you know tanenbaum who had him in the top five or um i think dj's had him in his first round as well the vikings which is not that late like and no when you and I have talked on the show and said,

we feel like Henning Hooker could be a back end of the first round pick. And I still agree with that, but remember boards and rankings are done with our eyes. Mocs are done with our ears. So it's always going to be a little bit different there. The way that I see Henning Hooker is I see him as a short-term starter. I see him as a guy who can give you starter ability. Is he going to be a guy that you invest in?

I didn't have enough faith outside of ideal situations and structure within that offense to tell me that that would be the case. So that's the way I view him. I got him as QB5, but he is in that third tier, along with Tanner McKee, along with Aiden O'Connell as those guys that are behind the top four guys. Yeah. I think it's funny how we get places, right?

I don't know how we got to here with Hendon hooker. And when I say we, I don't mean you and I, Trevor, I mean the consensus that, you know, he's a first round quarterback. And I feel the same way about number four for me.

And we'll let this then, but it's just, it's the cost of doing business at the position and you have the traits to play. You're going to go in the first round and with Levis and hooker, there are a lot of warts in their game that I would love them in the second round where I can develop them on my time, where I don't have to put them in the spotlight

right away where I can let things breathe for them and I don't know if hooker by nature is getting that because he's hurt right like that's not that's not a good thing that's not a good reason yeah so that it's tough it's really tough how the evaluation of quarterbacks is fascinating to me. And I've missed plenty. I've always said that. But it's funny when you classify a guy like when Jordan Love was coming out, right? I had Jordan Love that year in the back end of the first round. That's the only time I could think of.

I looked at a guy and I was like, I love his tools. He needs time. Maybe he's had too much time. He needs time. And if he goes to the back end of the first round he'll be afforded that luxury of time and that's exactly what's happened to him that doesn't happen to anyone else that you classify that way anymore right ever so and it won't honestly it won't happen to will levis i don't think i don't think he's going to be given these like two years of

you know probably not and probably not yeah right right so i i think it think just to kind of wrap it up with Hooker as we move on to Will Levis, I don't really care about the age. I'm going to be honest. Doesn't matter to me. The age comes into account if you're drafting him in the top 10. Where I think Henn and Hooker is going to get drafted, maybe end of the first round, certainly somewhere on day two.

I don't really care about that. I'm going to be honest. I don't really care about the age because some guys are just late bloomers. Like, would you rather have a player be good when they're young? Yes, that's why those guys declare early and they get drafted early because normally their talent is standing out at a young age. So I don't really care about the age. I don't really care about the injury either I don't really care about the injury either if I'm gonna be honest I I think that what really is the reason why I've got him at number five and

the opinion that I have on Hedden Hooker is simply because when he was healthy and when he was in his best situation there were still things about his game that as a was he a fifth year quarterback sixth year quarterback whatever it was I was like this feels like who you are. If this, if Tennessee is like your best case scenario, your best situation, where we saw the best of you, and I still see some things that give me a little bit of hesitation, that's what makes me feel like at best, he's going to be a short-term starter, short-term starter in the NFL, a guy that you're probably going to look to upgrade as years go on, but absolutely a preferred high-end backup at the very least in this league.

Which is really valuable. I can't say it enough. It really like- Yeah, sure. A high-end backup these days is worth a second round pick. You just got to evaluate it properly, right? Call it what it is. Yeah, don't use hyperbole to extend that.

All right, so let's get into Will Levis. And I really want you to start with this one because I wrote a book on Hennon Hooker on mine and I don't want to just take the floor every time. But I will just say before you go, I had Levis in tier three. I have Hennon Hooker in tier three. Levis to me is a top of second round pick

that will be taken in the top 10. Okay, so I have Levis in tier two levis to me is a top of second round pick that will be taken in the top 10 okay so i have levis in tier two with anthony richardson but i like i said before i clearly have anthony richardson above will levis even within this tier tier two a i get right i guess i could have if you want to take tears literally i guess i could have, if you want to take tiers literally, I guess I could have gone the first two guys in the first bucket, Richardson in his own tier, Will Levis in his own tier, and then we go further. Maybe I could have done that, but. Hey, you still can. You know what the beauty of it is? I still can.

You still can. The reason why I put them both in tier two is because I gave them the same tag, and that is developmental starter. I feel like both Anthony Richardson and Will Levis can be developmental starters in the league. Probably going to need a little bit of time, going to need those reps, going to take some lumps, if you will, have some struggles,

but I feel like they are going to be developmental starters and eventually be starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Again, I take Richardson above Levis, which we'll get to in a second, but that is how I have them, and that's where the tears are for them. Levis, not breaking any news here. Elite arm.

I mean, he has some plays that are just stupid, the way that he is able to attack deep down the field. But more importantly than that, the velocity, man. How he can fit that ball in between zone coverages when he gets – man, when he can anticipate even better than what he is right now i feel like that is going to be a major asset because he has the arm to be able to attack attack vertically against man and to really hit tight windows when it comes to zone so that's why when we talk about a high ceiling of a quarterback and arm talent that's what you're looking for a guy who can really attack both of those different coverage schemes like that i want to say this about levis too his supporting cast

sucked i mean was terrible that offensive line was abysmal not even close to even what it was last year he had no running game to lean on his wide receivers were dropping passes left and right every single week i mean outside of maybe tanner mckee who i know i'll get to at the end of the episode a little bit more i don't know if any quarterback draftable that we're talking about in this conversation had a worse supporting cast there's no way levis could have even improved this past o'connell but i know we might not get all the way there okay that's fair that's fair too but when i look at levis and when people look at this past year and go how are we talking about but I know we might not get all the way there. Okay. That's fair. That's fair too. But when I look at Levis and when people look at this past year and go,

how are we talking about this guy as a first round pick? You have to, you have to remember that football is still a team game, right? Like you still need the help of your teammates. And there are times when little Levis is able, his ability is able to stand out, but there are other times when one, it doesn't allow him to stand out two it doesn't allow him to improve it wasn't even

the players around him either i thought the offensive play designs were crappy this past year i felt like he was looking in certain directions for his first read and you got wide receivers running routes that are not complementing each other that are making the throwing windows even tighter instead of trying to make them more open and i'm like what is this guy gonna do so because of that the way that i look at levis is a player with high-end tools like you mentioned who i think can attack all different areas of the field against different coverages but there is no doubt about it he is still raw in his anticipation, in how he sees the field, in how he goes through his progressions, and in his decision-making

because, quite frankly, he's basically only had one year where he's had the team around him to be able to do that, and that was last season, the one where the production, the stats, the efficiency was a lot better. And I don't say this to make excuses for him. I say it to give you context for what we see out of Will Levis right now. The biggest area of concern that I genuinely have for Levis

going into the NFL is that his arm can get him out of a lot of trouble. He thinks his arm can get him out of everything. And there are a handful of throws where he attempted them. And honestly the the

miles per hour on the ball are coming so high so fast that when they hit the defender's hands they had no chance of catching that thing and i went okay there's a turnover worthy play maybe that's different in the nfl but maybe sometimes not and sometimes not when you get guys who have absolute cannons attached to their shoulders but he he believes that his arm can get him out a lot of trouble. Now. I also wonder how much of that was frustration, right? Because how long can you go through a season and just tuck the ball or

throw it away or check it down? Cause your receivers are getting open. Cause your offensive line is not blocking for you. Cause the play design is not right before you just go damn it i'm loading up like i'm like you're gonna make a play right i'm going to make a play so that's the way that i view will levis incredible tools but definitely a guy who not a cliche to say needs some time he's gonna need some time to figure it out he's going to need some time to acclimate to having better players around him a better supporting cast that'll help him

manage the pocket better that'll help the internal clock in his head that'll help the timing um that'll help the decision making of when to tuck it when to throw it all that good stuff so i think it's in the cards for him i recognize it's a little bit of a ways away but this is still because the talent a player that you bet on and i got a late first early second round grade on him that's kind of the range that i'm at with will levis yeah i think we see eye to eye on a lot of things with him i do worry about the correctability of some of those things um i'll throw in a couple couple more things i wrote just throwing motions tight snappy i like his leg drive on sneaks and short yardage runs this dude has a lot of lower body explosion explosiveness he had a 124 inch broad jump i mean with that perspective for quarterbacks that's a

95th percentile testing metric and that's at 642 30. so if anthony richardson can almost host the pod can almost host the pod not quite sorry we'll love us honorary we like guest hosts you know yeah yeah one of us goes on vacation and we could squeeze him in next guy we're talking about can host the pod full time but we'll be like yeah he might run the podcast soon enough the thing with me trevor that was interesting uh i wrote the arm that could drive throws to the sidelines but just didn't challenge intermediate outside the numbers range he was 5 of 12 for 76 yards outside the numbers and in the middle of the field in that same range he was 29 of 45 so like and i'm not blaming will

levis for that i'm saying how do you not structure more attempts? The guy's got a howitzer. Throw outside the numbers. And maybe they didn't trust the guys running the routes, the protection. I don't know. But it's annoying. It's very frustrating. And when you try to dive into reasons why a guy can be much better at the next level, those are the little things you find.

No fear of hanging in the pocket and getting lit up. He just doesn't care. No, he's tough as nails, man. He is one of the tougher players you'll watch in this draft. I agree with you on the velocity for the tight window. I thought the middle of the field throw, surprisingly, did lack consistent accuracy. And I don't really, it's funny, I don't know if it's accuracy

because you look at his mechanics and everything seems to be pretty good. It seems like timing. Correct. It's a second late and you're like you knew where to throw the ball you did throw the ball where but you're just a second late on that guy breaking i don't know and again this is the this is the time we'll tell with will levis conversation because i don't know if he didn't trust his receivers and that's on them or if he didn't trust the timing with his receivers and that's on him I don't know because I agree with

you that is sometimes like I'm thinking of a lot of the over the middle passes where it's just a little bit behind him and you go all right well you're not really throwing the ball incorrectly you're just a little bit late. So who's that on? Is it on you? Is it on the wide receiver? Is it a combination of both? How fixable is it? That's why Will Levis is so fascinating.

He is. And to counter two things I just said, right? I said that his timing seems off on the midfield throws between the 20s. His timing on the rub routes they ran in the red zone was on the money. And if you could time that up, I'm confused like that. That's where the stakes are a little higher. So that was really weird. I did say I like his mechanics in terms of his throwing motion,

how tight and snappy it is. There are a lot of when he misses in the short intermediate, his feet are not tied to his shoulders and eyes, like just totally different directions at times. And that's the accuracy issues. And the glass half full is, well, if you clean that up, he is accurate. But if he doesn't consistently fix that mechanical issue in his base, that's why he will continue

to be inaccurate. So you got to really start from the feet, baby. Yeah, start from your base. It's all on your base it's all on your base i wrote he was pressured remember i said last time hendon hooker was pressured on like 23 or whatever it was levis was pressured on 38 of his drawbacks i mean and he only completed 52.4 of his passes on those 127 plays that that's too high that is really really high um i do fall in the line of quarterbacks sometimes create their own pressure but with him no a lot of times he's just there's a free rusher just coming to close line him from hell so i'm i have this up right now on pressure drop backs

um will levis had 127 i think if i'm I think if I have all the correct tabs here, he's got 127 drop backs in which he was pressured. Correct. The only players with more were Tanner McKee, Max Duggan, Anthony Richardson, a little bit more than that. But Will Levis had a grade under pressure of 58.1,

a passing grade under pressure. Only quarterback hire was Bryce Young. Yeah. That's's by the way people that's not bad yeah no 58.1 is really good I mean we're talking about uh Tanner McKee was 49.4 CJ Stroud was 46.2 Max Duggan 46.2 Hendon Hooker 42.1 Anthony Richardson 41.. Like when you talk about getting pressured as a collegiate quarterback, you're probably talking about something in the forties and will Levis was at 58.1, which is pretty impressive. And, and was, like I said, only behind Bryce Young. So we talked about, you talked about the drops.

He had 15 passes dropped in 2022. I made the joke about Aiden O'Connell cause he had 22 passes dropped this year, which is just hilarious. Levis, 15's a lot. That's a real lot. On the flip side, for all that arm talent, we had him with seven big-time throws this year. That's really disappointing in my eyes.

That number would be higher if he was kept clean and given a chance. But big-time throws for people not familiar with the PFF metric, they don't have to catch the ball for it to be a big-time throw. So you can't really fully blame the pass-catching supporting cast on that. That is Levis. So he's interesting, man.

He is. He's got the tools. He really reminded me of North Dakota State state carson wentz like he really did and i there was a lot of promise with wentz coming out and wentz had some big time overall yeah like everybody loved wentz i i see a very similar prospect and it's a matter of how he takes his development and how the structure where he goes develops him and uh and that's that in itself is a pretty big gamble but somebody is going to take it. I think in the top 12 picks still wanted to make sure I clarified myself.

Bryce young also had more dropbacks under pressure and will levested. And Bryce young had a 70.8 passing grade under pressure. He's insane. Folks. That is stupid. And ultimately something that we're going to get to later on in this podcast maybe we should go number one we'll get there uh number three yep yeah all right so this is anthony richardson duh i know it is for you too you said it uh he's in a tier of his own for me tier two and also tier of being godzilla or an alien or whatever it is

i mean obviously a fascinating player and maybe a player that as the draft media has gone maybe too far one way with because there are still things to clean up but there's just not a lot of guys that are 6'4 244 that run 4'4 3 that jump over 40 inches everybody knows all of that he's 20 years old i mean the closest thing I can come up with Trevor is, you know, Wyoming, Josh Allen. I don't like it's, it's really hard to draw up a comparison to Anthony Richardson that you feel so confident is, you know, spot on. But I think that development arc will have to be the same for him. He finished 2022 with 17 passing touchdowns, nine interceptions. He had 19 big time throws. Keep in mind, Levis had seven. Richardson had 19. He only completed 53% of his passes. 14

of his passes were dropped. Over 700 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns. He'll be 20 years old on draft night. Huge frame, power without limitations, extremely tough to bring down when scrambling to extend passing plays can often fall forward on designed runs, extremely comfortable throwing intermediate range of 10 to 19 yards. Where in 2022, he was 53 for 87 and averaged over 10 yards per attempt. Guys, people win in the NFL at the quarterback position from consistently hitting the 10 to 19 yard throws. You love the deep ball. You love the highlights. You love the ball security in the short range. If you can carve a team up in the 10 to 19, you're in a really good place. And Richardson is already there. 93.1 passing grade per PFF when throwing deep 20 plus yards finished the season 26 for 64 with a 15.6 ypa nine

touchdowns and only two interceptions in that range immense struggles on short throws 58 percent completion rate on 88 attempts four touchdowns five interceptions i it's bizarre it's really bizarre the good news is that's the easiest thing to get better at. The bad news is you can't survive as a starter over a 17 plus game season by being that inconsistent in the short area throws. You will kill drives by doing that. So that is the wild runaround on Anthony Richardson. I put his delivery on those short throws, lacks consistency. Like when he has the deeper stuff, Trevor,

it's like, all right, I'm setting up and like, this is who I am. Like I'm an RPG on my shoulder and it's good. And I shouldn't say RPG. It's a lock on bazooka. But the short stuff, it's like, yeah, we're just out here.

Like, and it's like, no, lock in the same way and you'll be not a perfect quarterback, but even better. He gets fixated on one route sometimes. He'll stare too long. When he misses high, he doesn't set his base. Just mechanic rep after rep. And here's the thing, guys. He has not played a lot of football in college.

So there's a reason that there's not the same consistency. He's not six years like Hendon hooker. He's not this multi-year starter, like all of these guys. Um, and the last thing I wrote is he's not just a power thrower. He dropped it in the bucket plenty of times, but he just needs to find consistency there. So I am, there's no way of saying you're risk averse at quarterback because in this world you have to be, but I definitely am a doubter at quarterback because in this world you have to be but I definitely am a doubter at quarterback more often than not and it's bitten me I was too low on Josh Allen I was too low on Justin Herbert I'm betting on this guy I really am like it's just the the floor is high because

of the running but the floor is not as low as a thrower as people think. It's really not. And I would take him in the top three and be really excited about it. I was so close to putting him in tier one. And the way I talked about it, you think he would be, but the tier one guys will get, they're just so good. I originally, I think two days ago, before I really kind of went over the list and wanted to comb things out and kind of organize it, I had him in tier one with the other two quarterbacks

that we're going to talk about. The tempting thing about Anthony Richardson are that his struggles are all correctable. They really are. All the shit that you can't teach these quarterbacks to play at the highest level he has the rushing ability to break it the broken tackles dude he had he had a 0.40 missed tackles force rate nuts the long runs the short runs the ability to extend plays the the um understanding of when to slide when to not mean, even that it's not perfect, but it's more advanced than you would think for him only being a one-year starter.

He is so incredibly talented. And I'll tell you this too. There are a lot of, yes, the accuracy needs work. I'm not, I'm again, not forgiving that. I'm not saying that he's totally fine. He's going to be good to go. It's not not an issue Florida's wide receivers were not good last year and I I think a lot of the glaring easy throws that you would see people post clips of are like for example like a three-step drop into a quick slam and I watched even just in the five games that I watched of him that happened three times all three times that was on the wide receiver but people i i don't think people would realize that instead they just go wow he missed a like he missed a slant that's not good you got to realize like slant routes are timing routes he hikes the ball he has a three step drop that

third foot's in the ground that ball's coming out and either the wide receiver is where they need to be or that ball is going to go incomplete we're going to live the fight another day whatever we're just going to go on to the next play and all three times his wide receivers i watched this did not get off press quick enough and did not hit the slant i've seen it with my eyes on on at the timing that they needed to i've watched these plays and yet richardson most of the time would get blamed for that because they just go oh man man, how'd you miss that one? That was an easy one. All of those things I think are correctable. He's throwing motions weird.

It's a little bit loopy at times. Like sometimes it could be, it could be high. It could be a super, it could be super quick and be snappy. You could love the, you could love the drop back. You could love the footwork.

A lot of times it does line up, but there are other times when sometimes he'll loop the ball a little bit more than he needs to. And another thing is that he sidearms it a little too much for my taste. Instead of that ball coming straight over and you following through with the thumb in the opposite pocket right across your chest, he follows through. But that ball's getting released almost like out further by like past where the shoulder much past where the shoulder is and i think that's where you see the accuracy issues because when he's got to put his foot in the

ground and put pace on the ball like you said he's more comfortable with it with this throwing motion but when he's got to take some off of it, that's when the inconsistency of that motion shows up because it's too inaccurate. It's not going where it needs to. It's not leading the guy where he needs to go. Sometimes he's trying to force it in a tight window or get a quick throw off and the defender gets it. But I think we got to clean up the throwing motion a little bit.

I think it's got to be a little bit higher, a little bit closer towards the shoulder, less loopy, less of a sidearm motion. But when you do that, I think that he's got the ability to figure it out. The rest of the fundamentals are there for him. So everybody out there, we don't need to highlight the ceiling of him and the highs, the talent, because everybody has seen it. It's been well talked about. But the concerns about him come with the accuracy and the consistency. And I think all those things are justifiable. And there's reason to believe that this dude's going to be incredible at the NFL level. Might take a little bit of time.

And like we talked about before on this podcast, when you start young quarterbacks and need some time to develop, it's about two things, two things make or break these guys that have all the talent in the world to make it. Not developing bad habits when you start to struggle and not getting your confidence broken. Those two things. That is why Josh Allen succeeded. That is why a wildly inconsistent quarterback that came out of Wyoming

was able to make it where we are now, where this guy's an MVP candidate and has Buffalo on a Super Bowl trajectory and a Super Bowl potential every single year. Because in the two years that he struggled in the NFL, one, they let him, right? They weren't like, hey, you know, we're going to yank this guy, get a different quarterback in here. They let him struggle, but they didn't allow him to develop some really bad habits and they didn't let his confidence get broken.

That's why Joshosh allen made it if you give anthony richardson that kind of environment i think that he can even start year one in some situations and it can work out even though i would love for him to sit behind a veteran i think that's a great route as well so those are my overall thoughts anthony richardson i was very close like i said to having him in tier one. This is a quarterback that you draft in the top 10. Yeah, I mean, I still have him as my 13th overall player. So, and you factor in the quarterback scale, like, absolutely, absolutely. And it just, it goes down development, player development,

and maybe just him getting to watch a pro operate in practice or whatever it may be. It can make him a totally different player in another year because he's so young. Oh, I wanted to say these two things too. One, for as good as he is as a rusher, he does not have a first read and bail nearly as much as you thought that you think that he would he is genuinely going through progressions for as long as he feels like he

can before he really extends that play he could run more he could he could run more and people would say look at his rushing ability and be like you should run more but i'm saying he's it's not this crutch for him you're not like trying to fix that bad habit of like, oh, one read, then I'm going to tuck it. That's not where Anthony Richardson is. So don't think that about him at all. And then the last thing that I want to say before we can move on, Connor, I really like to watch guys in succession.

I like to watch the early games in the season, go to a mid-game in the season, end of the season. Because you can physically see guys get better if they're getting better or get worse if they're getting worse or not getting any better if they're not getting any better. But you never know unless you really watch these games in order. So don't always just pick the, oh, I wanted to see him against, you know, the best competition and they play this team week eight. I would encourage you to go watch an early game first before you watch that game because of the turnover worthy plays that Anthony Richardson had nine of his 13 turnover worthy plays came within weeks one to six

from week seven on he only had four turnover worthy plays and I believe that's either six or seven games that is a sign of progression a lot lot of those bad, really bad-looking turnover-worthy plays happened in the first six weeks of him being a starter at the college football level. And from week seven on, he only had four turnover-worthy plays against some pretty dang good opponents. It's a great point. It was something that headlined my notes,

is just how much better he got as the season went on. And that's highly, highly encouraging to any evaluator in that space. So do you have Stroud number two? I do have Stroud number two. All right, so you kick off number two with Stroud because I kicked off Richardson, and then I'll kind of snake draft with my thoughts on Stroud and then I'll kick off number one.

All right, Stroud's a fun watch, man. And I'm glad that we ended the anthony richardson conversation talking about progression throughout a year because i think that fully encapsulates what i believe about cj stroud at this point in time last year i'm not gonna lie thought he was just another i hate to say it ohio state quarterback right great offensive line in front of them talented running backs to hand the ball off to phenomenal wide receivers to throw the ball to of course you have good stats right last year that's and that but that's what i thought about cj stroud last year because when pressure got in his face last year he crumbled and that was his first year as a starter but i was like man

this guy didn't have it you can rattle him so easily at the beginning of this year i watched that notre dame game on purpose and he was the same guy. You watch that Notre Dame game and CJ Stroud is missing five to 10 yard throws, easy throws, because they're flushing him out of the pocket. They're getting him off of his comfort position. And you can, you can like physically see he's like tense. Like his whole body is tense when he's trying to throw the ball. And then he's trying to force it to a certain spot. And it's either hitting the dirt or it's not even close to where the receiver needs to catch the ball.

And you just see him get really stressed when he got pressure. And I was like, man, this is what I feel like CJ Stroud is. You watch the middle of the year. Okay. A little bit less of that. And then I specifically went and watched not just the georgia game but i watched the michigan game before the georgia game he's a different quarterback he is somebody who understands how to stay calm collected and confident under pressure and connor

those were in two games that they lost and i was the most impressed impressed with CJ Stroud in those games against the best competition in losing efforts because I felt like he was somebody who, when pressure mounted before, I didn't think that he was somebody that you could lean on and count on. Now I do. Or at least now I have faith that that's in the cards for him. It might be a little bit more of a learning process once again once you get to the pros because it's a totally different skill level. But I've got faith that this guy can be

somebody that you count on when your back is against the wall and in non-ideal circumstances. He's got the frame, he's got the size, and he's got a good arm. It's not elite like Richardson Levis, but it's a good arm. I think he can really drive it to the sideline, hit those comebacks, hit those back shoulders. He can obviously stretch the field as well. He can hit in that very, very important 10 to 19 intermediate range. And that's kind of the way that I see him. And because of that, I think that he has a really high ceiling going into the NFL. I think he could be a really consistent quarterback and a good starter for a long time.

I've got a year one starter label on him because of how encouraged I was of what I saw at the end of the year. Could that be fool's gold? Maybe it is. And that's why I'm talking to you guys right now about the context of Stroud. Maybe those two games just happen to be two really good games and he reverts a little bit when he gets to the NFL. But if what we saw at the end of 2022 is where the starting point is for Stroud and he will build on that, I'm telling you, you're going to get a really good quarterback at the next level. So that's how I viewed him. I'm eye to eye with you.

This was my number one quarterback coming out of summer and somehow he only lost some ground, but it's not really because of anything he did, because I do think he got better this year. It's just number one was so special in everything that he does. So, I mean, here's the thing with Stroud, Trevor. He is just such a good rhythm thrower. Everything is very polished. He's excellent in the pocket.

He is very aware that he needs to threaten with his legs more. I do think he obviously, duh, lacks the upside of Richardson because Richardson's dynamic rushing threat is just so special. But with Stroud, I don't think Richardson will ever become the natural thrower to every single layer of field that Stroud is. And that's why he was a no-brainer number two for me. And a guy guy that i have let me pull up my overall rankings right now where he sits he sits as my eighth overall player and honestly i i mean he could really be in the top five when all is said and done i just i've been messing a little bit with that top 10 but trying not to move it too much but you do have to protect him like what i'll say what stroud is

i don't want to lean one way too far because of the Georgia game. I think it's a huge step, but you're right. Like you package the entire season sample size and go, there are still times that you would like to see him react better under pressure, which we'll get to the next guy on that. And that's, that's the gap here, right? In my opinion, that's the gap, but for Stroud, he continues to grow. He's just such an impressive thrower he operates so confidently from the pocket there's a little bit more meat on the bone for him as a runner and as a playmaker although I never think that'll be a you know top five in the NFL aspect of his game probably not even top 10 aspect of his game when you look at the rest of the league

but you put him in an offense that's structured on timing that has no limitations on the throws you're asked to make you give him just moderate to a you know solid pass protection this guy is a really high floor like you said and i'm looking forward to seeing what stroud does whether he's the number one overall pick or the number two overall pick i don't really see him going anywhere beyond that yeah yeah he's just he's i mean he's a he's he's a fantastic quarterback he really is he brings you so much of what you would want from the past the game the mechanics are beautiful the footwork all the way through the shoulders i mean he you could tell that he's worked very very hard on that but also that it just comes very natural to him like he is he is truly he looks like a natural passer in that regard we saw it at the combine

right when he felt like he didn't even miss a single throw going in a new environment um i know it was shorts and shorts and a shirt but new wide receivers knew everything and it felt like that ball was still going exactly where it needed to and that's a testament to um things changing around him but his fundamentals not changing and that's how testament to things changing around him, but his fundamentals not changing. And that's how you can put the ball exactly where you want to put it, no matter what stadium, no matter what you're wearing, no matter who you're throwing it to, all that good stuff. So C.J. Stroud, just a really, to me, a steady prospect who,

if we're building off of what we saw last year, can be a really good start in the NFL. If he reverts, then unfortunately, that's a make or break trait, right? For some quarterbacks, for some quarterbacks, the areas of concern for them aren't nearly as make or break. If you can't perform the way you need to under pressure, not only are you going to fail when your team needs you most, it's going to mentally mess you up. And then like, even when things are clean, even when things are good, even when things are in rhythm, you might mess yourself up. You might psych yourself out.

So it's all between the ears for Stroud. You know, if he continues to be calm, cool, and collected, confident, he's going to be a really damn good quarterback in the NFL. But we don't have those questions about the next guy that we're going to talk about. So what I'll say with Stroud, I feel like I somehow am sounding low on Stroud, and that's so hard to do. I think the next guy and the previous guy can rise above environment almost no matter what.

And I won't say that about Stroud. And that's not, you can say this about most quarterbacks. Like if he's in a bad environment, whether the pass pro's bad, the wide receivers aren't very good, the structure of the offense isn't called right, he will go down with it. While the other two I think can overcome it,

which is pretty crazy to say, but he's just such a more consistent natural thrower than Richardson that I was not going to put Richardson above him. I just didn't think that was fair. And that gets me to number one. And I don't even know if this is consensus or popular anymore. It seems the betting favorite is not this player to go number one overall. I mean, what is there to say about Bryce Young outside of the fact about his body type? And we'll get there. I'll conclude with that because it's very fair.

I understand this is a grown man's league that guys get hurt a lot. I really, I really do get it. But as a player, Trevor, the timing, the twitchy body, the accuracy, what's in between the ears, the deep ball. These receivers, they're watching the Mona Lisa come their way when it's a deep ball. It's beautiful. It's beautiful the way this guy can drop it in.

He knows how to change the degree of the throw, whether he needs more air under it or he needs just a more tighter throw, a tighter, lower throw. I think he understands zones in front of him, pre-snap and post-snap, better than most quarterbacks I've evaluated. Like, I look at Burrow. I don't know, man.

He's not the physical talent trevor lawrence was but he has a better understanding of the field than trevor lawrence did coming out lawrence is so physically gifted that it didn't matter and he's going to be great correct but bryce young what he sees and how he distributes down by down. The only guy above him that I've scouted, I think, is Burrow off the top of my head. It's unbelievable. And you look at the size. The size does nothing to impact him as a player in terms of impacting his game and inabilities to affect a game. When he does get hit, it's kind of like watching a lightweight fly around i will

say that like it's i don't even like when a bigger wrestler could just military press ray mysterio like something like that great when bryce young great reference like ray mysterio is actually my cop uh no i'm just kidding so you know what i? Like there's times where a pass rusher gets one arm on the Jersey and he just goes flying. And it's like, yeah, that it's, he's going to take some big shots in the NFL and I'm just going to sit there and, and be like, Oh, please be okay. Because you are so, so good. And I think this era of football will protect him a little bit more from shots that like in the nineties,

I don't know if Bryce young plays more than five years in today's game. He could have a long, long, healthy career. He now I will say this too. He's a twitchier guy. He knows how to operate and reset in these little crevices and get back to being a thrower really quickly. So I love the player. Um, outside of the body type, there is just no way he doesn't succeed. There's no way. There's no way. I think that he can throw to a bottom eight receiving core and still be fine.

Like, that's how. Alabama's wasn't good this past year. There you go. I mean, there you go. And we didn't even get. I'll let you do a lot of the more the numbers side of it. But every number that we have on him, like, I don't know what there you go. And we didn't even get, I'll let you do a lot of the, you know, the more the number side of it, but that every number that we have on him, like, I don't know what more you want. And if the size is not for you and some teams will not draft Bryce Young

or wouldn't draft Bryce Young because of the size, I get it. I don't fall into line with that because I think he just has way too much talent mentally and physically. I'll list off some of the numbers. I think it's a good transition. Passing grade, 91.3. He's an elite passing grade in each of the last two seasons. Obviously, he was the Heisman winner of the year before

in his first year as a starter for Alabama. Passing grade under pressure, we already mentioned it, 70.6. Stupid. Stupid. Aiden O'Connell's regular passing grade was 70.2. And Bryce Young under pressure alone was a 70.6. Truly in a league of his own. Passing yards, over 3,000 passing yards this past season, 3,400 yards, 32 passing touchdowns, 23 big-time throws, 5 interceptions,

9 turnover-worthy plays, had an adjustment completion percentage of over 75, which is good. That's what you want to shoot for, 75.8. Air yard percentage. So that's obviously talking about how many what percent of his total yards were through the air as opposed to yards after the catch 57 which is a nice number you want over 50. um rushing yards he only had 311 rushing touchdowns for uh miss tackles force per attempt uh i had a 0.18 i'm gonna read off some of

his weaknesses that i have here because we gush about him enough and understandably so and then i'll end kind of with his strengths and where i see him as number one here on this list has decent mobility but against nfl athletes won't be something that he can consistently lean on when extending plays all the way to the sideline or for scrambling for a lot of yards throwing Throwing platform is naturally open in his hips. It's not the worst thing, but it does point out it feels like a lack of natural muscle mass for arm strength. He's putting more of his whole body into throws.

That's why his hips get so open, so he can create some more torque on those passes. Spiral isn't as tight as it is for other quarterbacks with more arm strength and bigger hands. It tends to wobble a little bit, but it won't and and because of that you kind of get the narrative okay if you're in a super cold environment super windy environment an outdoor game he doesn't have the arm that's going to rip through conditions but sure you know you just take that into account it's not gonna be every game certainly even for a team that's outdoors that might draft him arm strength is

adequate when he can step into throws but when he really can't step into throws, you do see that drop off in velocity, consistency throwing off the back foot sometimes when he's retreating into a pocket. I think that might be just because he doesn't want to step up nearly as much. Maybe he believes in his ability to escape and see the field a little bit more as opposed to stepping up through pocket

when he gets pressure around the edges. Might get him in trouble in the NFL. Overall, arm strength is good for his size but the quote for his size does come into play when you're evaluating positives basically everything else smaller in stature but he has but he has really nice velocity on short to intermediate throws way better than i thought for a player of his size for sure especially when he can step into throws. When plays break down, he is a natural backyard football type of playmaker. He is the number one overall pick at recess, if you will.

If you're drafting Bryce Young in a lineup of people at recess, you know you're winning the football game because of how good he is when it comes to those out of structure plays. Always light on his feet, ready to move and throw off on platform. Natural ball placement is extremely impressive when there is pressure in his face.

Throws over the middle, much more confident and consistent than you would think of a sub-six-foot quarterback. Incredibly poised, not just in pressure, but in the biggest moments. Bryce Young is awesome. My player comp for him, you said the name already, it's Joe Burrow. That's the player that- I was going to say Ray Mysterio. No name already, it's Joe Burrow. That's the player. I was going to say Ray Mysterio. No, no, it's Ray Mysterio. That is the player that I continually think about because when I think of how I read a Bryce Young scouting report,

it basically goes, yeah, the hands are a little bit small. Yeah, he's a little bit smaller in size. No, he doesn't have the strongest arm in the world. Everything else is incredible. You love how he sees and here's this is why burrow burrow is a great example of this because burrow didn't get the nfl and all of a sudden his arm got way stronger but what burrow did at lsu that made him historic that allowed him to have similar incredible success at the nfl level is he anticipates so well he reads defenses so well and and that's the thing with young he doesn't have

the arm that can get him out of trouble in a split second like it might be able to for will levis or anthony richardson like if those guys are going from read two to read three or read one to read two and they're just like a fraction of a second late, they still have the arm talent to be able to wind it up and throw it in there. And even if they're a little bit behind the wide receiver, they can still put it in that area. Rice doesn't have that luxury, but he rarely ever has to use it because he sees the field and he anticipates things so well. And that's what Burrow does as well. Burrow doesn't put himself in those situations where he's reading something too late. He's already reading it about as well as you can so consistently.

That's why to me, Bryce Young's the number one overall quarterback in this class, because I can't sit here and tell you that the most make or break important trait for a quarterback is between the ears and not have number one overall. The guy who is the best offensive player in college football over the last two years, the most clutch player in college football over the last two years, and a guy who plays under pressure better than basically any quarterback that I've seen over the last five years outside of Burrow. I cannot boast those things on my, this is how I scout quarterbacks and not have this guy as my number one QB. So he's at the top of the list. Well said. I mean, Bryce Young is obviously the show's number one quarterback.

And, you know, if you've been listening to the show for a long time or if you haven't, like we did a summer quarterback rankings episode, and this was all there. I mean, it was all there, and it just continues to get even better, in our opinion. So there it is. Should we read the top fives and then get into a little bit of the outside guys?

Yeah, we got Hen Hooker at five. They were the same ones. Will Levis at four, Anthony Richardson at three, C. three, CJ Stroud two, and Bryce Young at number one. Anybody else that you want to shout out that's not on the top five? Yeah, so I'm still kind of playing around with my six plus. You know, we'll see how far I go.

I feel pretty confident Tanner McKee is going to just stay at that sixth spot unless somebody blew me away. I watched a lot of aiden o'connell um a fascinating watch for me i watched a lot of dorian thompson robinson oh so what'd you think of him i'll talk about him a little bit yeah yeah that's good he's interesting because he's the rare five-year starter at one program like he went to ucla for chip kelly and he's just held it down right yeah and he's a really really good. Right. Yeah. And he's a really,

really good at loyalty, by the way. You love that. Absolutely. A he's got some Tyler Huntley to his game. They are, they are just about the same size with Dorian Thompson Robinson. I wrote,

I'll just see if the rundown here. I wrote a five-year starter for UCLA with legit mobility for the position. Difficult to defend on quarterback options. Has enough juice to threaten the edge. But willing to cut it upfield. Very active feet with quick twitch shoulder dip as well that can allow him to reset his base when he chooses to. Excellent escapability. There's an edge to his game.

I clipped out three plays where he is legit a lead blocker. Like legitimately out in front looking to kill someone and he kind of bounces off people but it's effective like like nfl street like the quarterback becomes a blocker at some point yes i think he must have played nfl street growing up and there was another run he had against usc where he loved to lower his shoulder against usc and like he went right over to their sideline and and like went off and i'm like this dude plays with an edge that i really really like um his delivery he brings the ball down to like his hip or like almost his like right butt cheek and it's like it's but it's just too low it has to be fixed i think there i need to go watch his combine workout again because he threw and he threw well

and i think he started to work on it and a coaching staff can alter that but I was perplexed he has turnovers and sometimes it seems like he's just not identifying a defender sitting there in zone off of the man he's targeting he's looking at the man really nearest that defender he's not looking at the off man and the off man jumps it for an interception or a PBU. But sometimes I'm like, he might've still had the time, but that half second he loses by the ball dipping down to that right hip butt cheek area is costing him a little bit. Like just snap that a little big, stay high. So I think that's very coachable, but a huge problem. 28 career rushing touchdowns.

When he gets in the red area, that's a weapon for him. I wrote that he can really be a long-term number two in the NFL. I don't think he'll ever be this consistent passer. He does not threaten in the deep part of the field consistently enough. He is turnover prone as a passer, but with the way the NFL is gone, his mobility and how he's tailored his game from, okay, I can run away to, okay, I can run and reset. And he started to find in that final year, when he would reset, he knew where his target was in the middle of the field. It was just natural to him. So I liked what I saw from him. He's going to be a top 10 quarterback for me. And I

kind of wrote him off. Like I, I, you know, full transparency. We did our top five. Then you have Tanner McKee probably locked into six for most people. And then you look at the senior bowl guys. You're thinking like max, max Duggan, Jaron Hall, Jake Hayner,

Clayton tune, even another shrine guy in Aiden O'Connell that we talked about, but no Dorian Thompson Robinson is going to be a top 10 quarterback for me. And somebody that at least has some tools to work with. Oh, and Stetson Bennett as well for some people, right now he'll be a top 10 quarterback for me. I was pleasantly surprised. And you know, for a guy that I was like, I don't know if we'll get drafted. I'm like, I would take him in the, in the fifth round and try to work with them there. Two guys that I definitely wanted to touch on before we get out of here are Tanner McKee and Aiden O'Connell, these other quarterbacks

that I had in this tier three with Hendon Hooker. Now, like I mentioned, these guys are ranked within tier three. I'd clearly take Hendon Hooker, then Tanner McKee, then Aiden O'Connell. But for Tanner McKee, you mentioned the supporting cast. Did you watch that Washington game? It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Literally, the four first dropbacks of the game, he gets sacked. And none of them are his fault. No, he had nothing to work with. I think he got sacked and they're not none of them are his fault no no he had nothing

to work with i think he got sacked eight times that game it was horrendous and not all sacks are created equal as we say like this dude is like blinking and he's his ribs are exploding so i watched obviously a couple games after that because i needed to get actual evaluation of uh tainter mcke bigger, taller quarterback. Obviously you would expect a pretty good arm with it. And he does have a pretty good arm. You know, something, the,

the trait that really stood out to me with Tanner McKee actually isn't the arm strength because where I think the arm is good. I don't think it's like crazy. Good. The trait that I think he boasts the best is touch. I mean, when he's throwing wheel routes or go routes, I mean,

that ball is getting in a, in a, bread basket i mean he is really able to time things up with his wide receivers going up the sideline or running back going up the sideline tight end going up the sideline whatever it is however they're getting vertical man i was super impressed with the touch that he throws with so i think that that is uh that is something he boasts my comparison for him is my pro comp is kyle trask because that was the go-to trait that i thought trask had at florida was always the touch pass and i thought both of them similar in stature similar in arm strength where it's like okay they got good arms maybe not the best arms but i thought that that ability to really fit it into the bucket was uh was impressive

something that really holds me back from really believing in Tanner McKee is he's uh this is gonna sound so harsh because he's gonna be in the NFL and I'm gonna I'm sitting at a desk chair but like he's just a slower athlete like he's got no feet dude no feet but I don't even I'm not even talking about mobility the release is slow getting out of his wrist is slow. His body is slow. Him deciding to put his foot in the ground and run is slow. He's just not a twitched up athlete. And that shows up not just in rushing ability. I think when we talk about Twitch, we always talk about rushing.

It's not just that. The lack of Twitch shows up in how long his release is, how it doesn't feel like it pops off of his wrist. He's just a little bit of a slower athlete. So there's that. And then Aiden O'Connell, man. Aiden had an elite passing grade last year, and I really liked Aiden O'Connell coming into this year.

Connor, he had 20 big-time throws and 24 turnover-worthy plays this year. Now, O'Connell's got really nice base work of fundamentals i love that his hips are always pointing exactly where it needs to go when he is bounced around the pocket he is doing so with light feet with quick hips with the shoulders pointing where they need to go i think the release is nice it comes out a little bit high sometimes but i think the fundamentals are great also like the zip that he throws with, like the arm strength.

He's a guy that isn't afraid to push it down the field. To me, James Winston. That's what he does. That's what I was when I went, when I watched him, I thought about James Winston. Now James goes number one overall because he had incredible collegiate

success, but we saw that consistency really come down and average out and get a little bit even further than some people thought and to me that's what that's what Aiden O'Connell is right now he is so hot and so cold he'll give you some phenomenal throws and then he'll give you some what in the world was that the Syracuse game has one of the funniest and worst interceptions that I've seen from a quarterback I graded this year, where he is getting sacked. And it's like, buddy, there's not even a receiver there. Just tuck it and get sacked. And he throws it directly in front of him, four feet to a defensive lineman that didn't even know it was coming. And he returns it and he picks six and he scores. Now that was not

even in a game where they needed points. That was in a game that where they were like tied. You, you can't be making that throw. So anyways, he's Jameis Winston to me. Last guy I wanted to shout out, Jake Hayner. Really like Jake Hayner a lot. I think he'd be a career backup in this league for a long, long time. My pro comp for him was Brock Purdy. Felt that I see them very similarly.

Brock obviously had an incredibly advantageous situation and made the most of it. But I always viewed brock as more of a career backup in the nfl because of his size because of his skill set because of so did the nfl by the way he was the last pick of the draft thank you because of the lack of his arm strength thank you for saying it um because i didn't want to come off as too much of a hater but both of those guys was very similar about them confidence within the offense those are players who i think you have confidence being those backups to come in and maybe a pinch in those situations so um a lot of other quarterbacks but anybody else you wanted to shout out or you want to get out of here what are we doing i watched

a lot of o'connell it's like mesmerizing i found it's funny dude you can't quit it so i i copped him to cj bethard um which you know i can go i see what you're saying completely he is very jekyll and hyde i probably needed to watch like maybe an hour or less on him and i wrote him up simultaneously for the badlands guide i was like i might as well just do this now and i just kept watching him like i like i first started can't turn away the problem with him is too his 2021 is so much better yes and it's 2022 like you led off with that i need to watch both of those but before i did that to see him in the rhythm of the game i was like let me watch his big time throws and let me watch his turnover where he plays because he has so many of both that it's like what is going on here and you

watch him play and you're like okay the man thinks that he could he he does have jamis of the brain like he thinks that any throw can happen any throw can happen uh jamis of the brain jamis of the brain i i wrote risk taker with a mediocre but very capable arm uh i thought it was better than mediocre but all right go ahead deep stuff kind of let me down oh man i think he's accurate short area is touching the intermediate it's good when they give him protection he is a and i mean this like no disrespect i mean it as like hey coaches take a hint trevor he is a play action merchant like his numbers off of play action are jarringly better than non-play action. His YPA off play action was 8.2.

It drops two full yards off non-play action. Yeah. And it's, it's everything. Like he, he set his base so much better off of play action and is such a better player off play action. So I thought that was kind of funny to me. But yeah, I'm rooting for Aiden O'Connell because he had a tough year at Purdue after a really good year in 2021.

And there was some guys I have to finish up still. I need to watch the Fordham quarterback, Tim to more it. I need to watch. There was, I honestly need to watch more of Stetson Bennett. I just, I know this is a terrible way to scout.

I just can't wrap my head around 192 pound quarterback, like coming off the board in the first five rounds. I just struggle I know this is a terrible way to scout. I just can't wrap my head around 192 pound quarterback, like coming off the board in the first five rounds. I just struggle so much. No, he's going to be mid late, mid late day three. I mean, he turned six in October. He passed on the senior bowl and then got arrested that weekend. Like I'm going to give him a fair shot. I really am. But that's, that's a trio that you don't love to see so and he might he very might well get drafted he tested he's tested really well yeah he's tested really well he obviously championship pedigree right so i'm not done with this quarterback class but um it's it's a this is a ride this quarterback class was a ride if anything you draft stetson bennett so you have him on the

team so when other georgia players are through, you can ask him about him. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like an extra scout. Yeah, you have an extra scout. Yeah, teams do do that. All right, well, Stetson Bennett, Max Duggan, Malik Cunningham, Jaron Hall, Tyson Bajent.

Let us know who we didn't talk about that you guys want to hear our thoughts on. Right. We can give some thoughts on these guys in the comment section and then further down the road when we get to our big boards right and so we want to hear from you let us know what your thoughts are on this quarterback class let us know what your thoughts are on our thoughts on this quarterback class get in the youtube comments start the conversations there we know you guys got takes on quarterbacks so let's hear it of the guys that we mentioned and some of the guys that maybe we didn't get to we want to hear from you guys and uh ask it you

can ask us their thoughts on quarterbacks as well if you're audio only you can hit us up on twitter at tampa bay trey at connor j rogers same thing on instagram as well we appreciate you guys so much for subscribing to the youtube channel holy cow we are over 7 000 subscribers and it is absolutely incredible y'all are the best what you gotta you got like a flyover going on what do you hear someone on my roof right now that's why i'm looking up like i'm like what the like when you hear it well i mean i've lived in a city for a long time you hear like the steps and nobody by the way this is the top floor like this is the roof yeah i hear somebody like walking above me and i'm like, I thought somebody was in my house.

I was like, what the hell? No, it's Christian. She's grilling up there. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. Surprise. You guys put the grill up there. Let us know what you guys thought of this quarterback class. We are going to have another installment of the collab mock draft series coming for you guys on Monday. So make sure you look out for that. Well, Monday, you know, as you guys know, we're doing Sunday night releases too.

So whether you're listening on Sunday night or on Monday, make sure you look out for that one. We had a blast with the Bootleg Football Boys last week. This week, we're getting the Ringer NFL guys on it. Benjamin Solak, Danny Kelly, they're going to be joining me. Connor's going to be out. He's going to be out, and we're giving him a little bit of a break from the mock go to the homeland of trevor i'm the i'm the new uh tampa member of the podcast for two days i'm so i'm so jealous but myself ben solak and danny kelly we're gonna be running through a brand new mock draft it's gonna be so

much fun those guys are two of the best in the business i'm looking forward to it you guys should as well i'm trevor syikama. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We will see you guys next time. you