NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 54. Summer Scouting: Top 5 QBs for 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: June 2, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers begin their summer scouting journey with the quarterback position. The two give you their preseason Top 5 QBs for the 2023 NFL Draft with background info, PFF st...ats and film notes for each. Plus talk plenty of other quarterbacks in the class who are just outside their Top 5s going into the season. 0:00 - Rangers vs Lightning 2:45 - How we approach summer scouting 5:25 - How early do you get to the airport? 14:20 - Connor’s #5 QB 24:50 - Trevor’s #5 QB 31:05 - Connor’s #4 QB 34:30 - Trevor’s #4 QB 40:50 - Connor’s #3 QB 44:30 - Trevor’s #3 QB 53:55 - Bryce Young 1:09:00 - C.J. Stroud 1:19:50 - Best not in Top 5

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Starting point is 00:00:37 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, it is finally time to dig into some scouting again with some quarterback summer scouting. Connor and I are going to bring you our top fives for the 2022 college football season and the 2023 NFL draft. We're going to break down exactly what we love about our top fives for the 2022 college football season and the 2023 NFL draft. We're going to
Starting point is 00:01:06 break down exactly what we love about our top five preseason quarterbacks, plus talk to you about some of the guys that did not make the top five right outside the list. We're going to give you guys the full scope of this upcoming quarterback class, what you need to know as a baseline before this season gets kicked off. We'll talk about background, recruiting, some interesting fun facts and stories about these guys. We'll give you the premium PFF stats. About what you need to know about how these guys play. And then of course some film notes.
Starting point is 00:01:32 As we have watched a handful of these guys. And a handful of games with them. So we got plenty to say. We got plenty to rank. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL stock exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. And as you guys can see, if you are watching on YouTube,
Starting point is 00:02:00 Connor is donning his New York Rangers jersey because folks, it is what everybody was asking for. It is a Tampa Bay lightning, New York Rangers, Eastern conference finals. People were listening to podcasts from football are going, what the hell do those words even mean? But if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that Connor and I are also big hockey fans and our two teams are in
Starting point is 00:02:23 the Eastern conference finals. And so actually Connor, when this episode comes out, game one will be finished. So somebody is going to be pissed off at the other. I'm either not going to be talking to you for a couple of days until we have to prep the show for Monday or vice versa. You might be the other way around. We'll see. This is the second series in a row where I keep telling myself I'm playing
Starting point is 00:02:42 with house money. I'm like, the Rangers aren't supposed to be here we're still you know yeah and now I'm like ah you know I feel kind of good it's it's gonna be a lot of fun man it's you know when I said back in the oh god it's weeks ago now when the Lightning were playing Toronto and the Rangers were playing Pittsburgh and each team felt like had a tougher time with those teams than they did in the second round um I you know I was like hey maybe a stock exchange eastern conference final like with a little glimmer of hope and then what really happened I was like holy crap this is really happening we're gonna have a blast with this we're gonna be fired up uh it's a great collision course because we're doing summer scouting we got eastern conference final we are having it's June and we are somehow having a blast on a football podcast this is good man we have no shortage of content whatsoever and if you guys
Starting point is 00:03:29 follow me or connor or hopefully both of us on twitter there is going to be a lot of passive aggressive or maybe we'll just drop the passive all together and we'll just go straight aggressive gifs and memes and everything sent back okay one another over the next week you're not gonna top what you opened up with the evolution breakup it was so so good it was so good that the rangers fans were in the mentions loving it we were having so much fun with it if you didn't see it trevor uh had maybe the tweet of of the young 2022 year it was unbelievable we are gonna get some wrestling uh references ingrained in the show going forward and that was just a home run no we're gonna have a blast with it you guys can have a blast with this as well whether you're fans of the lightning or the rangers or whoever join in with us for the
Starting point is 00:04:13 season conference finals be team connor or team trevor here and this is gonna be a lot of fun it'll give you something and if you're not a hockey fan maybe this will get you into it i'm telling you if you guys know a hockey game it's one of my favorite things and my favorite sporting events to watch live connor mentioned it he teased a little bit there you guys also heard it in the intro it is summer scouting time the day is finally here where we are getting this bad boy kicked off and we are starting with the most important position it is quarterback so the way that summer scouting is going to look for us here on this show is connor and i are going to watch a handful of players right for quarterbacks quarterbacks, I believe I watched eight. Connor, did you watch eight as well?
Starting point is 00:04:48 I watched eight as well. So, you know, we're going to have a handful of guys that we were able to get to their tape really in-depthly, get some great film notes on, some background information, some PFF stats to kind of bring to you guys to really just open up an intro, this quarterback class that could be for 2023 these eligible guys and you know for wide receivers we're going to watch a lot more than just nine and you know cornerbacks
Starting point is 00:05:09 the same way defensive linemen same way but quarterbacks we're kind of honing in on that number i know some information about a couple of other guys but what we're going to do is we'll kind of organize our thoughts in top fives it's a numerical list it's easy to digest for everybody so during these shows every thursday of this week over the next i think 12 weeks is how we have it built out we'll go from five to one ranking our quarterbacks pre-season for the position going into the season but then at the end of the show we'll also throw out some other notes that we have for guys that just didn't make the top five why they didn't make it all that kinds of stuff but man i'm very excited to get
Starting point is 00:05:44 going on summer scouting with you i know this is something that you have done before on your previous podcast locked on nfl draft listeners know that uh we did this for a couple years when it was me and ben but this is one of my favorite times a year it's the it's the chance where there's not a ton else going on i mean outside the eastern conference finals but there's not a ton else going on and you really just get to sit down turn on the tape, and focus on some of these guys and really learn about them as we kind of get into the season.
Starting point is 00:06:09 I've never had a better time. The Rangers are in the Eastern Conference Final. The Mets are 35-17. Yeah, the Mets are going off, man. The Mets are just going nuts. And I agree with you that, man, sitting on the couch in the summer in the air conditioning with a clean slate of new prospects and new classes is a blast.
Starting point is 00:06:23 And like you said, we each watch eight guys, but there's also a couple guys outside those eight that you and I are already very familiar with. So it's eight new guys. And then the guys outside of that we knew weren't going to be in our top five, so we didn't go back and revisit that film again. But we will discuss them a little bit. But, man, it is a lot of fun.
Starting point is 00:06:40 It's because I think it's a little bit more positive than the January stretch into the draft where you're hammering home rankings. You're being honest. I think you and I are very, very honest on this podcast. It's not as much as what people watch on main network TV, you know, hyping up guys, which is okay. This is our turn to do that.
Starting point is 00:07:00 About a year before the next draft, we get to hype up these guys, tell you what we think they're good at, tell you what we think they can be good at in the future. So it's just a great time of the year. Yep. Before we dive into it, we do have a question of the day, which we were going to get to quickly before we jump into summer scouting, but got to read everybody's favorite ad.
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Starting point is 00:08:13 Get 20% off and free shipping with the PFF code at manscaped.com. That's 20% off free shipping, PFF at manscaped.com. Once the Boxers 2.0 touch your sack, you will never go back. Connor, what is the question of the day? Tell me what the question of the day is question of the day is inspired by a long time listener um of not just the stock exchange but our pods before that nicole antonio who okay we've gone back and forth on this question in the now sex addicts hall of fame and i'll throw it to you first wait is that what the group chat is called now the sex addict it is the sex addicts Hall of Fame officially converted. Yes, yes.
Starting point is 00:08:51 When you have a flight, and you can answer it in two ways if you want, both international and domestic. When you have a flight, how early do you get to the airport? How early is it okay to get to the airport? What is the normal allotted time? This is very controversial controversial by the way because some people are absolute animals and get to the airport like four hours early okay so uh i have a story that is too long to share so i'm not going to share it but when we have a when we have a mailbag episode somebody asked me about the time that i got to the airport 14 hours early uh and i will tell you tweeting this all about how it happened what i did the day that I got to the airport 14 hours early. And I will tell you all about how it happened,
Starting point is 00:09:26 what I did, the day that ensued. So you guys have to ask me about that. That'll be a reason for you guys to get into the mailbag. I like airports. Some people really like hate being at the airport. So they try to, they try to get like, they try to time it to where they are arriving at the gate as they are boarding.
Starting point is 00:09:44 And you are, you are nodding your head. You are pointing at yourself. So I guess this is you. Literally. I like airports. Oh, God, dude. I'm showing up to an airport. Now, there have been plenty of times where I'm showing up and we're boarding in like 15, 20 minutes or whatever from when I get there.
Starting point is 00:10:00 But honestly, dude, if I get to the airport hour, hour and a half before a boarding, I'm chilling, man. I'm big chilling. I'm walking around. I'm people watching. I'm getting my steps in. You know, I might get myself a little smoothie, a little coffee, something like that. So I am, I'm somebody who enjoys airports. And so I'm like a 60 to 90 minute ahead of boarding time. So I instantly Googled ranking the best and worst airports. As soon as you said you like airports. Yeah. It is no coincidence.
Starting point is 00:10:31 And I did it domestically. I did it for U.S. airports. So for our international listeners, I'm sorry. And Tampa is the third best airport. Tell them, baby. In the United States. PPA the GOAT. There's bias.
Starting point is 00:10:43 There's bias here. The GOAT. in the united states goat there's bias there's bias here when you're sitting at newark or la guardia or jfk you do not like being at the airport so there is there is bad bias here does the traffic go into it too like you're just like dreading getting to the airport or no so i'm really lucky i live in hoboken which is about a 20 minute uber to newark and i rarely hit traffic and there was a two-year period at bleacher report where i was flying during the season nearly weekly or at least bi-weekly about my we traveled yeah yeah so you got the plane emoji in the in the bio you know just like you know yeah definitely not thing yeah like lives the travel i
Starting point is 00:11:25 travel gram absolutely not uh newark is uh number four on the worst list and laguardia is number two so wait that's number one it's got to be one is columbus john glenn columbus international airport which i've been to that airport i would not i don't i don't get how is that okay these rankings are a little strange i'll say that um so either way i actually have a hot take like newark newark doesn't really bother me uh especially the new the upgraded terminal the renovated terminal newark's fine i get there in 20 minutes um this is fine airport LaGuardia nightmare going through the city and everything like that. And the airport itself is terrible. I am the type of guy, though, that eventually I had it down to a science where when I got through security, I would walk, grab a bottle of water, stop and go to the bathroom and walk on the plane.
Starting point is 00:12:22 And it felt and there was a part of it that I loved the adrenaline of like. Yeah, of course you did. I might miss my flight. Never did. I go back to the exact same way as you. Exact same way. And Alyssa travels more than both of us. She does.
Starting point is 00:12:33 She has to. She gets a thrill out of getting to the gate basically as they are. As they're calling her. If I couldn't. I was such an adrenaline junkie for travel that on the way home from places if i finished early whatever wherever i was and i couldn't get that adrenaline of timing like just making my flight i would go up to the counter and ask if there was any earlier flights back to the new york area you're an animal you're an animal and a couple times they'd be like we actually have one seat on this plane that's leaving in 12 minutes and
Starting point is 00:13:04 they'd be like you know shout out to i'm not a united actually it was pretty good most of the time delta was pretty good most of the time listen airport it's a tough business they have their problems i know people hate them but i i try to defend them sometimes are uh you're sick yeah you're sick now international a little different a little different well of course because yeah your customs There's a lot going on there. You're checking in bags, which is the worst thing in the world. There's nothing worse than checking in a bag. But I just, I can't fathom how.
Starting point is 00:13:33 Nothing worse than checking in a bag. Like, I love my mother, but she is absolutely on the list of, we're getting to the airport. Like, because they'll come up. They live down the Jersey Shore. They'll come up to Newark. And sometimes we're like, what time are you flying? Maybe we could grab lunch or something like that.
Starting point is 00:13:49 She's like, oh, no, we got one o'clock flight. We're at the airport by 9 a.m. My dad's like that. My dad is very much like, hey, we got to get to the airport two hours early. And my dad will be like, oh, you never know with parking. We've never had a problem with parking literally once in our entire life, ever. And he's just like, oh, you never know with the parking. We've never had a problem with parking literally once in our entire life ever. And he's just like, oh, you never, geez, you never know the traffic. And, you know, if they're flying out of Tampa, we're just south of Tampa.
Starting point is 00:14:11 So they got like, oh, we got to cross the Skyway Bridge. I'm like, dad, it ain't like the bridge is closing. Bridge hadn't closed in like 30 years for any reason other than a hurricane. Like we're going to be all right is basically what I keep telling him. And, you know, he gets there even earlier than me. Maybe that's where I get it from. But,'s ingrained i was let me be fair i love to travel i like airports you like being just like out of like it's something different right you're like i'm not at the house i'm at the airport i get that yes i get that no i get that it is ingrained
Starting point is 00:14:39 in you i was like that for a while so i'm a i'm a i'm like a 60 to 90 minutes before my flight you're a 60 to 90 seconds before i i have so i've actually regressed so when i stopped traveling because of the pandemic and then got back into the flight game not nearly as much as i used to i don't travel like that at all anymore when i have a trip here or there i've gotten into like the 45 minute to an hour you old man you yeah it. Yeah, it's shameful. It's actually shameful. I'll be like, oh wow, I could sit and have like a meal or a coffee at the airport.
Starting point is 00:15:09 This is horrible. But I do think it's biased. Y'all let us know. Y'all let us know. Let us know when you get to the airport. This is a no shame zone. The comments are a no shame zone. All right.
Starting point is 00:15:19 Nobody else can see it. Bonus, when do you pack? We'll throw that in there too. Oh yeah, when do you pack? Dude, I'm... Night before. What'd you say? We'll throw that in there too. Oh yeah. When do you pack? Dude, I'm. Night before. What'd you say?
Starting point is 00:15:28 Night before. I mean, and we're talking like late the hour before I go to bed. Yeah. Yeah. With like that bad boy is the last task on the day outside of showering before I go to bed. So we'd love to hear from you.
Starting point is 00:15:41 Let us know when you get to the airport, whether Connor is way too much of an adrenaline junkie, whether I'm way too much of an old man, you tell us. When do you guys... Your fiance sounds worse. Way worse than me. I mean, well, she's an adrenaline junkie. It's just what she does.
Starting point is 00:15:55 It's just how it goes, man. It's just... She's addicted. She's addicted to the rush of how close can I cut it at the airport. If you're like that, we want to hear from you guys as well before we get into the summer scouting top five of our quarterbacks here we're gonna get that underway the nfl stock exchange is brought to you by cash app cash app the easiest way to send spend and save your money you can send request money uh from your
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Starting point is 00:17:08 it actually comes back to bite me because it came back to bite me really hard on the Mock Draft Monday edition when you took Justin Herbert from me. I'm still trying to get over this. It was the right move. It was the right move, but I'm going to have a little PTSD from it,
Starting point is 00:17:20 but I will still let you go first. Summer scouting, we're going to go five to one, and then we'll talk about some guys that didn't make our list. Connor, going into the 2022 college football season, for the 2023 NFL draft cycle, who's your number five quarterback right now? So this one might surprise you, but it is, or maybe it won't. It's Florida's Anthony Richardson.
Starting point is 00:17:44 And this is the only guy of my top five that we've not seen play a lot i think it's safe to say or we are really safe to say we are really projecting a lot where it was very easy to get through all of his tape um i remember watching him during the college football season last year when he came in because it was a big deal at the time. He came in and made some crazy splash plays. And a notable recruit, a former four-star recruit there is, and correct me if I'm wrong here, Trevor, I believe he's from the Gainesville area.
Starting point is 00:18:16 Yep. Yes, he is. I mean, and I know you're going to have a lot of background on him to contribute to this as well, you know, being a Florida alum. But Richardson, I'll just pull up my notes right here, how he ended up number five. And it's funny to me because he's somebody that if by January, it wouldn't shock me if he was in the top three of my quarterbacks
Starting point is 00:18:34 and ready to go to the NFL. It wouldn't shock me if he wasn't in my top ten quarterbacks anymore. He's the biggest projection of all of these guys. But I really enjoyed watching his film, right? A redshirt sophomore, 6'4", 237 pounds, born May 22, 2001. So still a really young guy. Not surprising. Hasn't played a ton of ball yet.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Huge frame, legitimate power arm without limitations. The first thing I wrote down. Can hang in and get the snot knocked out of him while still making the throw. And the good is that that's very physically impressive the bad is he has to stop fading backwards and doing that consistently or he will be a turnover machine as unfortunately you know all too well so with Anthony Richardson the very small sample that we got to see there are plays in my opinion that I don't know if any other quarterback in this class can make right yeah and there are plays that can cost you games too often too easily
Starting point is 00:19:36 so i really am excited about him i think i'm not the most but one of the most excited in terms of the guys on this list today and it was tough getting him it was tough picking number five i'm not gonna lie it was i took the guy that the traits were the most exciting the body type the arm um the splash plays over guys that we're going to talk about at the end of the show because i don't want to give anything away yet that are definitely more proven but do not have the ceiling that Richardson possesses well with you having Richardson at five that means that we'll at least have one difference in our top five because I had him number six so he was right outside of my top five but I'll go ahead and obviously talk about him
Starting point is 00:20:18 here I don't have to save him for the end since you're bringing him up you're right four-star quarterback came from the Gainesville area born and raised in Gainesville played high school football in Gainesville before getting to commit to his hometown Gators there last season I'll just say when you look at his stats 529 passing yards 401 rushing yards he was kind of splitting time with Emery Jones but I'm gonna be honest with you guys that was also I feel like it was never really the plan like they wanted emory to be the guy they wanted emory jones to be their starting quarterback dan mullen that's what he wanted they wanted richardson to basically just be that quarterback who kind of came in for two or three plays a game and was just this wow factor like okay what does the defense do because you mentioned and i have it in my notes this is
Starting point is 00:21:05 probably the most physically gifted quarterback that we're going to see in this class it's bananas whether or not it comes out what he can do from a total size which you mentioned six foot four 235 pounds i mean this is a big dude a size speed arm talent i mean the arm talent man is crazy for this guy he makes these throws 30 40 yards down the field look like it's just truly a flick of the wrist. Like he's putting nothing behind it. And then as a rusher, he's had a couple of games where he was an elite rusher in PFF's grading system. So, I mean, he is mobile beyond just extending the play. He is a true threat to run. And I, you know, I am extremely hesitant to bring up the josh allen example but that's the example that i think people are going to be able to recognize right off the bat is like okay
Starting point is 00:21:50 obviously josh is a much more polished quarterback at this point in time but like how the buffalo bills used josh allen and his legs his mobility as a weapon for them as a as an actual tool not just okay your first couple of reads were bad and now you're taking off like no no there were there were game plan moments to where they used his legs as a weapon that's kind of the same mold that you can use anthony richardson but you know you know what was closer not to cut you off you know what was closer to me uh now he he's his frame is gigantic so it is hard to find someone you said josh allen a little trey lance um sometimes with with him where power arm thick thick frame a power runner you know now he's playing in the sec now if you put anthony
Starting point is 00:22:33 richardson in the fcs i think he would just physically destroy everyone well sure but so did trey lance right i mean like that name that you bring up there is a lot better of a potential imagination for these guys because if you look at Trey Lance we go like okay well why isn't he starting yet for the San Francisco 49ers and I think it's because there was a massive talent gap with him of when he got to the NFL and the things that he's had to learn and we're obviously watching Richardson's 2021 film so he has a whole year in which we think he is going to be the starter for the full season at uf to where we're going to have probably a lot more notes for him once he gets all these things under his belt because of the big a big part that i wrote down is he just needs more reps man i mean
Starting point is 00:23:14 like he's so green in everything everything you know his is you know the highs are incredible that usf game is truly video game like you just turn on any snap that he was in the game in the usf game and it was just mind-blowing stuff it was like okay just give this guy the heisman trophy right now but you know for him i think that um oh shoot hold on i missed it i missed the tab here okay here we go this is what i had for him for weaknesses things where he needs to get better consistent accuracy is not there yet it's almost as if his arm is too powerful for his own good when it comes to accuracy. Needs a lot more reps under his belt to really hone in on his mechanics, improve his touch with his deep passes and with those quick passes as well.
Starting point is 00:23:56 That was the biggest area that I saw. Okay, his talent could make these big time pluses in his game, but he doesn't have the consistency to be able to do it. But he's also got to manage the pocket a lot better. He's got to read defense better. these big time pluses in his game but he doesn't have the consistency to be able to do it but you know he's also got to manage the pocket a lot better he's got to read defense better all that i think hopefully will come with more snaps so something else that i did before we move on is i looked at a handful of pff stats that we have using pff ultimate for 10 of these quarterbacks and i'll just list them off here we've got spencer rattler
Starting point is 00:24:26 uh anthony richardson jake hainer sam hartman jaron hall will levis tanner mckee tyler van dyke cj stroud and bryce young so i had 10 quarterbacks that i was kind of pooling and i got the numbers for pff grade big time throw rate turnover worthy plays adjusted completion percentage average depth target play action percentage so how often they lean on play action air yard percentage which means how much of their yards were actually in the air not just yards after the catch from the receivers and then passes batted down so i've got some rankings of where these guys lined up in those categories pffFF grade for Anthony Richardson, 58.5. Not very good.
Starting point is 00:25:07 It was the bottom of this list. It was 10th out of the 10 eligible quarterbacks. Jumped out to me. Big time throw rate, though. He had four, but he didn't throw very often. So that was 6.3% of his passes. That was third. So this dude was a big game hunter when he was in the game.
Starting point is 00:25:21 The four throws are nuts, too. They're insane. Now, the turnover worthy plays five of them that's 6.8 of his passes that was dead last that was also 10th so you don't want that adjusted completion percentage also 10th it's just throwing like i said he's just got all the talent in the world all the power in the world he just doesn't know how to be finessed with it yet average set the target was 12.5 which is the second highest passes batted down he didn't have any so that was first.
Starting point is 00:25:46 Air yard percentage, 62.2, that's third best. And then play action percentage, 35.1, so it's not like this guy was leaning on play action a ton. End of the day, I think he's a supremely talented player. There's just a lot that he still has to learn, and he just needs reps. He just needs reps. He just absolutely needs reps.
Starting point is 00:26:04 But I understand why you've got him at five, because he's very alluring with what he can do. has to learn and he just he just needs reps he just needs reps he just absolutely needs reps but i i understand why you've got him at five because he's very alluring with what he can do yeah i think part of it was that once again it's it's betting on traits and you'll see in the rest of my five lists there's guys that are are more polished than him much more polished there are guys i'm going to talk about after the top five that can pass anthony richardson easily just by richardson falling because they're polished as well it was definitely one of those i like this guy's traits i'm really excited to watch him grow this year so my number five is tanner mckee from stanford the redshirt sophomore from stanford six foot six 225 pounds dude is large um back a little background information
Starting point is 00:26:47 on him uh grew up in corona california he was a four star slash five star guy depending on what recruiting database you were looking at was the number three quarterback in the 2018 recruiting class behind trevor lawrence and justin fields if you go okay hold on here trevor lawrence and justin fields are going in their second years in the NFL. You just said that Tanner McKee was a redshirt sophomore. Well, after high school, Tanner McKee went on a 21-month stint as a missionary in Brazil
Starting point is 00:27:15 for the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints. So he is likely going to be one of those older prospects, whether he's coming out this year or in years that follow. If he comes out this year, if this is his last year, I don't think I have his exact birthday, but he'll be right around 23, 24 years old when week one starts of 2023 if he goes to the NFL.
Starting point is 00:27:35 So he'll be a little bit older of a quarterback. Something of note in his past that I thought was really noteworthy and something to point out, when he was in high school, he was diagnosed with melanoma a dangerous form of skin cancer that he had to get removed from his body also had to have surgery uh near his neck on some of his lymph nodes and before he had surgery you know he was coming up as a prolific high school quarterback and the doctor kind of warned his parents they're like hey you know there's there's a chance that with the surgery you know it's very delicate
Starting point is 00:28:02 you know even if we get all the cancer out, there could be some potential nerve damage. It might affect his throwing motion. It might affect things like that. And obviously it was something that they had to get handled anyways. And his parents in the accounting, you know, his coaches and everything said that he, as a 16-year-old kid, just handled it so well, handled it with confidence. And an article that I was reading about it said that when he woke up
Starting point is 00:28:22 from surgery, obviously, this is a very delicate and, and dangerous thing that he was he was trying to have done. His mom walked into the room where he was kind of recovering. And when he woke up, he kind of he gave his mom a wink and a thumbs up. And then he gave her like a throw like a throwing motion, like I'm all right, like, like, I'm good and everything. So that was such a cool story that i absolutely love to hear about him so if you see him wearing long sleeves in crazy hot weather it's because he's kind of protecting himself from sunday interesting so have you ever noticed he's got some long sleeves on he go what is he doing he's got to be sweating his nuts off it's because it kind of sucks so right it's a man'scape but it's also
Starting point is 00:29:06 sun protection season so i thought that that was a really cool story man not only the fact that this dude has uh taken a leap as a youngster you know outside of high school going to live in brazil on a missionary stint i mean he also had you know such a kind of traumatic thing that he had to go over and face a 16 year old kid and he's been through a lot of things already. And it just seems like everybody says the world about him. And I think that when you go through those things at a young age and you just continue to have confidence in yourself, you continue to see the bright side in life.
Starting point is 00:29:36 Like, hey, okay, this is the situation. This is how we're handling it. And this is how we're going to make the best of it. It seems like that was definitely something with Tanner McKee and his background that I absolutely love. Let's get to the film, though. Film notes I've got on him. Six foot six, like I said, so he's huge, smooth thrower, man.
Starting point is 00:29:54 I think that when you watch this guy and what he is on the field, he is such a smooth thrower of the football. That six foot six height shows up in how easy he makes throws appear a lot like Anthony Richardson does, especially since his mechanics, very clean, man. I felt like he had a wide base consistently the toes the hips the shoulders always consistently going towards the target i felt like he wasn't doing any kind of heel clicking his base was staying wide no matter whether he was looking right whether he was looking down the field uh to the center whether he was looking left whatever it was he was hopping around staying on his feet but that base continued to stay wide and i think you saw a lot of really clean mechanic throws because of it so he understands that thing really well
Starting point is 00:30:27 which is good to see got a really strong arm for both distance and velocity i wouldn't say his arm is like in the rare category but it's certainly i would say that it is nfl caliber now the weakness is his game this is a big reason i love a lot of things about tany mckee but the big weakness for him is the touch and the pinpoint accuracy are missing from his game which is a lot of things about tanner mckee but the big weakness for him is the touch and the pinpoint accuracy are missing from his game which is a lot of it was kind of reminiscent of what i thought of desmond ritter last year where i looked at ritter and i went man those mechanics are clean man this guy this guy he just he's just a you know it's a beautiful throwing motion you love watching him throw the football but sometimes it just doesn't go where you want it to go and he had a really high adjusting completion percentage t Tanner McKee did.
Starting point is 00:31:06 But there are times when that ball just does not end up where you want it to go. And there, you know, I caught myself doing this, and I wonder if you saw the same. There are a handful of throws with Tanner McKee where I go, boy, he put that ball where only his receiver could get it. Now, his receiver didn't get it but i like where he put it normally we write that down and we say that's a good thing but that happened so many times i was like okay man but your receiver's gotta get it like as somebody's like at some point you've got
Starting point is 00:31:38 to be able to put it right on your receiver and he's got to get it so i don't know man the accuracy is something that it worries me a little bit with him there's a lot of things that like from a physical profile but that touch and that pinpoint accuracy did not see that with him last year so somehow some way he's got to get that ball to where it needs to go and that is the receiver's hands maybe more than just a spot so tanner mckee was the third quarterback i watched after bry and CJ Stroud. Uh-huh. And good Lord, did those weapons look different. And Stanford's a good program. Stanford's a good program. But it was pretty wild when you see the planet that Alabama and Ohio State is on
Starting point is 00:32:19 from a recruiting pass catchers standpoint. That, yeah, I agree with you i agree with you i'll you know obviously i will be getting to mckee at some point i'm excited to piggyback and great background info on him so you have mckee higher i do i have mckee in my top five uh i really really liked him okay all right um yeah so we'll get there wait is he he's not number four okay all right all right i was just gonna say you could piggyback off me if you want because you're about to say number four but oh all right no and i will say let me figure out where we are right here okay so three and four like if i had to tier this thing there are three tiers in the top five we already got through tier three anthony richardson in my opinion was on his own
Starting point is 00:33:00 tier down there okay now tier, four and three are together. Number four was Tyler Van Dyke. And he, um, so he's number four for me. Really interesting player. I remember when you wrote a feature on him last year, and that was my first introduction to Tyler Van Dyke,
Starting point is 00:33:18 where I was like, I'm excited for this guy in the future, in a future draft class, only a red shirt sophomore. He was, I believe, um, how do they classify? ACC Rookie of the Year or Newcomer Year? Yeah, Rookie of the Year.
Starting point is 00:33:31 First year player, whatever. Really good in the ACC for a first year player. Good young guy award. Exactly, 6'4", 224. I mean, Trevor, it goes back to your point. Florida had Emery Jones, who at this time last year was making an appearance in some first round mock drafts. Nobody was really thinking Anthony Richardson was going to come into
Starting point is 00:33:50 that amount of reps. Miami had De'Aaron King. And I don't know if people really expected Tyler Van Dyke to play as much as he did, but obviously De'Aaron King got hurt. And Tyler Van Dyke, who is a former four-star recruit, He was the number two pro-style quarterback in his class. There were big expectations for him coming to the U. More notes. Pocket passer with the thick frame. Plays like a four-pitch pitcher. A lot of off-speed and touch throwing was what I wrote. He really reminds me of somebody that he doesn't come out there with the 101 mile an hour fastball. And that's what he's going to say. I'm going to beat you with this over and over again.
Starting point is 00:34:30 He's somebody that because of some arm limitations, I put arm strength is mediocre. The ball tends to float on him down the field. Sometimes he really knows how to play with different tempo and speeds. And it just reminded me of the old veteran. I'm trying to think of a good comp. Maybe Maddox or even Tom Glavine, Chris Bassett on the Mets right now. Guys that just have this big arsenal of pitches
Starting point is 00:34:54 and know how to use all of them. That's what he really reminded me of. Another guy, I wrote this about Anthony Richardson, he can drift backwards sometimes and he's not a good enough athlete to get away with that against good teams. Like he's not going to be running away from not only NFL defenders, but top 100 NFL kind of prospects when he sees them, when he drifts and rolls a little bit too wide.
Starting point is 00:35:18 There are times in the ACC that it was okay. Right. I really liked Tyler Van Dyke. I really did. I think he's somebody that throws with touch at all three levels of the field yes once again I did say the ball sails on him on some of the really deep stuff but he was somebody to me that understood how to play the quarterback position and for a young guy for a really young guy you almost kind of forget that he was a redshirt
Starting point is 00:35:40 freshman out there so Van Dyke is somebody that uh can operate from the pocket I I thought a little bit of it in terms of the like he's not a great athlete but it's adequate enough was Kenny Pickett to me um in a way and I think that obviously there's more upside with Van Dyke than pick what Pickett had but watching him play that's what kind of came to mind so I'm a fan I'm excited for Miami to see this kind of talent at the quarterback position yeah and i think considering how young he is and the kind of year he had he really really knows how to manage a game and and i think he can carve you up in the intermediate was his was his most notable aspect did you know that he was a pitcher no i didn't okay so he not only was he a pitcher i don't know if this is his junior or senior year high school it's incredible by the
Starting point is 00:36:24 way he he, he's, he's from, he's from Connecticut. Okay. I saw you smiling when I said the four, the four pitches. He, it's because he won new England pitcher of the year as a junior.
Starting point is 00:36:34 It's shameful that I didn't know that. Cause I did try to do a multi-sport backgrounds and all these guys, but with him, I never did. Yeah. So he was new England pitcher of the year was went undefeated one year and had an ERA of 1.08 unbelievable so unbelievable which uh yeah so i mean he was a four-star quarterback out of
Starting point is 00:36:52 out of uh connecticut you mentioned uh the baseball style well it's because he absolutely was a pitcher now the crazy thing about him is he burst on the scene last year for those who are kind of learning tyler van dyke's name maybe for the first time throughout this process this summer, threw for 300-plus yards in six games in a row, and I think the last six games of the season. Over 2,000 passing yards with 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions, 66% completion percentage, and was named the ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Starting point is 00:37:19 You mentioned it there. When you look at his PFF stats, though, he's definitely that big game hunter kind of a quarterback right now because the pff grade 78.5 that was eighth out of these 10 quarterbacks that i watched the adjusted completion percentage of just 71 that was a that was also eighth so near the bottom and the turnover worthy place he had 11 which is three percent that was seven so all of those are not great categories however big time throws dude had 25 big time throws in the limited he only played for the virginia game on which i think was like six or seven games whatever that was he had 25 big
Starting point is 00:37:58 time throws in that game 7.7 percent of his passes were big-time throws, which was by far the most amount when I looked at these quarterbacks here. So that's without a doubt first on the list. He is fourth for me, so I'm just kind of piggybacking off you here. Okay, so we're both having him at four. Yeah, well, I – well, right. Yes. Yes, yes. That's how these
Starting point is 00:38:25 numbers work so i had tanner mckee at five and then i've got uh tyler van dyke at number four here's my strength and we use this category for him strengths big big tall sturdy quarterback good strong base you can see that in the power that he generates in some of those throws he can get a wide base and still be really tall in the pocket which matters especially when we get to a couple of these other quarterbacks that I'm going to mention that maybe aren't the tallest in the world. You know, you're taught to when you have a base. And I guess I'll just say this because I'm going to talk about kind of his
Starting point is 00:38:54 mechanics and his throwing style here. There are so many different types of throwing styles. Throwing the football is very individualistic. It is very unique from player to player but there are certain things that you kind of want to at least be consistent and those are of course you know your toes your hips your shoulders they're all pointing towards the target when you release you know that you are making sure that the success that you're able to have on certain passes that it's it's stuff that you could replicate right it's not super erratic stuff and you know i was watching a
Starting point is 00:39:29 quarterback clinic with oh tennessee's assistant quarterback coach i cannot remember his name he did a phenomenal job in the clinic and i can't even remember his name but he a line that he gave at the beginning of the clinic he's like the number one thing that kills good quarterback fundamentals is talent talent is the number one thing that kills it because guys think they can get away with anything and they think that they kind of like just they don't have to hone in on it and some of these guys that we're going to talk about throughout this episode are there more than others but when i watch tyler van dyke he's got a bit of a sidearm release and he does that thing almost like a pitcher where when he throws the football his hips are
Starting point is 00:40:14 open they're very open so that front foot is often like too far to the left and it's almost like he's compensating for that sidearm motion by putting his hips a little bit more open pointing his feet a little bit at a bigger of an angle to say okay well the ball's coming out from the side not over top so I'm just going to kind of compensate for it by putting my foot a little bit further to the left uh of where I'm throwing it and it works sometimes but it's just not as consistent as I would like for it to be. I really like Tyler Van Dyke's arm. I really do.
Starting point is 00:40:48 But the mechanics are just a little bit worrisome of how consistent they're going to be able to be. If Miami goes, nope, this is the kind of player he is. He's a former pitcher. This is his style. We're just going to let him cook. Okay, that's fine. But is he going to be as accurate? Is he going to be able to generate enough power
Starting point is 00:41:06 to where when he gets to the next level at the NFL, it stays as consistently good? And I think if you look at the turnover-worthy play number, the PFF grade, and the adjusted completion percentage all near the bottom of this list, that tells you no. So I think that that's something that he definitely has to work on, and I wanted to make sure that I said right off the bat that a lot of throwing styles are very individualistic but those things being able to be if you look philip rivers threw like a giant weirdo like
Starting point is 00:41:37 philip rivers is one of my favorite quarterbacks ever but like he just he just threw like such a weirdo but the thing was he was consistent with it he could do the same thing every time it's when you get these players who go okay well that's just his throwing motion well that's fine but can he do exactly that every time and if he can't that's when it gets dangerous philip rivers was able to have that shot put weird sidearm release but he could do the same thing every time to where the ball went exactly where he wanted to tyler van dyke has a little bit of a sidearm release and he's got a little bit of a pitcher's background with how open his hips are but those two things are not equating
Starting point is 00:42:15 to consistency right now so well that's the big thing that i want to look at with tyler van dyke big time big thrower if you will guy who loves the deep shot loves a big play you love that gunslinger mentality and so that's why i've got him number four but he's got to clean up those mechanics and he's young it was his first time as a starter so we'll see if he can but that was my thoughts on him okay so we both had van dyke at four um a big part of your analysis of him was about really his base and his motion and the consistency my guy at number three was your guy number five tanner mckee and one of my favorite things about him that i put in my notes with tanner mckee was how consistent his base is as a quarterback he was a guy to me that you know
Starting point is 00:43:02 we talked about you said he served the two-year mission in Brazil before he enrolled at Stanford. So he will be, he's not an old player actually at all. He's just, you know, he was a big time recruit in his class and then kind of forgotten about because of the two-year mission. A true drop back pocket passer, great size. I think limited mobility. A lot of guys at that size are not going to move extremely well. They're not going to be dual threat guys.
Starting point is 00:43:24 But the number one note in my Tanner McKee analysis that I would run over, highlight over, over and over again, is extremely comfortable scanning the field and keeping his base consistent. When he drops back in the pocket, you can see all of the weight transfer in that base and the ability to go through his reads. Obviously in a Stanford system that by now everybody knows really, really well. You have to be, you know, I think pretty bright to handle that system
Starting point is 00:43:50 for the most part. And I thought McKee looked really, really comfortable at all times. Release is a bit lengthy, but these 6'6 quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence, have the same thing. They're long. They're big guys. It goes back to the whole conversation we had a million times where Drake London's routes are going to look different than calvin austin's the perfect example because he's like five nine so right i didn't really
Starting point is 00:44:17 knock him for that it's just something i noticed i'm like his release is a little bit longer there you said it trevor i think you hinted at it there's times where like when he's inaccurate you could see guys jumping on the ball a little bit because and I think when your release is a little bit longer it just happens to you it's happened to you know it's happened to guys in the past it's happened to you know a Trevor Lawrence before it happens to these guys that uh load up that way so I know it's happened to Drew Locke before and so I thought his release was a bit lengthy but it's expected for a 6'6 quarterback. I think some of the bucket throws from McKee,
Starting point is 00:44:49 and this really all goes back to his ability to sit in the pocket and play with a consistent base and go through his reads and understand where he wants to go. And everything is repeatable with him in his mechanics. Some of the bucket throws are fantastic. They're truly fantastic. Now, the guys in the next year, we're going to highlight how great they are in a little bit,
Starting point is 00:45:10 the one and two, and we're going to get to your third in a few. But I was so impressed with McKee's overall play as a pocket passer because how much he can quarterback a game. All of these guys, so many college quarterbacks athlete a game, and then they'll sprinkle in a quarterback play here or there. The top ones can do both. I don't think McKee can athlete a game,
Starting point is 00:45:33 but he knows how to quarterback a game. And it's really impressive to watch, and I think we're gonna see significant growth in him this year. And when I watch him play, man, I just thought right away, it's chalky, but I thought of Joe Flacco right away six foot six 226 the repeatable pocket mechanics the lack of mobility the big arm the
Starting point is 00:45:52 elongated release uh that system I just go man this guy is Delaware Joe Flacco all over again and that's a big compliment like I know we laugh at him now but Joe Flacco there was a time and a place dude great prospect good quarter he won a super bowl good franchise quarterback and his time just ran out and he was never great but he was good um that that just when people watch mckee i think legend jets legend right now had the biggest play of otas this week so oh sickening time of year but yeah tanner mckee man i was a fan i was pleasantly uh pleasantly surprised and i loved your background info i did not know about you know some of the long road he's really had i only knew about the mission yeah the long road it's he's an easy
Starting point is 00:46:32 guy to root for obviously so my number three is not in your top five no and i i sensed that after you did number four i was like oh boy right and i'm very i'm very curious to hear what your thoughts are on him but i think I can guess it. Will Levis is my number three here. Speaking of athleeting at the quarterback position. Correct. Well, dude, okay, you want to talk about background. Let's get into some of this dude's background.
Starting point is 00:46:59 His family athletic background is nuts, okay? Three-star quarterback from Middletown, Connecticut. That's where Will Levis is from. His father, Mike, played football at Denison University, which is a D3 school in Ohio. His mother, Beth, was a two-time All-American soccer player at Yale. His uncle played football at Yale, and his great-grandfather,
Starting point is 00:47:16 Alva, was an All-American and won a national championship at Cornell in 1939 for the Cornell football team. Like, this dude is just like, every step down his family line you've got straight athlete he set his high school record now this is back to will levis set his high school record as a senior for passing touchdowns 27 uh had almost 3 000 passing yards over 2700 uh went to penn state was not always at kentucky was at penn state from 2018 to 2020
Starting point is 00:47:44 backed up sean clifford for two seasons which is mind-numbing at this point incredible note not good but incredible oh i don't know what to tell you don't know what to tell you don't know what to tell you that's all i'll say just don't know what to tell you earn the starting job at kentucky so he transferred over kentucky earn the starting job in justentucky so he transferred over kentucky earned the starting job in just one week now you figure okay he's transferring over kentucky he's probably transferring because he's got a good chance to start whatever but not only that something that stood out even more to me connor is that he was voted a team captain before the first game like so this guy
Starting point is 00:48:22 comes over from penn state he has been with these guys that long earns a starting job all right that's fine team captain yeah voted a team captain before any game this is before will levis started to play really well as the early parts of the season went on so ended up passed for over 20 2800 yards had 28 passing touchdowns 13 interceptions uh also wanted to note that will levis is a hilarious dude beyond just the things that he eats which is um very hilarious now because my girlfriend has had to do segments on sec now about the things that will levis eats which include like bananas with the peels on them and eating or drinking coffee with mayonnaise instead of creamer and uh so wait what have you not seen any of this no and now glad he's not in my top five so what the hell he does like these weird food things that i'm i'm
Starting point is 00:49:14 pretty sure he's just doing for clout which is fine because it's just the day this is a bit this is it has to be a bit but there was a tiktok that went viral of him just sitting there eating a banana with the peel on just like eating it oh and then alissa was at a kentucky game and for the broadcast had to eat a banana i remember this see i remember when alissa did it but i didn't know it was because will hevis did it and then a week later like to top it because everybody was like oh what's will gonna do next he's he was at breakfast with his girlfriend and what's will gonna do next and she and she was like she was like oh do you need creamer for your coffee and he's like no i'm good and he grabs like a squeezable mayo that he just like puts the mayo in the coffee and then just drinks the coffee so alissa also had to drink mayo coffee which she almost threw up on that's disgusting
Starting point is 00:50:05 i don't even believe that mixes no no it doesn't it's just chunky like it's just this is so foul will levis isn't is okay can i can i redeem him wrong with him hold on can i redeem him i don't think you can but you could try he said in an interview that his dream job is to be a stay-at-home dog dad with a wife who earns six figures. I mean, good work if you could find it. It's great work if you could find it. I think you're going to have to take some shots in the NFL. He's a funny dude. Will Levis is a very funny dude.
Starting point is 00:50:36 No, it sounds incredible. So, okay. All right, let's get to some – I'll get to my film notes, and then I'd love to hear from you of why he didn't make your top five and what you thought of Will Levis. I'm sure that you watch him as well. So the strengths portion of Will Levis' game, really nice arm. And he's got good zip, plenty of distance.
Starting point is 00:50:54 Yep. Fundamentally, he has a good tight spiral on almost all of his passes. So I think that he does a really great job pointing the thumb down, if you will, getting the full rotation on the hand, being able to turn through the body to really get a good spiral on almost all of his passes. He does a really good job creating torque on those throws for the spiral. Very confident player when things are going right.
Starting point is 00:51:14 When things are going right, even at the beginning of games, when he's creating his own momentum, he does a lot that you love. Like, he's the guy who will, if he scrambles for a first down, he's getting up and he's pointing down the field, right? And he's getting people pumped up and you could see little instances on the field of why this dude was voted a captain you really can't i think he's got the ability to be a really good deep ball passer but he just did not hit or attempt as many deep shots as i thought that he was going to i think that that may change this year but i also don't think kentucky
Starting point is 00:51:41 necessarily had the offensive weapons to be able to do that. Remember their best pass catcher was a super short Wanda Robinson. So it wasn't exactly built in their game. Now the weaknesses for him, the footwork and below the waist mechanics can be good at times, but they are too inconsistent, especially when he gets rattled a little bit too often does his base become more narrow than it should. He wants to stand a lot taller in the pocket than he needs to.
Starting point is 00:52:04 He's got to keep those feet a little bit further than shoulder width he's got to keep those knees bent so he can bounce on it a little bit also his feet can sometimes not be aligned exactly where you need them to be for that pinpoint accuracy he gets a little too confident in himself this is also a note that i had there are too many times where he bails on his fundamentals because his arm is so good. He needs to learn that just because a throw might not be perfect and on platform does not mean that he has to make it more difficult by bending his body or not moving his feet at all or not turning his hips or anything like that. I just think that he forgets that a little too much because he believes in his arm a lot. You love the confidence, but it can't be arrogance's what the the difference in quarterback play is often that is balancing confidence and arrogance when it comes to your fundamentals and your reads and everything and
Starting point is 00:52:54 that's what makes a really great quarterback would love to see him work on some anticipation stuff as well because i think certainly when he was getting rattled or not seeing the defense the way that he thought like if they're looking like they're in a too high shell as if it's safeties are back deep pre-snap one rotates down if he didn't expect that guy to rotate down or one to rotate down rotate down at all he gets really hesitant he gets really gun shy and it just he needs to be a lot better a lot quicker for him so those are those are my uh those are my notes on will levis there i think you nailed it i think that i could have easily had him at five instead of anth Richardson. He's the other guy that I wrote down in the notes. The splash plays are up there with any of the quarterbacks in this class. But I think the last part of what you said
Starting point is 00:53:34 is so important that sometimes he right now and a lot of young quarterbacks are this way. So this is me picking on Will Levis is that he's a see it then throw it guy not a throw it while it's developing right and it's the anticipation note that you had and I think that if he can find a way to start throwing with anticipation not being a guy that's okay I'm big I'm strong first note I have is he's a quarterback built like a tight end I'm big I'm strong I think I can out athlete everybody. And then when somebody's open, I'm going to throw it. And I think it's really hard to play that way as that,
Starting point is 00:54:11 as your main brand at the next level. And I think he, I think he has a lot to unlock where it goes back to the conversation. Are you athleeting at quarterback? Are you quarterbacking? And I think he right now is is the is all the way one swing of the pendulum he's athleeting but man if he can get to the middle a little bit he's got he's got big time traits you're right Trevor he doesn't play with his base at all and he still makes throws that's what's crazy it's like man if you played with your base you there's more power in
Starting point is 00:54:37 that big bodied arm right um i saw i think that he was the guy that when he rarely did play with his base, he can drive the ball outside the deep pass. His arm's good, man. I was like, not a lot of guys I watched in the last 48 hours can really, really do that. One interesting note I found with him, and you mentioned that he transferred from Penn State, he's going to turn 24 before his first NFL training camp.
Starting point is 00:54:59 Oh, I didn't know. Oh, yeah, because he's got to – yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right. Now that I'm thinking about it. So he's got to have the year this year. He's got to turn it on this year because you don't want to be the guy turning 25 before your first NFL training camp. So, yeah, it's important. It's just important.
Starting point is 00:55:15 So I don't want to be the age monitor guy all the time. But for quarterbacks, it matters. So, yeah, I think that's a perfect breakdown though on levis exactly how i felt pretty much too all right so we didn't have the same number three quarterback i have a good feeling that we're going to have the same top two maybe not in the same order maybe not but we can we figure it out right now i have a weird feeling we will we get a number two number two i have bry I have Bryce Young. Okay. And I think a lot of people might maybe gasp when they hear that or be shocked.
Starting point is 00:55:49 I don't know. Yeah, like, I feel like we're so fixated on Bryce Young being the number one, at least quarterback next year. I know Will Anderson is discussed justifiably so as the number one overall pick. Right. This was not easy and this is why I tried to warn people of the tears earlier Bryce Young and CJ Stroud are the tier one for me right now if the draft was tomorrow I would take Bryce Young you know probably every single time but I am projecting CJ Stroud to end up as a better prospect by the end of this season.
Starting point is 00:56:28 Or at least, I really fell in love with his traits when watching him. Now, I've been excited about Stroud for a long time, and that is a place that he had to wait a little bit, not that long. He's still a really young guy. But the growth that I saw him make throughout the season last year, Trevor, was, and to be fair, Bryce Young did too. But Stroud's growth, his frame, his pocket passing ability, true pocket passing ability. I think there is so much there.
Starting point is 00:56:57 So I'll keep it with Bryce right now before we obviously get to number one, which is already given away. With Bryce to me, who's a really good watch i think every everything is going to start with him about his size alabama lists him at six foot 194 not a lot of guys play quarterback in the nfl at under 200 pounds i don't do you think he's six feet tall nope i don't even think he's close not a chance i don't know if he's five to eleven or five ten he's closer to five nine than he is 6 foot if you ask me and i'm not even a guy that gets so caught up all the time that you need to be 6 5 2 30 to play quarterback but he he's in a stratosphere where it's a very deserving conversation and it's not
Starting point is 00:57:36 going away it's actually going to grow what was kyler kyler kylo is 5 10 and 1 8 so here's the problem when i hear that because I hear that a lot, and it's the only other guy you could bring up, right? Well, right. That's the guy that you would bring up for the success metric of him being small. And Russell Wilson. He doesn't move like Kyler Murray.
Starting point is 00:57:54 No one does. Well, Kyler was also 2'05, 2'10 is probably what he plays at. And what was Russell Wilson? Oh, Russ is thick. Thick. I think he's 5'11", What was Russell Wilson? Oh, Russ is thick, thick. I think he's right. But I have 11, right? Russell Wilson.
Starting point is 00:58:09 He might be five, 10. He was five, 11 flat, but he was two or five. He was the same thing. He weighed in the same, basically the same as Kyler.
Starting point is 00:58:16 So these are just, these are just thick boys. Yeah. Always thick boys. And you could see it that Russ could carry a lot of weight. I remember. And I don't, I don't know that about Bryce So that I don't want to make this like negative on Bryce Young because there's so much to dissect
Starting point is 00:58:29 But I want to make it clear as day that if you're a fan of the NFL Draft That is the thing you're gonna hear about Bryce Young Until it's not a thing right until it's not a thing. So now that we got that out of the way All right, former five-star recruit top top-ranked dual-threat quarterback. I know that was like the funny, like he had the funny quote, like, you know, I was an underdog or whatever it was. But yeah, like this, this dude is the real deal.
Starting point is 00:58:53 He's been big time for a long time. He was a legitimate top recruit. Ball placement is excellent at all three levels. It really is. I mean, they obviously got incredible pass catching targets every single year, but he put it in their lap. He just, it looks like he takes the football and sticks it right in their pocket most of the time, right in the belt buckle. Ball placements are so good. Middle of the field throwing, phenomenal, phenomenal. And it's with anticipation. It's
Starting point is 00:59:20 threading the ball. It's putting it between defenders, over defenders. The middle of the field throwing comes easy to him. It's no problem. And that is in or out of the pocket for a smaller guy. He can make the middle of the field throws from the pocket. He puts the deep ball in his receiver's pockets for them. As I said before, it's absolutely beautiful. It was really fun to watch him play with Jameson Williams. And he's still learning a little bit what he can get away with in tight windows.
Starting point is 00:59:46 A few of the INTs, or could be INTs, I know at PFF we call them the turnover worthy plays. I know you and I have gone through all of them for these quarterbacks. A couple of defenders jumped underneath. And he just didn't think they would get there. And they did. And he's learning, man,
Starting point is 01:00:01 these guys are really good. I'm playing against Georgia. These defenders can close the space that I don't really think Arm strength is an issue. He just he's learning what he can get away with it all these guys are going through that mm-hmm One negative thing one more negative thing it takes nothing to bring him down like there's a couple times where Guys get into the pocket and like kind of one arm stab at his shoulder pad You know his pads, and he falls. He does play like he's 190. I want to be honest on this podcast.
Starting point is 01:00:31 I don't think he's a perfect prospect. He's a really good one. The intermediate and deep throws outside the hash lose some life sometimes. I don't think he has the power arm we're accustomed to seeing. His guys build his number one overall picks for a long time. He was sacked 35 times in 2021. Some of them, especially against A&M, he didn't stand a chance. He snapped the ball.
Starting point is 01:00:52 He looked and he was on the ground. He got killed. So I don't really want to be like, oh, this guy holds the ball forever. He takes a lot of sacks. Really good prospect, Trevor. Really, really good prospect. Right now, he's the best quarterback in this class right now. But he's not my number one quarterback class because I do not project him that way.
Starting point is 01:01:06 I see a long-term starter. I'm excited to see him grow. I'm excited to see him work on the things he can work on. Like I said, the defender's jumping on the ball. Hopefully, he can pack on more weight and play a little bit bigger at times. But it's going to be a fascinating conversation around him because he's really, really good. But there's no slam dunk at quarterback, but he, you know, he's just, he's not that guy yet.
Starting point is 01:01:28 I have Bryce at number one. So it doesn't, it doesn't matter. We're pro we're talking about Bryce young. We're talking about CJ. Take it away. I've got him at number one and you know, you did a good job with some background and some traits information. I'll throw some background stuff that I found on him. Some people might already know this stuff out there it's sort of common knowledge but i do think that guys backgrounds go into what you see on the field sometimes and i think that for specifically yeah
Starting point is 01:01:54 van dyke absolutely it has that pitcher background you see that in his play bryce young i think also this goes into it and i'll tell you why in a second so he was born in philly but he grew up in pasadena california went to modernerey High School, which is, you know, Monterey High School has produced Matt Leiner, Matt Barkley, JT Daniels, Amon Ross St. Brown, like all these guys who went to USC. So he was originally committed to USC, but he ended up going to Alabama, as everybody knows. As a junior at Monterey High School,
Starting point is 01:02:17 he led his team to a national championship, and as a senior, he won the Gatorade National Player of the Year. He had over 4,500 passing yards and 58 touchdowns. It was just absolutely insane. First scholarship offer, little nugget here. Eighth grade, Cliff Kingsbury when he was at Texas Tech. That was Bryce Young's first scholarship offer before they started all kind of. My next Kyler.
Starting point is 01:02:39 It's going to be my Kyler. So I said originally committed to USC, but then he went to Alabama, ended up being a five-star. Backed up Mac Jones' freshman season. Played nine games, though, so he didn't redshirt that freshman year. So he was a true sophomore last year, true junior this year. Led Alabama to an SEC title, won the Heisman Trophy, had almost 5,000 passing yards, 47 passing touchdowns,
Starting point is 01:03:03 just seven interceptions, became the very first Alabama quarterback to win the heisman trophy when you look at some of the pff stats with bryce young he was the top player of anybody in pff grade 91.9 elite grade on the season that was the best grade of all these quarterbacks here he had the best he had one of the best big time throw rates he had 34 6.2 that was the third best turnover worthy play also really great had the second lowest turnover worthy play rate uh at 2.1 the adjusted completion percentage was great at 78.1 now you get into some stats that you go okay maybe he's maybe he's being helped out by albam a little bit average depth the target was less than 10 that was ninth uh it was it was 9.0 flat 9.0 average that was
Starting point is 01:03:46 ninth best uh play action percentage was eight uh air yardage percentage was 10th so his air yards was the lowest because he was getting the ball in the hands of guys like john metchie and james and williams all those guys who did incredible things after the catch and passes batted down as you would expect he had seven passes batted at the line of scrimmage or just batted down, and that was eighth. So that was a lot. That's a lot in the end, guys, that I watched. Him being as talented as he is, I think goes into the playing style that you have seen,
Starting point is 01:04:18 especially with him as a first-time starter last year at Alabama. I believe that Bryce Young, throughout his entire football career to this point has always been one of the most gifted players on the field, whether it's been through his arm or his legs. He has just simply been one of the most gifted players. And because of that, I think that he has had the leeway to get away with some flaws and fundamentals and mechanics that I noticed in his game. He biggest issue right now with bryce young is his footwork he does the heel click thing where instead of staying wide in your base which when you're a quarterback and you're standing standing tall in the pocket or when you have established
Starting point is 01:04:56 your stance if you will your feet are supposed to be just a little bit further than shoulder width apart your knees are supposed to be bent a little bit, which gives you that bounce a little bit. But with your feet always at those positions and your knees always in those positions, it allows you to fire the football at any point. You don't need to sit here and gather and reestablish and whatever. If you are bouncing around the pocket still with your feet, shoulder width apart, a little further than shoulder width apart, you can throw the ball at any time. reestablish and whatever. If you are bouncing around the pocket, still with your feet, shoulder with the part,
Starting point is 01:05:26 a little further than shoulder with the part, you can throw the ball at any time. Bryce Young doesn't do that because Bryce Young instead stands more narrow because he's short because he's got to stand as tall as possible. When you, when a lot of these quarterbacks, when you go wider in your base, I mean, physically do it. If you're listening to the podcast and not, not while you're driving, I hope no one, nobody tried this while you're driving, but you're at the gym right now. Yeah. If you're at the gym right now, if you're at your base i mean physically do it if you're listening to the podcast and yeah not what not while you're driving i hope no one's gonna be trying this while you're driving but you're at the gym right now yeah if you're at the gym right now if you're at home or whatever stand tall and then put your feet further than shoulder width apart and bend your knees a little bit sumo squat position
Starting point is 01:05:57 everyone you go down you physically go down that's what happens bryce young doesn't have the height to spare he already can't see over the line of scrimmage with him being right around what I think is probably five foot ten when he's got cleats on so because of that he's got you know his his footwork is is is not what you want it to be because he's constantly has a more narrow base and because of it he's constantly doing the the heel click thing which is where you know when you're when you're going across the pocket your heels are just kind of clicking together as you are shuffling your feet and that's not good just because it means it's going to take you longer to get to a base to where you can generate power off your back foot and get the football where it needs to go so
Starting point is 01:06:36 i think that he relied he has relied too much on his his talent in his arm to really be able to clean up those mechanics and then there's also an element of maybe he just can't um his natural stance is too narrow and i think that it's because that height like i mentioned uh i say i i have in here i wonder if seeing over the pocket is why he does that and i do think that that's the reason why so that's the big negative on bryce young i think that there are also times where he's got to arch his back. He's got to bend backwards to try to throw the ball over the line of scrimmage, which also sometimes hurts his power, his velocity on some of those throws that you were mentioning when you were explaining him.
Starting point is 01:07:13 But I want to make sure that we're also talking about the positives. This dude's really good. This dude's an insane playmaker, man. Yep. You know, when you talk about, okay, if you're going to be a smaller size, you better be able to move correctly. This guy moves correctly, even though the base isn't as wide as you would want. Connor, the toes, the hips, the shoulders, they are always pointed exactly where they need to go. And that ball is going exactly where he is targeting that,
Starting point is 01:07:40 that release with also the shorter arm, the shorter frame lightning quick, man, that ball is coming out of his hands quickly when he decides to throw the football. He's small in size, but he is just so natural when it comes to seeing the field, adjusting to pressure, escaping and extending plays, putting the ball exactly on the money on all three levels of the field. I just feel as though it's funny
Starting point is 01:08:03 because we're going to knock him because of his size, because we have to. And not just because, you know, when you hear, I think a lot of times we'll listen to scouts and we'll be like, oh, you know, he's a big, tall quarterback. And you go like, who the hell cares? You know, like there's all sorts of big, tall quarterbacks that stink in the NFL. Why don't you just pick the bigger, the better football player? Well, I'm telling you right now, Bryce Young is a better football player well i'm i'm telling you right now bryce young is a fantastic football player and i have him as qb1 because i think his intangibles as a playmaker
Starting point is 01:08:29 are that good but there are practical ways in which being shorter and smaller affect what you do and i just kind of wanted to spell those out it's not just oh he can't see over the line of scrimmage or like oh i just like my quarterbacks bigger and taller the reason is because there's there's actual practical applicable reasons to why you would want that or why that is preferred and you do see some of that show up in bryce young's game so when you see when you hear somebody go like oh he's just too short now you kind of know why what goes into that it might be a drawback for it really well put man i think you you you broke down exactly right why it's funny like we when i think when you and i got into this around the same time there was such a pushback from old school scouts of like oh you can't draft a short
Starting point is 01:09:15 quarterback like they're outliers they don't pan out and then you know there was kind of that new wave of like no they can now but now you don't want to go too far on the other spectrum where it's anybody can play quarterback it doesn't matter right and the way you described the reasons of how it impacts their game i mean some of the things you're saying i've even noticed with obviously kyler at the nfl for as good as he's been at times kyler has those problems i think baker mayfield has gone through those problems quietly at times. Right. And this guy is smaller than Baker. He's not as electric as Kyler. Nobody is. That's not fair.
Starting point is 01:09:52 And you highlighted he is deadly accurate. It's awesome. He's a really good prospect. He's so naturally good at this game, man. He is so naturally good at the game of football. And I list, I get very detailed, and you did as well, in the areas where we see maybe some shortcomings. But I don't want people to forget, and you mentioned it too, that like, this dude won the Heisman.
Starting point is 01:10:16 He almost won the National Championship. He beat Georgia in the SEC Championship. His numbers for Alabama are unheard of. He is such a good football player. Yeah. But he's short. And those are applicable things that you look at his game and you go, okay, that might be drawbacks.
Starting point is 01:10:30 So he's your number one guy. I did say that if the draft was today, I think he's the guy I would take. He's the best quarterback right now. But my number one guy is the guy that I think projecting can be the best NFL quarterback of the future of this group. It's just not there yet. But Greenlight came on at some point last year, and the arrow was really pointing up.
Starting point is 01:10:49 And that's C.J. Stroud, who, former five-star recruit, an effortless pocket passer that got better as the year went on. And for a first-year starter, man, there's not much more you can ask. Just get better as the year went on. He went from okay to really, really good by the end of the year. A big body that can break tackles in the pocket and reset his base to throw. It's one of my favorite things when watching CJ Stroud. It's the pressure comes, there is some contact. He's not getting, you know, drilled. He's not getting hit, you know, wrapped up around the hips, but there's contact against him. Contact balance, reset my base, and put myself in position to throw.
Starting point is 01:11:27 CJ Stroud is so good at that. And when you're 6'3", 218, it's a skill. It's impressive, man. It's impressive. Yes, it's a skill. A couple things, I think, some of the turnovers are just big-time head scratchers.
Starting point is 01:11:42 I'm like, why did you, like, why did you like why did you you did not need to throw that but he's he's a young guy um you know obviously him and uh when you when you got chris olave and jackson smith and jigba and garrett wilson you might as well just be like nah my guy's gonna go win it i think that played into it i think there was 100 played into it yeah so he's he's still 20 years old. Him and Bryce are really young, and that's not the case for this entire quarterback class.
Starting point is 01:12:10 There are some older guys. Jaron Hall's an older guy. Will Levis is an older guy. Devin Leary is an older guy. So these are the tier one guys, and they're young. A couple of times I noticed he passed up on the... Alabama didn't do this as much for Bryce, but Ohio State did this for CJ.
Starting point is 01:12:29 They would give him that late outlet check down, and there was a lot of times where he's like no i'm making the big play and unfortunately those were his turnover worthy plays as we call them at pff like you watch him and you're like there's the check down or there's the little drag route just dump it off and let your guy do work you got the best skill players in the country most of the time in most games. And he's like, no, I'm going to make the big play. And it leads to a turnover or turnover worthy play. And you know what? That's part of playing quarterback.
Starting point is 01:12:52 You learn what you can get away with. And as long as you improve on that along the way, that's all you can ask for. So his worst is really bad. It's really frustrating. But his overall consistency, and I'm excited for you to read the numbers. I have them open too, but I want you to read them. It's really frustrating. But his overall consistency, and I'm excited for you to read the numbers. I have them open too, but I want you to read them. It's really good. There are big-time throws. There are surprisingly some.
Starting point is 01:13:11 You watch the Oregon game. There's a throw he has down the sideline to a lave vertically. It's one of the most beautiful balls I've seen in this quarterback class. And a lave drops it. It's right in his hands, and he falls and drops it. And you look at Stroud, and you go, man, the deep ball drops it it's right in his hands and he falls and drops it and you look at Stroud and you go man the deep ball passing it's real and it's from the pocket and it's standing tall and it's playing with a consistent base and once again it's a base that he knows how to reset and redistribute and find himself to reset a new pocket and make throws and I'm really excited for
Starting point is 01:13:41 this dude I think that it's limitless for him. Somebody asked me right away when I posted a clip of him, you know, this is really early, but do you think he's as good as Justin Fields or better already? And he said he's not better now. He's not Justin Fields right now. But is there a clear picture where you can see him getting to that level or even beyond it? There really is.
Starting point is 01:13:59 That's how talented Stroud is. Yeah, I was so pleasantly surprised when I watched Stroud and it's, it's so funny. You watch these guys who are not draft eligible and you watch them live on Saturdays in college football. And, you know, you focus on the stats, you focus on the big play, but you don't really have them under a microscope yet. And so when I went into CJ Stroud's film, I went into it with, I mean like i this is just natural like i already had thoughts to it and and something that i thought was a weakness to his game i'll read in a second but when i turned on his tape it didn't take me but five or six plays for me to go
Starting point is 01:14:34 this dude's good like this dude is there's just so much to like about cj stroud and all of a sudden i went into cj stroud thinking like yeah the stats, but like, look at the offense. He plays in Ohio state. She's an offensive stat factory. There were some areas where I thought that I had concerns about him, but he was, he was so much better than I thought he was going to be, man.
Starting point is 01:14:54 He is so fundamentally sound as a quarterback. You mentioned it. And if that's hard to do when you're big, when you're six or three, 215, 220 pounds, that's tougher to do. And he makes it look effortless.
Starting point is 01:15:05 You can tell that he really works on his fundamentals. Feet all the way up through the shoulders in the throwing motion, man. It looks beautiful. It's beautiful. The feet, the hips, the shoulders, they're so often married right to the target. The ball goes exactly where it needs to be.
Starting point is 01:15:18 He does a great job constantly establishing his base, maintaining it until the throw, whenever he decides to pull the trigger. Ton of arm talent on this dude. And he can make almost any throw in the field that's what i have in my notes here understands and here's something that i've also really enjoyed about him then the more that i really watch him under a microscope understands the manipulation of defenses whether that be with certain play action or holding safeties to a certain point with his eyes getting them off and then thrown in a different direction. He did that more than I thought that he was going to for a guy who, again, I kind of went into it and unfairly, unfairly.
Starting point is 01:15:51 So I went into it thinking like, all right, he's got the great offensive weapons. Like the film is not going to look that good. He's basically just going to be a point guard facilitator to these wide receivers. And he wasn't man. CJ Stroud was a big reason why that offense was as good as it was for his talented as those wide receivers were. I had to get CJ Stroud his props as well of the pff stats i have here you figure he was great and great 91.6 second only behind bryce young for these draft eligible quarterbacks really nice big
Starting point is 01:16:16 time throw rate he had 25 which is six best turnover worthy play was fifth which is right in the middle it's nice adjusted completion percentage 97 which is second only behind Spencer Rattler, funny enough, who did not complete a ton of passes. So I would consider CJ Stroud's adjusted completion percentage even better. But something I like, play action percentage. How much did this dude lean on play action to kind of manipulate the defense? 29.8%. That was ninth,
Starting point is 01:16:41 which means that was almost the lowest rate of any of these quarterbacks that kind of relied on play action. Now, when I say relied, it's not like these guys are using it as a crutch. It's just in the offense that they play in. You don't really have to worry about that with CJ Stroud. There's not this gimmick of, okay, well, he can't really survive without play action to really do something at the linebacker level. No, he was completing the ball and putting it where it needed to go and putting up big
Starting point is 01:17:02 stats without being heavily reliant on play action now the area of his game that i i see as a weakness but really i have in here the only big question mark i really have in cj shroud's game of course he can get better at recognizing defenses and and being manipulative what he does be more decisive be more anticipatory it's confidence and i'm very curious if you saw any of this with his play but there are times especially for road games where at the beginning of the game i'm like you know i'll watch him throw like a swing pad just like a quick swing pass i'll watch him get the ball and he'll turn to his left and the feet will be exactly where they need to be the throwing motion is exactly where it needs to be and the
Starting point is 01:17:43 ball goes where it needs to go but it just like just like dies on him and like like all the running back of the receiver kind of has like bend down a little bit go get the ball i'm like cj throw the ball like you you have worked so hard to already prove to us that you can turn you've got the mechanics right and you can fire that football right where it needs to be in stride get that ball to your receiver he's gonna go get yards after the catch and there are so there there are way too many times where that ball just dies whether it's in the short spot or an intermediate spot it dies way more than it needs to and i felt like that was a road game did you watch the rose ball did you watch the utah game by chance yep so there's a throw at the beginning of the utah game
Starting point is 01:18:22 and i think it's kind of a little bit of a double move and he wrote and he rolls to his right a little bit and he's got all the time in the world and his receiver gets even with the last defender to the point where the safety I think is is flat-footed even with the wide receiver so his dude is gone like there's no chance you can keep up with him and you see CJ like he pump fakes it once. And it's almost like he gets gun shy. And then he goes, okay, now I'm going to throw it.
Starting point is 01:18:50 And he throws it. And by the time he does, the defender ends up catching up to the wide receiver. And I'm like, throw that ball. The first time, if you had confidence in that read the first time, that's six points.
Starting point is 01:19:03 Not like you, you read it correctly you saw it correctly you had the throw timing right you just didn't like the ball out of your hands and so i just want to see the the thing that i want to see the most from cj stroud believe in yourself man that your mechanics are so good your arm is so good you've proven it don't hesitate you're the you're the effing man do it throw it show it on every single play and i'd love to see more confidence from cj stroud because a confident cj stroud is a is a future top three pick in whatever nfl draft he's gonna go in yeah i think
Starting point is 01:19:36 it's a good point i think the first quarter of the season the first couple games of the season it was like very evident it was not minnesota game for sure i was sure to watch that game yeah he was very very hesitant and it got better as the year went on but you're right for that rose bowl for as insane as it was and his numbers were massive and it was a crazy game there's like little flashes of it and you're like man you just i think he's gonna come in with a different mindset this year where it's it's you know i've been the guy before i'm comfortable you know i do have been the guy before I'm comfortable. You know,
Starting point is 01:20:06 I do have some targets returning that I've played with, even though I lost two guys in the first round at wide receiver, I've thrown to some of these guys that are here and he's got some of the best coaching in the country from an offensive standpoint. He's in a great system for him. Like you said, didn't always have to use play action as a crutch to get them going. There's a lot to like.
Starting point is 01:20:25 Not perfect. The head-scratching turnovers are. And that was really part of the hesitancy. There's a couple of times where he pumps or holds the ball, and he's got such a good release that he got away with it a lot of times. Like you said, where a guy just makes a play on the ball, not takes away the ball. But there's a few that he's so late that the interceptions can pile up. But once again, an awesome prospect.
Starting point is 01:20:48 And a guy that if I had to say today, I think Stroud will be a top 10 pick. I think Bryce Young will be a top 10 pick. And then we'll see how the rest of this quarterback class develops along the way. All right, so there we go. My top five from five to one. I had Tanner McKee from Stanford. I had Tyler Van Dyke from miami will levis from kentucky cj stroud from ohio state and bryce young from alabama connor had anthony richardson
Starting point is 01:21:11 from florida at number five tyler van dyke from miami at number four tanner mckee from stanford at number three bryce young at two and then cj stroud at one we already talked a little bit you know you gave some notes on will levis. I gave some notes on Anthony Richardson. Anybody else that did not make the top five that you either watched or you're intrigued with that you want to give a shout-out to before we get out of here? Devin Leary and Jaron Hall. I think probably for different reasons. I think, you know, I'll be kind of brief here
Starting point is 01:21:36 because we're going to talk about these guys all year. With Leary, what jumped out to me is he's already started for two and a half years, and he just doesn't really make mistakes. And, you know, he's not the biggest guy, 6'1", 210. A little bit of an older-ish guy. He's like Levis, where I think he will turn, I believe he will turn 24 right before his first NFL season starts. Are you talking about Jaron?
Starting point is 01:22:01 No, I'm talking about Devin. Oh, okay. Because Jaron Hall is also going to be an older prospect. Jaren is a much older prospect. What's he, 25? He is somebody that will turn 25 the month before the draft. So when he's drafted, he will be 25 years old. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:22:19 Which is old for a quarterback prospect. And, you know, like I said with Leary, a smaller guy, very accurate, doesn't make mistakes, kind of projects a little bit in the sense of, like, a higher-end Billy Zappy, where he's, you know, teams that look for that kind of backup, like the system New England runs, they're really going to like him, I think.
Starting point is 01:22:35 And he's played a lot of good football already. Jaron is fascinating. Once again, an older guy, but former BYU baseball outfielder. 2019, 2020 was on the baseball team. I know he's got bloodlines. I think both his dad and brother played running back at BYU. They did.
Starting point is 01:22:52 Not a big frame, but he's jacked. He is. No, he's built. He is jacked. Big biceps, big shoulders. If you're going to be a smaller framed quarterback, I love when you're in the weight room maxing out your frame. And he's done a really good job of that.
Starting point is 01:23:05 Uh, plays with a lot of confidence, twitchy and out of the pocket. It's funny watching him with the twitchiness and the mobility. Cause you're like, Oh, we saw that with Zach Wilson in the same uniform does not have the arm. Wilson has not at all.
Starting point is 01:23:17 But he good. I mean, like Jared's got a good arm. I said average arm, but plays with confidence. And when you have an average arm, but confidence, it looks like a good arm sometimes.
Starting point is 01:23:30 Okay. There you go. So yeah, I, i i jaron hall is going to be fascinating because he's going to get the age debate but he's got some promise uh he those are the two guys though that i watched that did not crack along with levis that did not crack the top five but i'm they're in the top 10 and they're they're worthy of this discussion this year, and you're going to hear about them a lot. So I'm glad that you brought those two guys up. I'll bring two more guys to the table. Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch Sam Hartman from Wake Forest. The offense is a little strange, though, with the long mesh play-action, heavy-based stuff.
Starting point is 01:24:00 It's crazy. You can see how the numbers came out for him. I'll have to get to him at some point throughout the summer just for fun. But we would be remiss if we did not bring up Spencer Rattler. Of course. And Spencer Rattler, not in my top five, not in your top five. Wouldn't have him in my top ten. Would not. I watched him last summer.
Starting point is 01:24:18 I watched him all season. He's just such a project man like even if you take any of the speculation of you know him being him being a little his head being a little bit too big from being on the qb1 the netflix documentary like saying what he said about oklahoma where it was a toxic environment and kind of like why he was benched like speculation or rumors about that like even if you take all of that stuff away which is a lot who he is on the field is also i mean he is a major project man this is i talked about it a little bit with bryce young and here i'll just read my notes for him actually let me get the notes out please i mean like former five-star
Starting point is 01:24:59 quarterback from phoenix arizona i mean like he was the mvp of the elite 11 at the opening when he was in high school obviously i mentioned he starred in the netflix documentary qb1 during his senior season transferred to oklahoma and or not transferred committed to oklahoma and first two games he played through for eight touchdowns combined which tied sam bradford school record for the most touchdowns through somebody's first two games look the strengths one of the top arm talents in this class i mean like the dude's got an unreal arm there's no doubt about that if not at the outright best of anybody can throw the ball from a variety of different angles bases
Starting point is 01:25:32 with good zip distance and accuracy though all three of those are not always present for every single throw they are possible because i've seen it now the weaknesses list is longer than the strength list. Unfortunately for Spencer Rattler, Supreme arm talent has stunted the growth of both consistent mechanics and decision-making. There are plenty of snaps where Rattler shows that he knows what to do with his lower body mechanics.
Starting point is 01:25:55 Then there are others where he just does not focus on them at all. They are completely thrown to the wayside and he just, I don't know what he's throwing or why he's throwing it. His decision-making was bad enough for him to be benched, albeit by a really good quarterback, Caleb Williams, behind him. And ultimately, he transferred. Doesn't have really good pocket management at all right now because Oklahoma's offense is already kind of weird.
Starting point is 01:26:16 The space is like infinite, it seems. And the dude just keeps dropping back, dropping, dropping. It's like he's playing Madden out there. It's like he's hiking the ball and then he's doing the thing where like you just keep dropping back, draft it's like he's playing madden out there it's like he's hiking the ball and he's doing the thing where like you just keep dropping back dropping back and drift press the button and then you're just throwing it deep down the field so the mechanics of the decision making the pocket management it's nowhere near an nfl level i don't care what the arm is at this point if you were to stick spencer rattler on an nfl camp right
Starting point is 01:26:42 now he would be years away from being able to be entrusted to to win you football games at the next level so i don't know what shane beamer's going to do with him in south carolina with him being in south carolina right now certainly you've got a ball of clay with a ton of potential in the arm but not good man he's nowhere he's nowhere near nfl level right now i know you said wipe away like all the stuff he said about Oklahoma, but why did every quarterback that's played under Lincoln Riley get so much better and look so great? Except him. At some point, be the guy that says, I needed to be better.
Starting point is 01:27:15 And you have to be that guy at quarterback. You have to be that guy. You have to be the most accountable player amongst any sport franchise, in my opinion. And I don't know. Maybe he surprises us. Maybe he finds his way into the top 10 quarterbacks again for me. But, man, it's just been nothing but a disappointment. And I hope it really turns out well for him, obviously.
Starting point is 01:27:40 Other one I'll give a shout-out to, Jay Kaner. My guy, Jay Kaner. I like Jay Kaner a lot. I don't think that Jay Kaner is going to be a a top five qb in this class at least as of right now but i think he's gutsy man uh last year he threw for over 4 000 yards uh in kaylon deborah's offense kaylon deborah no longer there he's at washington which hainer almost transferred over to washington which is actually where his college career began it's kind of a crazy story but he ends up staying at fresno state he's gonna stay at fresno state for one more year at 33 touchdowns nine interceptions last year he's a smaller guy so he doesn't have the
Starting point is 01:28:08 biggest arm in the world but he's one of those players who you watch a lot of his film when you go this dude's a gamer i mean especially if you watch last year's ucla game the gutting performance where he had a he had a pretty bad hip injury that he played through that game and just put on a heroic performance especially the last drive to win it. It was, it was pretty special. So what, what he was able to do last season, kind of gutting things out through injury.
Starting point is 01:28:30 He's a quarterback that I think you love. I don't know if he's ever going to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL, but you know, the arm is a little bit limited. The size is a little bit limited. I think he's only about six foot, six, one about 195 pounds.
Starting point is 01:28:41 Actually. I talked to him not too long ago. Cause I'm, I'm doing another story on him and uh i think he said he was up to like 207 so he's beefing up it's it's giving up baby it's bulking season season so we'll see but as of right now i didn't think the arm was exactly what it needed to be last year we'll see what he can come out and be in his final season but he's an intriguing prospect a good quarterback maybe not a great one but i think he's one that a lot of
Starting point is 01:29:03 people like uh potentially as a long-term number two in the nfl okay so my guy exactly like that is probably keaton slovis who transferred to pitt i know it did not work out the way usc fans had hoped for um it's amazing trevor he's still just he just turned 21 in april he's young yeah and he's played in a lot of football the last three years so let's not forget this guy in 2019 when he was what 18 years old threw 30 touchdowns nine picks um once again i don't think the most physically talented guy but can he number one i think he'll fit in that pit offense really well the way pickett did and can he develop into a long-term number two a guy that gets drafted in around four or five at the NFL level?
Starting point is 01:29:47 I think he can, especially with the all-star circuit. I'll say this, man. When you look at these quarterbacks, this is such a better year for Senior Bowl and Shrine. Oh, dude, yes. Such a better year. Because the Senior Bowl obviously got the guys that were going to be drafted early, like Kenny, and then nobody else got drafted early.
Starting point is 01:30:04 So it's well-rounded this year that Senior Bowl and Shrine is going to have, they're going to have good quarterback rooms. And that's exciting to me. I think that even just going down this list, it was so funny. We looked at quarterbacks last year, and I remember doing summer scouting, and we got to like QB4, QB5, and I was like, I don't really care about anybody anymore, actually. And this year, I found myself like, okay, let me watch,
Starting point is 01:30:28 let me watch one more guy before the podcast. Let me watch one more guy. And I just like, I kept going. So there, the quarterback list this year, I think the intrigue, I think the hype around these guys is going to be a lot different than what we were used to over the last year. It's going to be an exciting 2022 college football season for a lot of these quarterbacks,
Starting point is 01:30:47 a lot of area for these guys to improve a ton. And man, we could be back to talking about quarterbacks as the center of the 2023 NFL draft. I think that's the potential that we've got in this list. That was the first episode of Summer Scouting, buddy. That was fun, man. I think that might be the longest episode that we've done here as a podcast as a podcast duo but we had a
Starting point is 01:31:08 lot to get to i felt like it flew by and as we do more positions you know we're going to continue to be just as detailed with a lot of these guys you know we'll pick up the pace a little bit with running backs if we want to get to more wide receivers certainly things like that but yeah we wanted to be bigger we want to really yeah right we want to be as detailed as possible with quarterbacks because we know that everybody loves to know as much as possible about quarterbacks but this is fun this is good stuff phenomenal um it was funny we really did cut away so many more guys but it's like you said you really want to introduce the mainstays the guys that have a shot to be first round picks um and it's this just is such a good format i it felt like so i felt like
Starting point is 01:31:45 i got through so much in a couple of days where it's like when you you know you take the month off after the draft i'm really scouting scouting again and then when you like dive back in you're like oh right back in the flow uh a quarterback class to be excited about last year when we were watching them like i said watch rattler watch malik willis guys like that it was like okay you know here and there this quarterback class it's like no i don't think we don't need to manufacture anything these guys got some legitimate talent i don't think so i don't think we got to manufacture anything i think quarterback i think the quarterback class we're getting back to what we love it's going to
Starting point is 01:32:17 be hyped about it's going to be talked about certainly this is not the last time we're going to talk about quarterbacks we're going to be ranking all these positions ultimately coming up with a nfl stock exchange kind of top 50 preseason top 50 so i'm sure that these quarterbacks are going to be in that list as well as well as a mock draft that we will have at the end of the summer but we got a lot of guys to get to before then we got a fun mock draft monday coming up for you at the beginning of next week and then we're moving on to running backs for summer scouting a week from today bud good luck same to you but not too much luck same to you that's that's that's that is all i have to say about the situation we'll see whose team is up
Starting point is 01:32:53 whose spirits are down when we see you guys next monday we'll see you then this is the nfl soccer exchange Thank you.

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