Steven Ridley’s 2018 NFL Mock Draft

With the fifthteenth overall pick in the 2018 Steven Ridley NFL Mock Draft, the Arizona Cardinals select:

Lamar Jackson; Quarterback from the University of Louisville.

Steve Wilks had the pleasure of seeing just how athletically gifted Cam Newton was during his tenure at Carolina. Given the fact that Sam Bradford is heading into the season as the starting quarterback, Wilks can take it easy in his first season as Cardinals coach with his “Quarterback of the Future” in Lamar Jackson. He is not as pro ready as Rosen, does not possess the accurary like Darnold, does not have the arm talent of Allen and is not as good a thrower while on the move like Mayfield. He does, however, possess arguably the most explosive and electrifying playmaking ability in the class. I say arguably becasue of the fact that his success will likely depend on his offensive coordinator. However, this is where aspects get even more bizzare. Given the fact that Mike McCoy’s offensive schemes depend on the Head Coach, it is quite difficult to say what offense we will see in the near future. However, much like Bill O’ Brian from the Houston Texans and, like every Head Coach should be doing, ensuring that your team succeeds depends on the offense being built around the quarterback. Yet again however and, this just may being his greatest flaw, this is where Lamar Jackson’s abilities make him arguably the most difficult prospect to evaluate is that unlike the conventional method of building an offense around a quarterback’s strength’s, Lamar’s unique abilities force teams to build him around the offense’s strengths instead. That being said, one of Carolina’s reasons for success was following the aforementioned formula around Cam Newton; an explosive, vertical style offense in which he could fully unlock his talents as opposed to building around his playmaking abilities. Considering that Steve has had ample time to study his former Quarterback, look for Lamar Jackson to be a household name in 2019.