The Next One? A Possible Look At The Future

Not #1 overall pick material.

 

No, but perfect for pick #32!

 

The more college FB I watch this season, the more guys I see who have NFL potential. However, I don’t see any clear cut top choice. I don’t see any anyone - yet - that I would expect someone to trade a king’s ransom to move up for. I thought Darnold would be that guy early in the year, but his trend of not taking care of the ball has gotten to the point where it can’t be considered an aberration. It’s a part of who he is as a QB right now, and I don’t know that anyone can say with full confidence that it’s fixable. I watch him play and I see great potential, but a consistent sprinkling in of very negative plays. Could he be the next Jay Cutler?

I have yet to really watch film on any of the QBs, and have just watched games on live TV. However, the impression that I’m getting is that there can be as many as 6-10 guys with lower 1st round grades, but nobody that wows as high first rounders. If my first impressions are right, there will be no reason to trade away a bunch of picks to get into the top 10. There will be plenty of good QB prospects available in the teens to 20’s, maybe even at pick 32.

 

I watched the 55-52 Ok vs Ok State game yesterday. That was a fun game to watch. Both of those QBs show some good pro potential. Both made a few mistakes, but they both made a crapload of good throws. Rudolph has the size and arm talent that NFL teams look for. He also has decent mobility. After watching the game, I’m not sure that I can envision a scenario where he falls out of the top 10-15 picks. Mayfield is only 6’1”, but he’s a stout 220. I also see Aaron Rodgers type of mobility there, and he throws well on the run (at least when moving to the right). He’s the kind of guy who may go later because of his height, but I see something special in his on-field demeanor. He’s a winner, and I think he has the potential to be a really good pro QB.

In comparison to last year’s draft, I would slot both of these guys slightly below Watson (who I had as the best QB last year) and ahead of Trubisky and Mahomes.

 

I actually have the Princeton and NC State games from this past weekend sitting on my DVR. I don’t know when I’ll get to watch them, but both QBs are on my radar.

I’ll also say that every time I watch Sam Darnold he looks like a great NFL prospect on 90-95% of plays. He makes a lot of legit NFL throws, and I like how accurate he is outside of the pocket. However that small handful of negative plays makes for a real head scratcher. Is he a true franchise QB, or is he Jay Cutler with better leadership traits?

 

I watched the Princeton vs Penn game. They lost 38-35, but it sure wasn’t his fault. I thought they got the win on a fade in the final seconds, but it was called incomplete (questionably IMO). Then they missed the short tying FG.

Kanoff is really accurate. I’m not sure I see a great NFL arm, but he does have good touch to get the ball between underneath and deep zone defenders. What I really didn’t like was how he stared down receivers. Watch his head. He seems to very frequently watch the guy he’s going to right off the snap. I’m sure I’ll watch more him before draft time.