Louisville’s Jackson is best of college QBs
By the time last year’s captivating Rose Bowl duel between Penn State and Southern California had ended, the narrative of the 2017 offseason was set: This would be the year of the quarterback in college football.
With a returning Heisman Trophy winner in Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and several other high-ceiling prospects, quarterbacks were supposed to dominate the 2018 NFL draft conversation. That would be a turn from the 2017 draft, where just six quarter-
backs ended up being picked in the first three rounds, and the group’s top prospect, Mitchell Trubisky, had just one year of starting experience at North Carolina.
But as the college season has played out, the 2018 quarterback crop has, predictably, been picked apart by scouts and executives. Even in a league starving for quarterback talent — just watch every Sunday — there’s less excitement about this group than a year ago.
“It’s a bit of a lackluster class,” Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting said.
Here are the top quarterback prospects for the 2018 draft broken down not by their NFL attributes but by what kind of season they’ve had this year.
1. Lamar Jackson, Louisville
Although fewer people have paid attention for a variety of reasons, he’s actually on track for a better season statistically than his Heisman campaign. Jackson’s completion percentage is up (56.2% to 60.4%); his yards per attempt is slightly up (8.66 to 8.74); he’s thrown three fewer interceptions on roughly the same number of attempts. Jackson also ended the regular season with six consecutive 100-plus-yard rushing games. He’s clearly grown, and he was already outstanding. But as talented as he is, there isn’t a lot of buzz right now that he’ll be a top-15 pick.
2. Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
The likely 2017 Heisman winner, he has pretty much put the Sooners and their leaky defense on his back and willed them to an 11-1 record heading into the Big 12 title game: 4,097 yards, 37 touchdown passes, five interceptions. Mayfield is much more than moxie, but there are some concerns for the next level. His size (6-1) isn’t ideal, though the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson has been a popular comparison. But more important is how he comports himself. His penchant for being in the middle of admittedly petty controversies such as planting the flag at Ohio State or jawing with Kansas fans and making a lewd gesture will be scrutinized by NFL personnel types.
3. Josh Rosen, UCLA
For a variety of reasons, Rosen’s college career never lived up to its potential from a team standpoint, which accounts for a significant part of why UCLA fired Jim Mora. Although there’s perhaps a small chance Rosen will stick around for his senior year to play under Chip Kelly, it’s hard to envision the best pure quarterback talent in the draft would pass up being a surefire top-10 pick. Rosen certainly has some things to work on, and some of his bad interceptions from his college career (and they’re really bad) will be scrutinized. But when he has been good at UCLA, he has been really good. The “Chosen Rosen,” as he is sometimes called, has incredible natural mechanics, flexibility, anticipation and zip on the ball — things you can’t teach. And he’s been productive, too, throwing for 400-plus yards four times, including against defenses with high-level athletes such as Texas A&M and USC.
4. Sam Darnold, USC
Is he going to come back to school for his senior year? There’s legitimate buzz that he will, but it’s hard to envision a likely first-round pick passing up the money. There’s no doubt Darnold will need more development, whether with the Trojans or an NFL team. Part of the problem is the bar was set way too high. Darnold popped off the screen in the Rose Bowl, throwing for 453 yards and five TDs, igniting eight months of crazy hype leading into the 2017 season. Though his mistakes have come down late in the season, nine interceptions in his first six games was a big red flag.
5. Josh Allen, Wyoming
The search for the next Carson Wentz led scouts and reporters to Laramie this past offseason. Allen certainly looks the part at 6-5, 233, but his season has been a real disappointment from a statistical standpoint. The question for scouts will be how much of that has to do with the talent around him, which isn’t good, or if his potential was just flat-out overrated. Allen didn’t take advantage of a couple of big stages early in the season against Iowa (23-for-40 for 174 yards and two interceptions) and Oregon (9-for-24, 64 yards, one interception). He’s been out of sight, out of mind since. But if he declares for the draft, his pro day and combine performance will be critical.
6. Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State
Although he didn’t turn into a Heisman candidate, he had a terrific season: 4,553 yards, 35 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a career-high 65% completion percentage. It looked as if he might have been banged up a bit in the middle of the season, as he struggled with accuracy and throwing the ball deep. More so than Mayfield, Rudolph will check all the boxes from a physical standpoint at 6-5, 230 pounds. But he will be a divisive prospect because of his inconsistency and the fact he played in such a quarterback-friendly system with elite receivers.
7. Riley Ferguson, Memphis
You can tell at times that he lacks ex- perience. Every now and then, he’ll succumb to bad footwork and make a terrible throw. But that’s just part of the process for a guy who took a long road to Memphis (Tennessee, then junior college) before he got to play. Ferguson’s raw tools are impressive, and he can make a lot of tough, rolling out, acrossthe-field type of throws that make you say “wow” when he completes them. The 6-4 Ferguson has thrown 64 touchdown passes in just two seasons at Memphis and led the Tigers to a 10-1 regular-season record heading into the American Athletic Conference championship game.
8. Luke Falk, Washington State
Noted NFL.com talent evaluator Daniel Jeremiah believes Falk is a potential first-round pick and future NFL starter. Falk doesn’t have the biggest arm, but he has good touch and a quick release. This hasn’t been his best season with the Cougars, who finished 9-3. In fact, he had a few duds, was benched for a bit and has had injury issues.