The end of the college football season is a time of sadness for many fans. However, for NFL Draft aficionados like ESPN’s Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr., the fun is just about to begin.
This year’s NFL Draft may not be as stacked with talent as the best years, but it has a wealth of blue chip quarterback prospects.
Sam Darnold has all the hallmarks of another USC golden boy. Josh Rosen passes the eye test as a prototypical prospect stuck carrying mediocre UCLA teams. Baker Mayfield managed to win the Heisman and lead Oklahoma to a College Football Playoff berth.
In short, this is a great year to draft a quarterback. Best of luck to the Cleveland Browns in choosing a winner with one of their two top-five picks.
Each of the aforementioned college quarterbacks are projected as early first round picks this year, which speaks to just how badly some NFL teams need a fresh start under center. A talented rookie quarterback could be the difference between an 11-5 season and a 5-11 season.
These organizations now face a harrowing task in the path back to contention. Which of these raw, talented gunslingers should they pick?
Rosen is typically agreed to be the most pro-ready quarterback of the bunch. He first busted out onto the scene as a freshman with a 3,670-yard campaign, but injuries and subpar UCLA teams kept him from making an impact on the national stage. Despite these roadblocks, Rosen is still the number one quarterback prospect for both Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay.
“Rosen is far superior [than Darnold] going through his progressions and has a pretty deep ball,” McShay said. “He’s a better QB right now, but that doesn’t mean he will be down the line.”
Darnold broke out onto the college football landscape last year with a handful of clutch performances as a freshman. After starting 2016 on the bench, Darnold took over the starting spot against Utah and never relinquished it. He threw for 29 touchdowns over the last nine games of the season, including five in the Rose Bowl. He had an up-and-down year in 2017, in which he led USC to a Cotton Bowl berth but had 21 turnovers over the course of the season. Darnold has incredible intangibles and has proven that he can excel in the biggest moments but he needs plenty of polish to become a winner in the NFL.
Baker Mayfield is perhaps even more electric than Darnold. No player in this year’s draft has a better narrative. After walking on at Texas Tech and starting as a freshman, Mayfield bet on himself and transferred to Oklahoma. After a Heisman trophy, school records in completion percentage, second place standing in touchdowns and career passing yards and an incredible final performance in the College Football Playoff, it is safe to say that Mayfield is the real deal. He doesn’t have prototypical size at 6-foot-1-inch, but the tape says he could easily be Russell Wilson 2.0.
Each of these guys has the potential to turn around an entire franchise.
The Browns will probably select Darnold with the number one overall pick. He is still very raw, and Cleveland fans may have to wait through another difficult season as he gets up to NFL speed. If the Browns have cleaned house correctly this time, then Darnold could develop into the franchise quarterback that has eluded the franchise for almost two decades.
The Giants pick right after the Browns, and they will almost assuredly take whichever Los Angeles-based quarterback that the Browns pass on. Eli Manning may have one average year left, which would be a perfect scenario for Rosen. Backing up another quarterback is not something Rosen ever did in college, but giving Manning one last season while grooming the next big thing could be a dream scenario for New York.
There may be some concern with Baker Mayfield’s personality and stature, but not enough to outweigh his intangibles and pure statistical output. He may not be the prototypical pocket passer that Broncos vice president John Elway dreams of, but he is enough of a proven winner to warrant selection at fifth overall.
Drafting a quarterback in the first round is always a risky decision, but it appears as if the stars are aligning for at least four quarterbacks to be taken in the first round for the first time since 2012. They say that the NFL draft is the most hopeful event of the year for the league’s downtrodden franchises, and drafting any of these quarterbacks should be enough to give many fans some much-needed optimism.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected]