Greg Cosell on the QBs of the 2021 Draft - Lance over Fields, Trask is likely a backup in the league

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Greg Cosell was guest at the Ross Tucker podcast and they talked about the QBs of this coming year's draft. Here are some highlights of what Cosell thought of the different prospects:

 

Trevor Lawrence:

- high level traits prospect - no question he has size, athleticism, armstrength.

- He can throw with touch, pace. He can layer his throws, he can throw with precise ball placement 

- good elimination and isolation ability, improved from 2019 to 2020

- can move in the pocket but needs improvement in that area

- has second reaction ability , very good athlete

- can have QB run game with him

- only concern - tends to rush himself when there is pressure and he's not a snap thrower, more of a full body thrower so when there are people around him he tends to rush his mechanics and play a little fast. 

- thinks Burrow's feel for the game was better last year than Lawrence's feel for the game. 

 

Zach Wilson:

- second best QB prospect in this draft 

- efficient ball distributor, good feel for the timing of the passing game

- has playmaking dimension with his mobility

- game built on pocket efficiency and off-schedule movement - those things play well in the league

- much to work with when it comes to his traits, his feel, his awareness

- can run the structure well and adds playmaking to that 

- not at Aaron Rodgers or Mahomes level armstrength. Good arm but not a gun for an arm. 

- very good feel for the pass game and saw the field well

 

Justin Fields:

- another high level traits player but there are concerns with him

- issues with recognition, with vision, with elimination and isolation from the pocket

- a lot of work to be done with him when it comes to him throwing with the needed timing, recognizing early in the down or pre-snap where the ball needs to go based on the coverage. 

- can drive the ball with velocity, can make the pace throws 

- needs things to be clean and defined to be consistently successful

- will struggle with pressure early in his career - in Indiana game - blitzed a lot and he struggled a ton with it. 

- a bit slow with what he sees - can that be improved at the NFL level? 

- but... guys that can move around - they play early and they make plays off-schedule and he can do that. 

- "Fields scares me a little bit" ... "which doesn't mean he won't be a good player - so many variables that go into whether a QB with good traits succeeds or fails - team, scheme, coaching... there are things to be worked through with Fields, and you never know if they will get worked through"

 

Trey Lance

- another high level traits QB

- strong live arm, excellent athleticism, twitch and explosiveness to the way he plays both as throwing and moving

- gives an NFL team the option for designed run game(not quite Lamar Jackson, but we see the value of having that ability)

- can make second reaction plays both throwing and running

- has the athletic profile that fits the evolving mold of today's NFL QB

- the playmaking dimension will get NFL teams excited - live arm, easy delivery, can drive the football. He's got A LOT of traits. 

- issue - level of competition and not playing this year(not his fault but... )

- likes him better than Fields

 

Mac Jones

- highly efficient executor and ball distributor in a really good Alabama offense

- main question - how important to you are movement and second reaction ability? In today's NFL you constantly hear that this has become an essential trait. 

- because Mac Jones is a bad athlete, almost no ability to play outside structure whatsoever 

- very good sense of anticipation, good timing

- some pocket movement, not great, but enough that it's not a negative

- really good feel for throwing in zone coverage

- knows where to go with the ball quickly

- a lot of good mental traits, but also virtually no movement and second reaction traits. 

- need to understand what he is and what he isn't when you draft him

 

Kyle Trask

- Outstanding size, got physical presence to him, looks the part

- ball distributor in a really well schemed Dan Mullen college offense

- excellent ball location 

- no meaningful second reaction ability , has to play within the structure 

- when he gets pressured, and he couldn't do much in those situations

- arm good, not great

- arm strength limitations, lack of second reaction ability, poise and composure breakdowns

- probably a backup in the league. 

 

[danlhart87]

Me after the Mac Jones dream is dead

 

[Superman]

26 minutes ago, stitches said:

- main question - how important to you are movement and second reaction ability? In today's NFL you constantly hear that this has become an essential trait. 

- because Mac Jones is a bad athlete, almost no ability to play outside structure whatsoever 

- very good sense of anticipation, good timing

- some pocket movement, not great, but enough that it's not a negative

 

When is Bama's pro day? Will Mac Jones run? 

 

People are acting like he has Peyton Manning's legs. He's good enough at movement, and runs well enough. The question is his ability to make plays outside of structure. I feel like we're combining these two things. He's no Kyler Murray, but he can move well enough.

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8 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

When is Bama's pro day? Will Mac Jones run? 

 

People are acting like he has Peyton Manning's legs. He's good enough at movement, and runs well enough. The question is his ability to make plays outside of structure. I feel like we're combining these two things. He's no Kyler Murray, but he can move well enough.

I have the same opinion of Mac Jones as Greg Cosell. He's not an athlete. And he will be even lesser of an athlete among NFL athletes. I don't think he moves well enough. He moves OK in the pocket... he won't be able to playmake out of structure in the NFL. 

 

No idea about Alabama's pro day but I also will not trust any tests coming from the pro days this year.

[Defjamz26]

Something I heard brought up on the MTS podcast. Look at the successful QBs playing at a high level in the league. Which one of them resembles Mac Jones?

 

Mac Jones doesn’t have any elite traits.