Mondry's Deep Dive 2019 QB rankings

For my rankings I don't care if you're super versatile and can fit into any offense, all I care about is if a prospect can fit into even one offense well enough to be viable.  Tom Brady is a perfect fit in NE's offense for example but he can't run RPO's or threaten you with his legs and you wouldn't want to put him in Norv Turner's Air Coryell offense.  You'd miss out on Tom Brady though if you wrote him off because of that. 

This is long as hell, sorry ahead of time!


#1 Kyler Murray - For me, Murray is the top QB in this draft and it boils down to how many ways he can hurt a defense and how explosive he is in so many areas.  He can hurt you with his legs, his deep ball, he can dink and dunk you, he can hurt you in the intermediate passing game, he can hurt you pre-snap, post-snap, etc.  I believe he will join the likes of Vick, Moss, Adrian Peterson, etc as guys who changed the way teams play defense.   

A good way to think about Murray is how he compares to Lamar Jackson who I liked quite a bit last year.  Murray is better than Jackson in almost every way.  He's more polished as a passer, better pocket presence, just as dangerous with his legs, and I think he reads defenses better.  He's far more accurate, has a better deep ball, the list really goes on and on.  

It's very rare that the guy who is deadly with his legs running the ball is also the best passer in the draft.  That last part is debatable but I believe he either is the best passer or it's close enough that it's splitting hairs.  

One thing Murray could work on is having a little more patience as he plays really fast.  Don't get me wrong I love pushing the tempo and being aggressive but sometimes he'd be better off having a little more patience as it can become a double edged sword where he flushes himself out of a decent pocket and enters what I call "evade mode".  In evade mode his mechanics can break down and throws tend to lose some accuracy.  With more experience he'll learn how to avoid defenders with less movement while maintaining a solid throwing platform but for now it's something to work on.

Murray's ball security could also use some work.  I expect a decent amount of turnovers early on as he adjusts to NFL defenders that can not only keep up with him better but make plays on the ball. 

But that's about it, there honestly isn't a lot of negative things to say about the kid.  I came away from the film extremely impressed for a first year guy.


#2 Will Grier - You will be hard pressed to find anyone else with Will Grier at #2.  The Football world is enamored by arm strength and Grier doesn't have the strongest arm by any means but I believe it's good enough and he's my #2 QB because I believe he does everything else so well that I just couldn't ignore him.  He won't fit in a lot of systems but like I said in my opening paragraph I don't give points for versatility and I believe he can thrive in a system like NE's, NO's, or Indy's.

Okay so what did I like about Grier so much?  I'll start with what I call balanced aggression. He'll try to squeeze a ball in if it means only his receiver can make a play on it and his accuracy is good enough that this usually doesn't get him in trouble.  We saw this with Baker Mayfield last year.  At other times, he'll dial it back and "settle" for a nice easy throw and a smaller gain when going for more would have been too risky.  I don't want my QB to check down if there are deeper throws open for bigger gains but I also don't want my QB taking unnecessary risk over an easy completion for good yardage. 

His ability to calculate risk and determine when it's worth taking a shot or not reminds me of Tony Romo.  Romo was great at attacking downfield and taking unconventional risks and I see a good bit of that in Grier.  Very rarely do I watch Grier and wonder what he saw or what he was thinking.  I love his balanced aggression. 

Despite talk about his weaker arm, Grier was actually very similar to Murray on intermediate and deep ball accuracy and better in the short areas of the field.  College QB's accuracy often takes a dip for sideline throws but Grier was better than anyone in the class and its a type of throw where you better put it where only your WR can get it and he does.  Grier reads defenses well and understands leverage, whether it's his WR's having leverage on a CB or vice versa, he'll often throw the WR open with a back shoulder or simply leading him to open grass.  

Grier has enough athletic ability to run for first downs if the defense does not account for his legs, though he is nothing special as a runner.

Grier will need to work on his ball security.  I noticed when he's under pressure and / or scrambling it tends to get a bit loose and better NFL defenders eyes will light up getting a chance to knock that thing out.  Also, while under pressure Grier can get too invested in a play when it'd be smarter to throw it away and live for another day, usually holding the ball too long and taking a sack.    

Grier is not a slam dunk can't miss prospect, not even close, But I saw enough to put him higher than most people.  


#3 Dwayne Haskins - So if you don't like Kyler Murray and want the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Haskins is your guy.  Haskins is not a runner and I don't even mean that in a Vick / Jackson / Murray way but like he isn't a threat at all to hurt you with his legs.  If it's 3rd and 8 and running lanes open up he probably isn't getting a first down with his feet.  That bothers me a bit as I want the defense to at least have to respect the idea that you could run for a first down.  It was a problem for Josh Rosen last year and yes we're talking about QB's and Tom Brady never had a problem not being able to run but I consider all of these things tools and if you don't have that tool well you better be great in other areas.

Luckily for Haskins he is...  Haskins has very quick decision making.  He can read a defense and figure out where he should attack pre-snap and pull the trigger quickly post snap.  He shows a good balance between being aggressive and taking what the defense gives him but unlike Grier I think he was too safe at times.  He climbs and maneuvers the pocket well and helps his linemen out where sometimes Murray made things more difficult for his.  He's also efficient in the red zone which is a great sign for a guy who only played 1 year of college ball as everything condenses, happens quicker, and guys are open for smaller periods of time.  

I think what I liked most about Haskins is that you can actually see him growing as a QB and improving from week 1 to the final bowl game and it's pretty noticeable.  If he played one more year at Ohio State and we got to see even more of him and he continued to grow like this he'd probably be the undisputed top QB next year.

With that said, Ohio State's offense revolved around a LOT of dink and dunk and while Haskins stats are certainly impressive, an unreal amount of it is just him dumping off a screen pass and his talented teammates doing a lot of work.  Even on the game winning drive against Penn State when you hope to see something really impressive it was dump off, dump off, dump off TD.  Now obviously it worked so I'm not blaming him for that and he has to make the right read and get the ball out on time and in stride so his guy can get YAC but it's like dang, I wanted to see HIM do something impressive. 

The other issue I saw with Haskins on tape is that he some times doesn't see ancillary coverage.  Ancillary coverage is like when a line backer drops into coverage and you're not expecting him to be there.  A couple of Haskins interceptions he just didn't see the defender at all.

Haskins should get better with more experience but if he doesn't fall into the right system that works to his strengths it could be a rough rookie campaign as teams don't have to respect his legs and can focus on shutting down the short passing game.  If he can sit behind Eli for a bit and work with Pat Shurmur that would be close to ideal for him.


#4 Brett Rypien - I'll just start by saying I think Rypien might be the most underrated guy in this class and I have Will Grier #2.  Rypian isn't big, tall, fast, or strong and his arm talent is good but not great.  The Phrase "the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts" really comes to mind with Rypien.  

His drop backs from under center are extremely smooth, quick, and precise and he's always on time.  When he hits the last step of his drop the ball is usually coming out.  He can manipulate defenses with his eyes, a shoulder fake, and pump fakes.  He stays calm under pressure and can climb, slide away from, or roll away from defenders while maintaining a solid throwing base.  If he knows his WR is coming open he is willing to stand tall, deliver a strike, and get blasted showing toughness.  

There are times I'm watching Rypien and he looks like the best QB in this draft but there is one big problem.  His accuracy can dip seemingly out of no where and his accuracy on intermediate and deep balls down the sideline leave something to be desired.  It's a shame because he really does do everything else so damn well.  If he can some how fix whatever it is that's going wrong on those throws he has the potential to be a very good QB in the NFL.  



#5 Ryan Finley - Finley and Rypien have a lot of similarities.  Nothing about Finley's game will WOW you but like Rypien he's pretty technically sound and works well in a play action passing game with some designed boot legs thrown in every now and then.  Finley handles edge and interior pressure well and can climb up the pocket and deliver an accurate ball into the short and intermediate areas of the field when the former occurs and flushes well from the latter and can reset his feet and fire an accurate pass.

When Finley breaks the pocket he's often doing so to extend plays and find an open man. When he becomes a runner he protects the ball well and has enough speed / athleticism to pick up a first down on 3rd and 6 but nothing too crazy as he ran a 4.72 40.  

From what I saw Finley struggles with some of the anticipation / timing throws.  He needs to develop more techniques to manipulate coverage and not stair down his receivers so much and he needs to get better at pre and post snap diagnosis.  It's not that he is super bad at these things but if he was a little bit better he'd move up my list a bit.  


#6 Drew lock -  Lock is this years Josh Allen to me.  Let me clarify, I like Lock a LOT more than I liked Allen last year, I just mean that he's way over hyped for being the big armed play maker who blows you away every now and then but shows a lot of inconsistency, bad mechanics, and sluggish / lazy footwork that people are willing to ignore when they shouldn't.  

I've seen a lot of Patrick Mahomes comparisons but I see the splitting image of Jay Cutler.  Yes Cutler could make ridiculous throws and blow you away with his arm talent but he never really put in the work to get better than that and so he was always inconsistent and often a turnover machine.  It's the exact same thing I've seen in Locks game.  Now I have no reason to believe Lock isn't a hard worker and won't work on his game other than so far he still has glaring problems when other QB's have figured it out.  Sometimes these guys have a hard time admitting weakness and even believing they have flaws, especially when you're told how awesome you are at every step along the way.  

If I'm wrong I'll look foolish for having Lock #6 but I just don't feel comfortable having him any higher than that based on my analysis. 



#7 Tyree Jackson -  Jackson is a project but like Lock has immense arm talent. The biggest thing in Jackson's favor might be that you won't have to spend as high of a draft pick to get him but that's a guess on my part.  Jackson has surprisingly good footwork and makes some ridiculously good throws on the move outside the pocket.  As the year went on he seemed to regress from inside the pocket and at one point I noticed him wearing a sleeve over his front legs knee.  It's possible there was a lingering injury impacting him.

Jackson struggles to give up on a play and he must mature in this area a lot as he gets sacked and stripped enough to drive a coach mad on plays he could easily just throw it away.  

Ball security is another area he MUST improve on if he's going to stick around in the NFL.  He hurt his team a number of times by being reckless with the football.  

Of course he's also the reason they're winning.  If he can improve drastically on his weaknesses a Daunte Culpepper sort of career is within reach I think. 




Honorable mentions would include Easton Stick and Gardner Minshew. 

My bust candidate that a lot of people like - Daniel Jones.  




As always a lot will come down to who gets picked to go where and I'll update this thread with how I feel about each guy on their new team.