Let me start off with a bit of honesty here: I don’t love this quarterback class. It’s rife with the dirtiest of words: potential. What that also means is this—there are many, many projects here. Several of these players could be true diamonds in the rough and many of them have a great deal of ability. However, they come with equal parts risk as well. The key for teams will be balancing that potential upside with the cost and picking one of these players at the right spot.





1. 1. Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame 6’2” 223 - I’m still not fully on board the Clausen Train, but of the QBs in this draft, he’s the one I have the least questions about. To me, Clausen is a good—not great—quarterback prospect. He has decent accuracy, pretty good arm strength and some nice moves both in and out of the pocket.
   
       Clausen, like the other slam-dunk first-round pick Sam Bradford, had an injury taken care of. In Clausen’s case, there was ligament damage which needed to be repaired on his toe. To me, this is a far less serious injury than the damage to Bradford’s throwing arm and on top of it, the former Notre Dame signal caller played most of the year with it hurting. It didn’t affect his performance much, as he threw for plenty of yards and 28 touchdowns to just four interceptions.   
   
       In Weis’ Pro-Style offense, Clausen developed from a cocky kid to a leader on his team and has shown to me he can be coached enough to improve the flaws in his game. He’s no sure thing in my mind, but he’s pretty safe overall for a team looking for a new quarterback.
 
2. 2. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma 6’4” 223 - If it wasn’t for the shoulder injury that sidelined him for most of the season, he would likely be the clear #1 quarterback on my board. As it stands, if he has a solid Pro Day and we hear good things about him at the Combine, he may yet jump Clausen and even if he doesn’t it would be a shock to nobody if he went as QB1 in April’s Draft. On the other hand, we’ve yet to see how he bounces back from surgery and if anything has been affected—motion, willingness to hang in the pocket, strength.  
   
       Bradford’s accuracy is uncanny, regardless of the distance of the throw. Short, medium and long—Bradford can hit them all. he doesn’t have the biggest arm but can make the deep throws and get nice zip on the shorter ones when he needs to slip a pass into a tight space. He has a good grasp of reading defenses, but can trust his arm a bit too much on occasion and sometimes doesn’t appear to sense pressure from the backside and picking up blitzing linemen.   
   
     Bradford is definitely the real deal. It’s just a case of seeing for our own eyes that everything is still ok.
 
3. 3. Colt McCoy, Texas 6’2” 212 - McCoy is an interesting prospect. On the surface, his numbers and the fact that he is the winningest quarterback in college football makes him seem like a slam dunk NFL prospect. But looking closer, several questions linger.
   
       His short passes are incredibly accurate but McCoy doesn’t throw as many deep or intermediate passes and is less accurate with those. It’s not to say he isn’t really accurate, but his completion percentage is due in part to primarily throwing short. He has a nice touch on passes, but doesn’t often thread the needle between defenders. He can read the defense pretty well and often takes what it gives him, but occasionally misses double coverage and will force throws for a big play.
   
       He also has some mechanical issues, including an inconsistent release point sometimes not following through enough on his motion and throwing above his receiver.  
   
       McCoy has good patience in the pocket, but could sometimes wait a bit longer and is only somewhat effective on the run when forced out. He is a very good leader in the huddle and is tough - I find it hard to believe it took anything but severe pain to keep him out of the BCS Championship game and while some worry about his durability due to his build, I am not as worried.
 
4. 4. Tony Pike, Cincinnati 6’6” 210 - Pike picked the right time to play for the Cincinnati Bearcats who seem to have peaked just as he was getting ready to graduate.  It wasn’t all smooth sailing of course, as Pike missed two games in 2008 with a broken forearm and dislocated wrist (in his non-throwing arm) which required a plate to be inserted to stabilize the area and then missed three games in 2009 when he broke the same arm again. This, and his slight build, certainly raises concerns of durability for Pike. 
What Pike does well includes good accuracy, touch and timing. He has great vision and can see the field. He’s also able to buy time in the pocket and avoiding sacks though his overall footwork is still rough around the edges. He’s adept at throwing on the run when he has to.
   
       Aside from durability, the other issue when it comes to Pike is his rawness. Pike only started a pair of years for Cinci, and could use some refinement both in his aforementioned footwork and his overall technique. He doesn’t have a huge arm and can struggle with the deep ball and due to his lack of experience Pike still has some growing to do as a leader.  
 
5. 5. Tim Tebow, Florida 6’3” 236 - So much has already been said about the Gator quarterback that even many non-draftnicks could probably recite it. Tebow’s biggest value lies in his potential, a dirty word at times within the scouting community.
   
       Tebow is a big, athletic prospect with good strength, a fierce competitive streak and a great deal of toughness. He’s a born leader with charisma to spare. You know his work ethic is above reproach and he has proved he knows how to win against top-shelf competition. The numbers he gathered over a three year period are impressive as are his win total and Heisman Trophy. He can move well enough to buy time in the pocket and he’s a tough runner to bring down when he decides to tuck the ball and run. His athleticism is good enough to have some observers feeling as if he can at least be a very useful component of a WildCat formation, or possibly shift to a new position if he cannot make it as a quarterback.
   
       He also has some major flaws which could ruin his upside. He has an awkward, millennium-length throwing motion, has issues throwing a tight spiral, and is too quick to pull the ball down and run at times. And while he can run the ball well, he has some footwork issues overall. Tebow has some accuracy issues on anything but shorter passes, probably in part due to his odd throwing motion. Tebow also has virtually no experiance taking snaps from under center, an issue fully on display at the recent Senior Bowl practices. In fact, everything we knew he struggled with was exactly the sorts of problems we saw in Mobile.
   
       All that said, Tebow improved—in small increments, but improved nonetheless—over the course of a week of practices.
   
       More than anything else, this is the key to whether Tim Tebow can become a solid back-up—much less a starting quarterback—in the NFL. He has to show improvement not just at every EVENT, but every DRILL at every event. He has to show that a team brings him on as a project that his hard work and natural ability will overcome his shortcomings to fulfill the promise he holds. As it stands, he has a very long way to go.
 
6. 6. Jevan Snead, Mississippi 6’3” 215 - When an underclassman leaves school early for the NFL Draft, it’s usually following a stellar Junior year. Not so in the case of Jevan Snead.

Snead enters the Draft after a season where he seemed to take a huge step backwards in mechanics and overall numbers. His completion percentage and touchdowns dropped while his interceptions jumped up from 13 to 20. He also regressed in the pocket, lacking poise and tending to make mistakes while under duress.

When on his game, Snead has shown a pro-level strength arm which allows him to hit deep passes with very good accuracy. He can also make plays with his feet and while he isn’t an especially elusive runner, he can pick up the first down if need be.

Snead is a player I think would have benefited by staying another year at Ole Miss and proving that his regression was just a blip, rather than a permanent step back. While he appears to have the tools to succeed, his mental toughness and competitiveness (he left Texas rather than compete with Colt McCoy and left Ole Miss when he was expected to have to fight for his job again) have been called into question. Whether he can overcome that is a big ‘if’.
 
7. 7. Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan 6’3” 229 - LeFevour impressed Scouts and Media at the Senior Bowl and is definitely a player on the rise. It was important to make a good impression because like many quarterbacks in this Draft, LeFevour was a very productive college quarterback who faces questions about his ability to translate that into NFL success because he played in a spread offense.

LeFevour is a big athlete who is athletic enough to move within the pocket to avoid pressure and the size to fight for a first down when he is flushed and needs to make a play. His strength also allows him to break free from tackles and sacks which allows him enough time to find a receiver and throw on the run, which he does with good accuracy. This allows for production both with his arm and with his feet.

Where LeFevour runs into problems is his mechanics which are a bit raw. His throwing motion is awkward, sometimes appearing to be more of a catapult than a throw. His footwork is off—specifically he plants his feet too far apart—and he often doesn’t step into a throw. In fact he has a tendency to throw off his back foot when sensing pressure, which also leads him to take off running to early as well.
 
8. 8. Jarrett Brown, West Virginia 6’4” 223 - Jarrett Brown only really had one year of starting for West Virginia and as such is largely a mystery.

On the surface, he’s got the prototypical size a team would like in a quarterback, with good arm-strength, accuracy and pretty good over-all mechanics. He’s also fairly mobile, though not to the extent as former teammate Pat White is. Still, he’s able to use his feet to by himself time in and outside of the pocket as well as run for a few yards when he can’t find a receiver downfield.

Brown is a smart athlete and is versatile enough to have lined up effectively at wide receiver and running back in addition to playing quarterback. This makes him yet another intriguing ‘WildCat’ type player, one who can bring value to the team while still developing into a solid option at quarterback.

There are some mechanical issues he has to deal with—specifically his wind-up style release—and at times he locks onto targets, but it’s possible those things can be corrected with time and are at least somewhat due to his inexperience.

In the end, while Brown seems to have the raw tools he needs, there is too little film and too little starting history for a team to take a chance on him early. He will take time to develop and teams will wait to draft him because of that.
 


9. 9. Darryl Clark, Penn State 6’1” 229 - Clark finished at Penn State this year after having been a productive starter for the Nittany Lions for the past two years. After winning the starting job over Pat Devlin, Clark slowly grew as a leader (he was elected as a captain prior to the 2009 season) and a quarterback as the season 2008 progressed.

Clark can make all the necessary NFL throws, showing good arm strength and the ability to slip the ball into spaces between defenders. Has some issues with his footwork, which sometimes results in erratic passing. However when his footwork is on, he shows extremely good accuracy. Occasionally he lapses into some bad decision-making.

Clark has some mechanical issues as well, notably his throwing motion which has a rather elongated delivery. He’ll need to speed the motion up and raise his release point or defenses will see his passes coming a mile away.



10. 10. Jonathan Crompton, Tennessee 6’3” 222 - The young Volunteer signal caller most recently turned heads at the Texas vs The Nation All Star Game including Draftguys.com’s own Cecil Lammey—showing good velocity, decision making and mechanics. 

That he surprised so many people at the Texas vs The Nation game may come from the fact that he was largely underwhelming as he sat behind then starter Erik Ainge. Crompton got his time to shine when current USC Head Coach Lane Kiffin showed up and responded with a solid Senior year.

Crompton has the arm strength to make any throw a team could need him to, though he isn’t armed with a huge cannon. He throws with good accuracy, showing a nice touch when needed on one pass and followed by a throw with some zip on it on the next play. Crompton appears to see the field well and read what the defense is doing.

He’s not perfect—Crompton will at times stare his primary target down and occasionally take a big hit he doesn’t need to. But even though he still needs some work, he took such great strides forward in just one season under Kiffin that it’s clear he is capable making the adjustments.
 
11. 11. Sean Canfield, Oregon State 6’3 1/2” 221 - Canfield injured his (left) throwing shoulder in 2007, causing him to miss the bulk of the 2008 season. As such, he doesn’t have the experience that other seniors might possess. Canfield  is only an average athlete and lacks the mobility to escape pressure in and out of the pocket. Also, he has the tendency to hold on to the ball too long, although when he does pick out his target he has a quick release and good touch on his passes.

Canfield is a smart, accurate quarterback with the type of size teams like at the position. He may take some time to develop but for the right team, with the right staff he has enough upside to warrant a late round pick.
 

12. 12. Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State 6’2” 202 -  Robinson lacks the desired height and weight to really wow most teams with his physique and it’s unlikely he will be able to bulk up much at the next level. Along with the size issue, his arm strength is average at best and his delivery needs some work to reduce a slight wind-up. Where Robinson shines are his accuracy which is exceptionally good and the mental part of his game. Robinson makes very good decisions with the ball and reads defenses well. He’s a very hard worker and a good leader who is physically and mentally tough. He’s not afraid to take a hit if he needs to either in the pocket or on the run. More than anything, it’s his build which will hold him back in the Draft. I think many teams might be worried about him being unable to withstand the battering of a whole season, but he is a solid enough player where one will look at him later in the draft as a developmental project with upside.


13. 13. Levi Brown, Troy 6’3” 219 -  Brown is a small school prospect whose value took a hit over the course of the recent Texas vs The Nation practices. It seemed as though during the week that he lacked some of the velocity and strength that people expected to see from him, and at times seemed to have issues when under pressure. Brown has an odd throwing motion and while other quarterbacks have overcome awkward mechanics, the quarterback from Troy adds to that occasionally slow reads and has almost elusively worked out of the shotgun. Brown was one of the more accurate quarterbacks in college last year, nearly setting a NCAA record for passes without an INT. Brown has the arm strength to succeed—the question is whether the transition from small-school collegiate ball to the big-time NFL game is something he can handle. His work at Texas vs The Nation wasn’t a positive start.
 
14. 14. John Skelton, Fordham 6’5” 244 - Skelton underwhelmed in his senior year, and against a lower level of competition. On the surface, he fits the criteria for a NFL quarterback. He has the prototypical size, strength and athleticism that scouts look for, but is tremendously raw. He has little to no experience under center, having played out of the shotgun for his whole college career. He isn’t great at handling pressure, in part because he rarely saw any. He too often locks onto one receiver, has a tendency to throw the ball up for grabs and needs to develop patience to allow his receivers to get open. Still, the potential is there—a team just needs to be willing to spend the time and energy to refine him. 
 
15. 15. Tim Hiller, Western Michigan 6’4” 229 - You can’t question Hiller’s toughness or dedication. After all, this is a guy who played three games with a torn ACL during the 2008 season. It was his second ACL injury though (the first in 2005 on his right knee) and that is a huge cause for concern. If a team can get past that, they’ll see a quarterback with very good arm strength, excellent timing and accuracy and who normally makes very sound decisions with the ball. He did struggle recently at Texas Vs The Nation and seemed to have problems facing pressure. And again, the knee injuries are a huge issue—as is the resulting lack of mobility. Rightfully so, that as much as anything else will probably keep him from being anything more than a late round addition to a team.