2019 Senior Bowl: QB review

January 26, 2019

Coming into this week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, NFL scouts literally had as many questions as answers about this year’s QB class. And that premise appears to have held throughout the week of practice and continued right through Saturday’s game as none of this year’s Senior Bowl QBs took the bull by the proverbial horns and firmly established a solid draft grade. Of course, it is always hard to judge a QB based on what happens in an all-star game setting. Their are only three days of practice with somewhat limited reps per passer, while the actual game can be even tougher to grade as the QB prospects are working with unfamiliar receivers in an unfamiliar offense. Still, last year, for example, several QBs, including Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen rode strong performances in the Senior Bowl to first-round selections at the 2018 draft. That was last year, though.

At least, Duke’s Daniel Jones was able to bounce back from an underwhelming week of practice and win MVP honors as he completed 8 of 11 passes for 115 yards and a score, while running for another to lead his North team to a come from behind 34-24 win in the 70th annual Senior Bowl game. Jones certainly looked the part; he’s a tall, angular QB with a quick release and decent pocket mechanics especially when he has a clean pocket; he’s also athletic enough to make plays with his legs. However, Jones appeared indecisive at times and ended up getting dragged down behind the LOS when he should have either just taken off or simply thrown the ball away.  And while he showed nice touch on several passes, Jones’ accuracy was inconsistent; in particular, he sailed one pass that should have been picked and underthrew another while falling away from pressure. Meanwhile, the biggest question Jones, that is, does he have the arm strength to make all the throws never really got answered as just about everything he threw in Mobile were either short or medium routes.

No such issues for Buffalo’s Tyree Jackson, the South MVP who completed 13 of 21 passes for 165 yards and 2 scores, but had a pick. Jackson launched his first pass for a 54-yard completion and then overthrew a second deep ball. In fact, Jackson had a kind of ‘boom-bust’ afternoon as he had several really impressive completions, but also several bad misses including the pick. Jackson did stand tall in the pocket and hung tough against some heavy pressure to make a couple of completions. At the same time, though, he appears to have a somewhat deliberate delivery and too often really didn’t set his feet.

It may have been especially hard for pro scouts to get a read on Missouri’s Drew Lock in the game which has to be a little disappointing as he reportedly had the best week of this year’s QB. Indeed, there was even a little top 10-15 buzz starting to generate around Lock as the week wore on. And while he completed 9 of 14 passes in the actual game, Lock had only 57 total passing yards as he really wasn’t able to build on his practice week momentum. Lock did show a quick release, especially with pressure in his face, but his mechanics were far from text-book. He tended to stay flat-footed in the pocket too long and didn’t reset his feet on a couple of others. Like most of the other QBs in Mobile, Lock just didn’t throw the ball down the field enough. He did execute one of the best passes of the day when he put a 30-yard plus dart into the end zone where only his receiver could catch it. Unfortunately he didn’t. On the other, Lock’s only two other passes downfield came out at odd angles and were never close to being completions.

It also had to be a bit of a disappointing day for West Virginia’s Will Grier who struggled to get the ball downfield in practice and didn’t do much better in the actual game. Indeed, it seems that anything over 10-yards out of Grier’s hand fluttered downfield. That said, what you saw from Grier was what you saw at WVU. He really appears to see the field well and has elite instincts in the pocket; plus he throws darts underneath, but in the end one has to be able to throw the ball down the field to succeed in the NFL.

Maybe the most consistent QB in the Senior Bowl game was NC State’s Ryan Finley as he quietly put together an efficient 7 for 11 afternoon for 83 yards. Finley was consistently smooth in the pocket with quiet feet, a quick release and deft touch. Again though he was never tested throwing the ball downfield leaving his final game grade as incomplete.

On the other hand, Washington State’s Gardner Minshew looked like a system QB who had no idea what system he was working in on this day. Minshew did look good with the stash trimmed for the occasion but in the end completed just one of 8 passes with several of the misses not even close. Meanwhile, Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham and Trsce McSorley came pretty much as advertised. Stidham, for example, showed the tools but not the command, while McSorley lacks the physical tools, but showed some command.