Welcome to The Undroppables’ latest series of posts previewing the 2021 QB draft class. The 2021 draft could offer an abundance of talent at the position similar to the 2018 class, which saw four quarterbacks drafted in the top ten and five in the first round. In each post, I will cover a tier of 2021 QB prospects, starting with the Best of the Best and working our way through the sleepers and potential career backups.
Specifically, this post will cover the 3rd tier of QB talent in this upcoming draft. These prospects are considered possible starters in their rookie season and will likely be mid-to-late first round picks.
Kyle Trask – Florida
Kyle Trask didn’t start a single game at quarterback for five years between his sophomore year of high school and his junior year of college, as he attended the same high school as University of Miami QB, D’Eriq King. After his high school career, Florida was the only Power Five school that offered a scholarship to the 3-star Pro-Style recruit.
Trask saw his first two seasons at UF riddled with injuries, and he was unable to compete for the starting QB job. However, once healthy in 2019, Trask was given the opportunity to step up after former Florida starter Feleipe Franks was injured. Trask played the final 10 games of the 2019 season, winning 8 of those 10 and capping his season off with a 36-28 win over Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
After Trask’s 2019 performance, Franks transferred to Arkansas and Trask was the obvious starter going into 2020. Trask proved his worth right off the bat in 2020, passing for 416 yards and 6 touchdowns in Florida’s first game of the season against Ole Miss. Afterward, Trask continued to play out of his mind, becoming the first QB in SEC history to pass for 4 touchdowns in 5 straight games while leading the Gators to an 8-4 season, including an SEC Championship berth. For his efforts, Trask was named a Heisman finalist for the 2020 season.
Strengths
I was able to watch Trask’s most recent game against Tennessee in person. I was impressed with his ability to look off defenders and make safeties go opposite of where he wants to deliver the ball. He gets the ball out quickly once he decides where he wants to place it, and he doesn’t have wasted motion in his throws. Currently, he sees most of his success in the Gators offense by delivering short throws on-time and on-schedule, but he can also hit receivers deep down the sides of the field on back-shoulder throws.
Weaknesses
There are obvious questions about Trask’s ability and why he wasn’t able to win the starting job from quarterbacks like D’Eriq King and Feleipe Franks, who will both be afterthoughts in the coming draft. He made some obvious rookie mistakes in his first season as a starter as one would expect, but he needs to clean these up if he wants to be successful in the NFL. This includes poor leg mechanics where he wasn’t stepping into his throws. These issues have been cleaned up a little during the 2020 season, but they still show up now and then.
Without spectacular arm talent, mechanical issues are extremely visible and can lead to his passes not having enough zip, dropping before they reach their targets. As a below-average athlete, Trask leaves a lot to be desired when he leaves the pocket, which could significantly hinder him in a league where dual-threat QBs are becoming increasingly prevalent. Lastly, he sometimes tries too hard to freeze safeties or carry them away with his eyes, and he can miss receivers who are wide open near the edges of the field.
My Grade: B // Projected Draft Pick: Late 1st/Early 2nd Round Pick
Mac Jones – Alabama
Mac Jones has been at the University of Alabama since 2017, but mostly saw the field as a field goal holder until last season. However, Jones appeared on astute Alabama fans’ radars before his freshman season in the team’s A-Day game, an exhibition that Alabama plays against themselves at the end of Spring Training. In Jones’ freshman A-Day game, he threw for 289 yards and 2 TDs while winning A-Day MVP.
Jones was finally given a chance to start for the Crimson Tide in 2019, after Tua Tagovailoa suffered a season-ending injury. Jones started the final three games, including a win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Including mop-up duty and a couple of games where Jones came in to relieve Tua after injury, Jones finished the 2019 season with 1,503 passing yards, a 68.8% completion percentage, a 14:3 TD to INT ratio, and a 186.6 passing efficiency rating.
In 2020, Jones has proven that he wasn’t just lucky in those three games. Jones passed for 36 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions while leading Alabama to a thus-far undefeated season and a National Championship berth. Along with Trask, Mac Jones is also a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Strengths
Mac Jones has a ridiculous 77% completion percentage on the year, which is often impossible without finding most of your success in the short passing game. However, Jones is averaging 11.3 yards per attempt, and while a portion of that can be contributed to Alabama’s amazing receiving core, Jones consistently hits them on deep routes and puts the ball where they can run on shorter routes. Similar to Trask, Jones can freeze defenders to open up his receivers, but Jones is even better than Trask at moving through his progressions.
Overall, Jones consistently makes good decisions with the ball, finding open receivers and hitting them in stride. He can further develop to become a deadly passer at the next level and could have success similar to some of the older, less athletic pocket passers in the NFL like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger.
Weaknesses
Jones profiles as a pocket passer, as he lacks the athleticism to make plays on the ground. The way the NFL is moving, Jones will have to be elite as a passer since he doesn’t have that athleticism. However, there are a few hurdles between him and being an elite pocket passer.
I hate to knock on guys for playing with other talents, but Jones has had a stable of wideouts at Alabama that would make a large number of NFL teams jealous. He likely won’t have that luxury at the next level and will need to compensate by being more accurate and throwing receivers open.
Jones lacks the elite arm talent that scouts love to see. He can still have a good career without arm talent, but he will need to get even better with his anticipation and timing. Overall, I really like Jones and it’s surprisingly difficult to find weaknesses in his passing game.
My Grade: B+ // Projected Draft Pick: Late 1st/Early 2nd Round Pick
Make sure to follow Kyle on Twitter @KL_Fantasy, and be on the lookout for the subsequent tiers of rookie QBs throughout this week and the next. You can find the previous tiers–The Elite and The Very Good–at the corresponding links.
