The best part of the NFL offseason is drawing nearer by the day.
The NFL draft is where super bowl teams are built from the ground up, and lucky for us, there is an immense amount of exciting offensive talent in this year’s draft.
In particular, there are five highly touted quarterback prospects in this year’s class, a luxury for quarterback-needy teams that is rarely a reality.
The chances of all five being quality NFL starters is very low; naturally, there will be at least one or two busts.
A few are more likely than the others to be the next Josh Rosen.
Here are 3 QB’s with the biggest bust potential in the 2021 NFL draft.
Justin Fields
Justin Fields has an excellent arm, great size, and exceptional straight-line speed, but his lateral quickness and overall agility may be a question mark.
He is no doubt athletic and mobile, but his evasive ability in the pocket may be a bit overrated.
He reportedly ran a 4.40-second forty-yard dash which got everyone excited, but that does not directly translate to mobility in the pocket.
When you look at his tape, he does not have the same natural pocket awareness of some of the best prospects in the past couple of years like Zach Wilson and Joe Burrow displayed in their final college seasons.
For a guy as athletically gifted as Justin Fields is, you would hope scrambling would be a real strength of his, but he is much better on designed runs than as an improviser.
In case you did not know, NFL teams do not like their first-round quarterbacks carrying the ball very often so that designed run ability will not translate to the league all that well.
What is even more troubling than his questionable agility is his lack of experience reading defenses.
Ryan Day’s offense at Ohio State is exceptional which is great for Fields while he is in college, but it may have stunted his development as an NFL passer.
The first read is usually open and if it is not he has a tendency to force it there or not look at the second read.
His talent is undeniable but there are question marks in his game.
Trey Lance
Trey Lance has a cannon arm and a huge frame, but he has only one year on tape and it was in the FCS.
Unfortunately for Lance, the FCS did not start their football season until February which is too close to the draft and NFL season for Lance to participate.
This means that he only played one year and there are questions about whether or not he can jump from the FCS to the NFL like Carson Wentz did.
If he gets blessed with a good offensive staff in the NFL I think he will work out, but if the wrong team signs him and he does not have much help, he may never reach his full potential.
Looking forward to a whole decade of Trey Lance and Kyle Shanahan absolutely shredding NFL Defenses pic.twitter.com/eYnAt5yRBm
— Perry (@AnthonyRMPerry) March 26, 2021
Mac Jones
Quarterbacks are becoming more naturally gifted every year.
The best quarterbacks of the 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 class all have at least two of the three of these traits: great size, superb evading ability in the pocket, and a spectacular arm
These are talents that even an NFL-caliber coach can not teach you.
Unfortunately for Mac, he is average at best in all three of these categories.
He is a smart kid with impressive accuracy, but good coaching in the NFL can instill those qualities into a prospect that has the other natural talents.
If Mac does not make incredible decisions and have elite accuracy, he will not have the physical gifts to stay relevant in the league.
Even if he does succeed in the NFL, his ceiling is very low for that of a quarterback that is slated to go number three overall to San Francisco.
Career passing grade vs the blitz (NFL Draft QBs):
1. Mac Jones – 92.4
2. Trevor Lawrence – 90.1
3. Zach Wilson – 84.7
…
5. Justin Fields – 82.0
…
12. Trey Lance – 75.8 pic.twitter.com/Ley8nGo611— PFF Draft (@PFF_College) March 29, 2021
NEXT: Kyle Shanahan Says He Doesn't Talk To NBC's Chris Simms
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