Quarterback

TCU

6-2 210

Draft board overall prospect rank: #175

Draft board overall quarterback rank: #11

Overall rating: 53 (6^th round)

40 time: 4.84

3/28/11: As Mike Mayock says, Andy Dalton is someone who “grows on you.” The problem, so does mold. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. Ryan Fitzpatrick grew on Bills fans, but that didn’t make him a franchise quarterback. Dalton is the exact same way. He doesn’t have good arm strength. In fact, his arm is weaker than Fitzpatrick’s. However, he’s got good short accuracy and he’s smart and more importantly, he doesn’t look like a typical NFL quarterback. People want this guy to succeed.

He seems to be growing on NFL scouts as now it seems he could go in the 2^nd round to a team like the 49ers, the Redskins, or the Vikings. He struggled mightily at the Senior Bowl. In fact, I’d go as far as to say he was the worst quarterback there. He has terrible arm strength and couldn’t hit a wide open Leonard Hankerson, who burned Richard Sherman on a deep route. In fact, Sherman, who, again, got absolutely burned by Hankerson, was almost able to intercept it and probably would have if Hankerson hadn’t turned into a DB and come back and deflected the ball out of Sherman’s grasp at the last second.

There are things Dalton does well. He wins. He led TCU to an undefeated record this year, albeit in the Mountain West Conference. He’s got good short accuracy and would be best fit for a West Coast offense. He’s also mobile. He possesses all the intangibles and is very smart for his age. However, his arm strength is way too limited for him to be an NFL starting quarterback, let alone an elite quarterback. The comparisons to Kevin Kolb are off because Kolb has a much stronger arm.

NFL Comparison: Bruce Gradkowski