Quarterback 

Arkansas

6-7 247

Draft board overall prospect rank: #55

Draft board overall quarterback rank: #3

Overall rating: 77 (mid 2nd)

40 time: 5.36

4/19/11: A report has come out that Mallett admitted to his drug use in private interviews at The Combine. I’m not moving him down in my mock draft because teams have known about this for months and he’s still getting a ton of first round buzz, but I can’t give this kid a first round grade anymore. You might think it’s just drugs. Plenty of college kids do them. That’s true, but Mallett isn’t just some college kid. He’s a potential NFL franchise quarterback.

Quarterback might be the most cerebral position in all of sports and if your heart and your head aren’t in it, you will fail, even if you can throw the ball 80 yards down field with ease. Just ask JaMarcus Russell. The fact that he did drugs in college shows raises a lot of questions about his commitment. Plus, remember what happened with Aqib Talib, who did drugs in college. He thought he was above the law in college and now a few years later he’s looking about 5 years in jail for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

This quarterback class sucks. The top 4 quarterbacks are a one year wonder with off the field issues, a druggie, a spread quarterback with just 16 touchdowns to 9 interceptions, and a quarterback who completed just 54% of his passes last year.

There’s a very good chance that we could look back at this quarterback class in 4 years time the way we look at 2007, where the closest thing we got to a franchise quarterback was Kevin Kolb in the 2^nd round (JaMarcus Russelll, Brady Quinn, Trent Edwards, John Beck, Drew Stanton all went in the first 3 rounds). There’s also a very good chance that someone like Colin Kaepernick ends up being the best quarterback from this class, if he’s put in the right situation. 

2/26/11: One of the things I was most looking forward to this week was seeing Ryan Mallett’s interview and if any concrete evidence about his supposed drug use would come up. Mallett was asked about his drug use and this was his response

“I’m not going to talk about that right now. I’ve got the interviews with teams, and when teams need to know what they need to know. I’m going to leave it at.” 

If you didn’t take do illegal drugs, say it. Dispel the rumors right then and there. Make a statement. He didn’t do that. I’m not saying he did drugs or anything, but I don’t like the way he handled the situation and with so many prominent draft scouts saying they wouldn’t touch him, I think it’s finally time for me to drop him.

2/10/11: Ryan Mallett is one of the biggest draft enigmas in a while. Two draft experts have come out and said they have character concern type stuff on him. Wes Bunting of NFL Football Post has quotes a scout as saying “I got stuff on Mallett that no one even knows about and I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole.” Albert Breer of the NFL Network backed that up by saying he could drop significantly because of “undisclosed character concerns.” Some mocks have him falling out of the first round completely because of this.

The issue, no one will say what these “character concerns” are. I did some research, but all I could find were a few quotes on message board/forum type site from people who “knew Mallett” that said Mallett frequently used marijuana and often experimented with harder drugs and one person even saying that Mallett deals. However, people who “knew Mallett” could easily be “people who hated Mallett and want to ruin his draft stock” or “people who have never met Mallett and want their 5 minutes of fame.” My conclusion, until I hear something concrete (which we will if there’s something big on him), I’m not holding any character issues against him.

Mallett is my top quarterback in this class, though sort of by default. I’m certainly not sold on him as a franchise quarterback. He’s got crazy upside, but there are a lot of potential “bust” red flags. There’s his terrible footwork and his inconsistent accuracy. There’s his tendency to stare down his first read and his tendency to force things into coverage when nothing’s there. There’s his slower delivery, which could lead to more picks in the NFL than it did in college. There’s the offense he came out of, one that rarely produces NFL quarterbacks. However, he’s got one of the biggest arms I’ve ever seen.

All of his flaws are coachable, unless we find out something big character wise. His completion percentage, despite his poor footwork, was 64.7% last year and he only threw 12 picks to 32 touchdowns, against tough SEC competition. His biggest flaw is throwing when no one’s open. He tends to force things in this situation, rather than putting the ball in a place only his man can get it or simply throwing it away. He doesn’t have the accuracy to thread the needle and he struggles throwing over the middle.

However, as I said, he’s definitely coachable. I think he’s got the highest upside in this class because of his arm strength, though you could say the same thing about Newton. He’s more polished than Locker or Newton as well. I don’t know if I’d use a top 10 pick on him, but he’s worth a top 15, again, barring any solid reports about his character flaws.

NFL Comparison: Jeff George