STRENGTHS
Zach has the arm talent to be an excellent and efficient, starting quarterback for the team that selects him. He has excellent accuracy and shows on film, the kind of velocity when throwing the ball that should make all 32 teams interested in selecting him. Zach shows the athletic agility to manipulate the pocket and has good enough foot speed to make third downs on designed quarterback runs. He has the football IQ of a coach on the field and because of that knowledge, shows good confidence and leadership skills. When Zach starts to work out for teams and interviews, it will be very hard for some teams not to list him as the top QB in this class. With his style of play on the field, mechanics, management knowledge along with his uncanny accuracy, is the prototypical quarterback that teams fall in love with, in a draft.
CONCERNS
Zach’s injury history and lack of bulk to take the pounding at the next level will scare some teams. For me, I see a lack of confidence, accuracy when throwing under pressure, and the ability to deal mentally with the blitzes and speed that will come at him at the next level as the real issues of concern. He reminds me a lot of Jimmy Garoppolo and like Jimmy will need strong play calling and coaching to mask these issues in the big games.
BOTTOM LINE 1.77
I like Zach’s talent and overall game but… I also understand that he is borderline between a franchise quarterback and a really good starting quarterback because of what I saw in his play, in the Coastal Carolina game. He’s a tough kid and he really made plays in the passing game that were outstanding but, as the game wore on he was intimidated by the hard hits he was taking, in and out of the pocket. He fought those hits mentally but still, he started throwing off his back foot a lot, losing some of his velocity. When a quarterback, in the middle of a game, loses some of his velocity it shows up in his receivers dropping some passes that are right on target. It causes receivers to grasp and double-clutch balls and leads to drops at crucial times in a game. Coaches talk about the timing between quarterbacks and receivers all the time as it pertains to receivers running routes. That timing also has to do with how quickly a ball reaches a receiver and if a pass is not consistent in velocity, it can turn into a lot of drop balls during a game. The velocity can change depending on the route but, velocity has to be consistent from every route practiced, to the game when the quarterback is under pressure or dropped balls and interceptions will happen. As I said, don’t expect Zach in the playoffs and big games to carry a team. He is the type of quarterback who doesn’t make the talent around him better, they make him better. Similar to Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t pass on selecting him in the 1st round for sure, he has the talent to be an excellent starting quarterback for the team that selects him.
