STRENGTHS
Jake has the production and athletic talent to be considered as one of the top quarterbacks in this draft. He can play under center or in the shotgun and shows good velocity and accuracy when passing from both styles of offenses. Jake has solid athleticism to extend plays in and out of the pocket when it is needed. He can throw from different angles and release points with accuracy and those are important attributes to have for the next level. Jake shows solid leadership skills and brings with him the production level that not many quarterbacks coming out of college have had. He takes care of the ball and does an excellent job managing the game plan and working within the context of the game plan.
CONCERNS
Jake is a Pure Pocket passer and doesn’t use his athleticism as much as he should to move the ball down the field. Of course, that observation is subjective but not gaining first downs inside the red zone and not using his legs to score more in the red zone is one of the reasons for settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. Jake, in three years of starting, has just 3 rushing TD’s. He also lacks the velocity on some throws outside the hash marks and in the Red Zone and shows on film that he doesn’t throw all of the route tree with the needed velocity for a top QB. Jake also is not consistent in manipulating the pocket and escaping and resetting and instead will throw the ball away or take the sack way too much. He also doesn’t consistently manipulate the pocket opening up passing lanes. In general, for all of his production and play Jake does not show the overall instincts to bring his play and the play of his teammates up to a consistent level.
BOTTOM LINE 2.06
Is Jake, Andy Dalton, Case Keenum or could he be as good as Drew Brees? Well, right now he projects to be a potential starting quarterback but not a franchise quarterback. That doesn’t mean the Jake can’t get better and learn better mechanics to have better arm strength in the red zone and outside the hash marks. It doesn’t mean that Jake can’t learn all the intricacies’ of manipulating the pocket helping out his offensive line and opening up pass lanes. It doesn’t mean that Jake can’t learn to use his legs more to gain yardage on third downs and inside the red zone. It just means for the purpose of this draft Jake’s instincts and play to lift his teammate’s play is not where it should be and that will affect his draft status. Jake is the type of player who could sneak into the back half of the first round or drop all the way into the fourth round. It just all depends on who needs QB’s from the teams in this year’s playoffs or if a team has big question marks about the quarterback they picked in the top 15 of this draft and might want to cover their pick similar to the Redskins in the 2012 Draft. Who knows, maybe Jake is the next Drew Brees, I wouldn’t bet on it but you never know. My guess, he’s the next Chase Daniel. My theory about selecting QB’s in a draft, if they don’t have a 1st round grade or you want the benefit of five years on the first contract don’t bother selecting them until the fourth round. If they drop to the fourth than select them because, at that point, you got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
