ESPN NFL Draft Analysts Name Spencer Rattler 'Biggest Upside-Play' At QB

NFL Draft Analysts Field Yates and Mel Kiper Jr. believe South Carolina Football star Spencer Rattler will be worth a gamble in April.

Few quarterback prospects in the past decade have been more polarizing than Spencer Rattler. His undeniable talent, combined with his willingness to periodically take chances and questions from the past about his character, fair or unfair, makes him one of the more compelling prospects in the 2024 draft class.

On a recent episode from ESPN's First Draft Podcast, a show that Field Yates moderates with Mel Kiper Jr. providing analysis, the two discussed the biggest upside-play out of the quarterbacks considered to be in the middle of the pack in the 2024 class. Kiper went with Rattler, saying that he had good and bad moments, and indicated that he believes it's hard to get a solid reading on him due to his inconsistencies.

Field added to the discussion by laying out Spencer's case, using a current NFL MVP contender as an example.

"Some of the boxes that Brock Purdy did check were experienced quarterback. He played four years at Iowa State. He was a program raiser - He basically got the maximum out of that program during his time there," Yates explained. "[Spencer Rattler] goes to South Carolina, and I don't know that South Carolina having a successful season is quite as improbable as Iowa State having the kind of success that they had with Brock Purdy, but in the SEC, if you're not Georgia, Alabama, LSU, I'm here to tell you it's pretty impressive if you have an eight or nine-win season in that conference. A lot of experience, good athlete," Field opined. "He was pressing a little bit more this year, but this team was not as talented as the team a year ago in South Carolina. So I think that Spencer Rattler might have something," Yates exclaimed. "It wouldn't stun me if Rattler finds his way starting some games at some point in the first year or two of his career."

Spencer Rattler takes off running versus Kentucky (18th Nov., 2023) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

Kiper would agree with Field's point about the lack of talent around Spencer in 2023.

"It would have been nice if Marshawn Lloyd, Jaheim Bell, and Juice Wells would have been there. You know, Lloyd went out to USC, Bell went to Florida State, and then Juice Wells, unfortunately, he was banged up, and [Xavier] Legette's a heck of a player. So you're right; he would have had some more players around him. A little more help would have certainly benefited Spencer Rattler."

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