NFL Draft: What to watch for when scouting quarterbacks

Ever wondered how scouts evaluate quarterbacks ahead of the NFL Draft?

Jan 28, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) runs onto the / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

What to watch for when scouting quarterbacks

1. Defining "Arm Talent"
2. Using one 2024 first rounder and a 2018 No. 1 overall pick as an example
3. Contextualizing accuracy
4. Instincts to create and toughness are of the utmost importance... and not extremely coachable
5. Bad footwork at the college level is not a deal breaker
6. Other coachable things once a QB gets to the NFL
7. How to evaluate pre-snap/post-snap processes of quarterbacks

The month of May and June is a great opportunity, for a football fan and evaluator, to sit back and process the past NFL Draft and what took place before diving into NFL training camps.

And that's just what the Daft on Draft Podcast is hoping to accomplish in their latest scouting series. This series, titled "What to watch for when scouting," will go through every position with a guest to help to break down the finer details of scouting each position on the football field.

So far, quarterbacks and running backs have been completed. The audio for those episodes can be found on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Here, however, we take what Derrik Klassen of Bleacher Report and Reception Perception had to say about evaluating quarterbacks and transcribe it so readers can join the discussions too.

The Daft on Draft Podcast scouting series begins today... First up: @QBKlass!

Defining "arm talent," contextualizing accuracy, and more, Derrik and I talk about the important details of evaluating quarterbacks.

Spotify: https://t.co/8oESRZw5wN

Apple:https://t.co/tBymGX36my pic.twitter.com/9aJfB4kCNS

— Cory (@fakecorykinnan) May 10, 2024

Here is what Derrik had to say on evaluating quarterbacks:

Defining "Arm Talent"

Klassen: "There are probably five or whatever different categories you could really truly break arm talent into. But to me, the very simple, one-liner for it is how fast can you throw the ball while putting arc on the ball? And from how many platforms can you do it from?

An example from this class, Michael Penix, who could throw the ball very hard. He can't really put touch on the ball and put arc on the ball, and he can't do it from very many different platforms. Caleb [Williams], however, probably throws the ball about as hard as Michael Penix does, but the arc and control that he can put on the ball is immaculate. The different arm angles that he can get to, and the different platforms that he can access that arm talent from are in a completely different stratosphere. And so while they both throw the ball, like you said, it's not just velocity. They can both throw the ball very, very hard, but everything else that they can do with their arm is completely different in the case of Caleb specifically.

So that to me is like, yeah, arm talent is just how hard can you throw the ball while still controlling it and from how many different platforms can you do it from?"

Using one 2024 first rounder and a 2018 No. 1 overall pick as an example

Kinnan: "I think another case in this class, this past class specifically would be J.J. McCarthy, right? J.J. McCarthy can throw heaters all day. He can throw the 100-mile-an-hour fastball, but when it comes to trying to throw the change-up, when it comes to throwing anything with touch or trying to place it, that's where it kind of gets dicey for a guy like J.J. as well. Like, yeah, we know he's got the arm talent, but the ability to layer a throw, the ability to throw with touch wasn't always there.

And then I go back to, you know, I cover the Browns as well. So, that's what I'm most familiar with when I'm talking about quarterback play as well. It's probably Baker Mayfield as well. And I have PTSD from the 2021 season where guys are running shallow crosses and he's throwing 80-mile-an-hour fastballs right at them as they're like running shallow crosses. And it's like, buddy, just put some touch on the football. So just understanding arm talent is not always just how hard you could throw it, but again, platforms, the arm angles to manipulate throwing windows."

Contextualizing accuracy

Klassen: "I think the general framework, and I mean, this is going to sound very simple, is like, are you putting the ball in a spot that is away from the defense and does not strain your receiver to go get the ball?

That is like the general framework. Like, again, if you're throwing just... a stick route, and you're throwing it into, like where it's technically within your receiver's frame, but you're throwing it into the leverage, okay, that's a bad ball. Like it's stuff like that. So I think that's something to keep in mind. Whereas... if you're just throwing a go ball and he has six steps on the corner, it's okay if you slow us down a little bit. Like not every go ball has to be perfect, hit him in stride, it's a touchdown. Like this is not how the sport works, this is not how the game works. So I'm not that worried about that.

Where accuracy gets interesting is when, kind of like you said, guys have to throw against leverage, or they have to throw into tight windows. And you see this from the best NFL quarterbacks, where the best quarterbacks are willing to make throws that don't look accurate because they're throwing into keyholes. Lamar Jackson is really good at this. Matthew Stafford is really good at this. Obviously Patrick Mahomes is very good at this, where he's just willing to make throws that aren't really open, but they make them open by where they place them.

Whether that's a safety is pinning down on a dig route, and so he throws it at his guy's ankles. And it's like, okay, that looks inaccurate, but if he leaves that head height, his receiver's head gets taken off. Or sometimes you'll see if a MIKE in Tampa 2 is running up the hole with the tight end up a seam, a good quarterback will know how to place that back shoulder so his tight end can go back and get it. And it looks like the tight end has to now go around his back and do this whole 360 to catch the ball. But if he leaves it in front of him and the backer knows where the ball is going to be, then he can just put a hand up and bat the ball. But if you put it on the backside where the tight end gets to reach around and the MIKE doesn't really get a chance to do that, that's actually fantastic placement, even though it looks a little off.

So I think accuracy... you can start with the framework of just keep it away from the defense, making it easy for your guy. But there are certain throws that require the receiver to go straight in for the ball. And that's okay if the quarterback puts it there. In fact, that's ideal. We have to remember these, the guys who catch the ball, they get paid to make a play. The quarterback can't be doing everything. It's okay that the receiver has to do some part of this."

Instincts to create and toughness are of the utmost importance... and not extremely coachable

Klassen: "I think you either have that instinct to be a gamer and go do something insane or you don't. And that was kind of the conversation, I think this year with Michael Penix was. When you watch him at Washington, it's like, okay, well, he doesn't really create outside the pocket ever. He's never looking to scramble even within the pocket. He's not all that creative in terms of the arm slots that he's looking for. And then he goes to his pro day and runs 4.5 [40-yard dash] and people are like, "See, he could go do some of the creative stuff."

Just because he has the means to do it does not mean you can get him mentally to go do that stuff. You're either a guy who's very willing to go break structure and do all that stuff or you're not. And so I'd much rather have, this class is a great example, I'd much rather have the Calebs and the Drake Mayes who have that mentality. And it's like, all right, we're gonna slow you down a little bit when we get to the NFL. I think it's harder to take a Michael Penix and like get him to be like, "Hey man, we need you to go make a superhero play five times a game." I think that's just hard to do.

The other thing is toughness. That's obviously that kind of a very nebulous term and kind of a subjective thing. Certain people might view it in different ways, but I think having the ability to be tough and hang in certain pockets like that is also kind of innate. I think there are certain cases where really veteran players can learn to get better at this. I actually think Kirk [Cousins] has gotten better at being tough in the pocket, especially compared to his early days in Washington. He used to be a guy who had zero ability to play under pressure, but he stuck around for long enough that eventually, he learned it. But I don't think it's like one of those things that, you know, two, three years into the league, you figure out. This is very much like a long, long, long process for him. So I think for the most part, that's kind of an innate thing outside of these really rare cases like Kirk Cousins."

Bad footwork at the college level is not a deal breaker

Klassen: "I think footwork is very teachable. Look at all of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes, I think his footwork stuff was overstated at Texas Tech, but they were still kind of there and he was a little bit sloppy. He's as clean as anybody in the league now. Josh Allen, some of the worst footwork I've ever seen for a college prospect. He's perfectly fine now. Lamar Jackson used to have a really, really narrow base at Louisville and he still is on the narrower side, but he's a lot more fluid and more stable and more wide now than he ever was coming out of college.

So the footwork stuff, I think, is extremely fixable. I'm not all that worried about it. You have to consider coming from a lot of these offenses, especially the guys that are in these air raids, they're not taught one to two to three crisp footwork. It's like, 'Hey man, just get to the throw however you can get to the throw.' And so I think that's definitely something to keep in mind."

Other coachable things once a QB gets to the NFL

Klassen: "And then I kind of lump pre-snap stuff, you can learn. Like protections, IDing blitzes, all that sort of stuff. I do like when my prospects already have that at 20, 21 years old, but I do think that if you start for five years in the NFL, at a certain point, you're gonna kind of figure it out, at least to a competent level."

And then decision making, which I don't think is the same as processing speed. And I think Justin Fields is actually a good example of this. I don't think Justin Fields is a bad decision-maker. He doesn't really put the ball in harm's way all that much. And you don't see him make that many egregious decisions. It's just that the speed in which he's seeing things is not fast enough. So he can't get to the right decision fast enough and often enough, which is why you see him hold the ball and then he'll just leave the pocket. He's not making egregious errors. It's just that he's not seeing things fast enough.

So, processing speed is probably harder to teach, but the decision-making aspect of like, 'Hey, don't throw the ball at defenders and these are the right throws you're supposed to make.' That I think is more teachable.

How to evaluate pre-snap/post-snap processes of quarterbacks

Klassen: "The pre-snap stuff, I think in almost any offense, even some of these [simple] college ones, pre-snap is fairly standardized across the board in the sense, 'Okay, does this guy understand what his protection is doing for him?' Which some guys don't. Is he setting the protection at all? You'll see this, especially in college, you can tell which guys are given the authority to do that. Drake Maye was given the authority to do that. Michael Pratt, even though he's not like a great prospect, was given the authority to do that. Whereas you see in a lot of college offenses, these guys just aren't given the authority to do that. So I do think that that's something to keep in mind.

And then I think guys understanding where and when blitzes are coming from. That again, no matter the offense that you're playing in, that is something you can see just based on how is the safety capping a slot receiver? Hhow are they aligned their front? Are they in something weird that looks like it should be a blitz front? Is this something they typically drop guys out of? Just stuff like that. I think no matter the offense, you can always standardize.

And then like your man zone indicators. The best offenses will give you a little bit of help with motions and stuff. I think we saw this a lot with Michigan and J.J. McCarthy. They did a really good job of making that easy for him. But I think just checking your man and zone indicators is usually a pretty easy spot to start. So I think a lot of the pre-snap stuff, even with some of the [simple] college offenses are actually pretty easy to see in almost any prospect.

The post-snap stuff is a lot harder because a lot of these offenses are, it's just nonsense. Even look at UNC with Drake Maye, what they're doing is not professional stuff at all. It's complete like high school air raid type stuff. But even if you look at offenses that seem NFL-like, I've brought this up with Washington and Michael Penix, it seems like an NFL offense, right? Cause it's like vertical and there are five in the concept, they're throwing dig routes and these out routes. And it's like, 'Oh, they do some NFL stuff.' Yeah, man, an NFL offense will run five-step gun vertical like four or five times a game, but it's not going to be the whole offense the way that it was at Washington.

So even though it's kind of NFL-ish, it's really only a very minute part of it. And so I think even that still makes it kind of difficult to operate post-snap. So honestly, all I like to see from guys post-snap is like, even if we don't understand what they're being taught to do... I do think actually watching NFL film, it's because it's all more standardized, it's a little bit easier. But with college guys, it's more just like, can I at least understand what you were trying to do? I might not immediately be able to, like it might seem weird at first, but if I can at least talk myself into a way of understanding what you were trying to do and you have a consistent process, then fine. I can probably live with it."