Is Spencer Rattler the Jets' QB of the Future?

This former Jets scout is very impressed with Rattler, evaluating his game film at Oklahoma.

South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler has the look and the feel of being a franchise NFL quarterback.

He has a little Patrick Mahomes to him and a little Brett Favre.

In fact, that’s the perfect way to describe him.

Rattler has athleticism like Mahomes and he’s a gunslinger, who conjures up memories of Favre.

Don’t let Rattler transferring from Oklahoma to South Carolina fool you, Rattler is a gamer and he is a winner. Rattler has only lost 4 games (2019-2021). The drive in the West Virginia game this past season was impressive setting up the winning field goal, at the end of regulation.

Could Rattler end up on the Jets?

That remains to be seen.

The Jets’ college scouting department however, does need to keep a close eye on Rattler this season.

Rattler bumped Stanford QB Tanner McKee on my big board and he is my new QB2 behind Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud headed into the 2022 season.

As an evaluator, I had also looked at Rattler last offseason on his 2020 Oklahoma film and felt even at that time he had what it took to be a winning franchise NFL QB.

I looked at 2020 film of Rattler against Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Florida (Cotton Bowl). Many of the things I liked and a couple of the things I didn’t like about Rattler, stayed consistent with my 2021 spring scouting report.

There is no question, Rattler has a skill set that can and will win at the next level.

Grading Spencer Rattler

6-foot-1, 200 pounds

2021 Oklahoma game film reviewed: West Virginia, Texas, Kansas State and Nebraska

2021 stats: 140/187 (74.9%), 1,483 yards (7.9 average), 11 touchdowns, 5 interceptions

Grade: First-Round (Top-10)

Scouting Report

Athletic confident dual threat gunslinger with a strong arm and plays with a real edge to him. NFL ready. Tough as nails. Ultra competitive. High energy tempo. Impressive and crisp set-up in the pocket. Well schooled. Alert. Deliberate and decisive in his movements. Good ball handling and play action. Mobile sliding around in the pocket. Capable of making quick decisions and showed he can also go through his progressions. Excels rolling out and can hit targets on the move. Does not need to set his feet to throw. Can deliver under pressure. Has a big-league arm. Puts hot sauce on his passes. Can zip them in there. Able to make all the throws. Consistently showed he can fit it into tight windows and tight coverage at the intermediate route levels. Outstanding at short to intermediate levels. Excellent on short to intermediate slants. Works short game exceptionally well on the perimeters. Can take some heat off passes and throw touch passes too. Not good deep. Did not hit one deep pass in these four games out of several attempts. Occasionally throws the ball away under pressure, but sometimes relies on his arm strength too much and tries to force it in there. Struggles when he tries to do too much and can throw ill-advised passes in those situations. Showed he can take off and pick up yardage running. He has ice in his eyes and he plays like football is important to him. He wants to win.

Bottom Line

I just may be the toughest grader out there and Rattler left me saying, “wow" or “damn” quite a few times watching him move around and throw.

He just does things a lot of QB’s simply cannot do with that rare mixture of athleticism, competitiveness, arm strength and smooth natural feel he has for the position.

Rattler looks like a superstar in the making. 

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