It seems like the 2020 NFL Draft just happened, but we move fast here at The Draft Network.
Currently going through summer evaluations for the 2021 NFL Draft class, our scouting team of Kyle Crabbs, Joe Marino, Jordan Reid, and Drae Harris are meeting up every day to discuss prospects, traits, and concepts. New to TDN is a daily scouting roundtable where we go through and identify the most important points of conversation from that day’s meeting.
Recently, our staff began to go through their NFL assessments. One of the main talking points revolved around third-year quarterbacks Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield. Here is a brief overview of what went down.
Baker Bounce-Back?
The first overall pick back in 2018, Mayfield has had quite the tumultuous start to his NFL career. After nearly grabbing Rookie of the Year honors in 2018, he saw a huge regression in 2019, displaying poor pocket presence and producing a major amount of turnovers. What can we expect in the future, though? Our analysts weighed in.
“Baker has been a mixed bag. As a rookie, he played extremely well and guided Cleveland to seven wins, which is more than they’ve had in some time, but in year two he was just turnover-prone and inconsistent. I think he has to be more consistent and not try to do too much. In his defense, he’ll essentially be having his third coordinator and third (head) coach in three years (in 2020) and that’s a position where continuity is so important so that’s definitely hurt him.” - Harris
https://twitter.com/Browns/status/1289302052481490944?s=20
“Baker was the unluckiest QB in football last season. He had six drops or deflections that were interceptions, which was the highest percentage rate of anyone in the league. I think he’s well-aligned (now), with (new head coach Kevin) Stefanski and his 12 and 22 personnel coming in, to take advantage of the (roster) around him.” - Crabbs
“Now he’s (finally) got some offensive tackles.” - Marino
“He’ll be better with Stefanski.” - Reid
Improving Allen
Sort of the opposite of Mayfield, Allen took a big step forward in 2019 after a very up-and-down rookie season. Although still needing to fix certain aspects of his game, Marino elaborated on Allen’s progress and whether or not it can continue in 2020.
“With Josh (Allen) and chaos, sometimes that’s a very good thing and he does some very dynamic things, but sometimes he just thinks he’s a better athlete than he is and ends up doing bone-headed stuff as a result. I think there’s encouraging growth with him, though. If you only watch the Houston (playoff) game, you’ll think he hasn’t grown at all, but he reverted to some of (his old) tendencies during that game. When you compare his 2018 and 2019 statistics under pressure, his completion percentage and passer ratings (both) went up 13%. Obviously, the deep ball and his snap-to-snap consistency are both (still) major areas of concern, but I go back to his starting point when he entered the league and combine that with how Buffalo (poorly) surrounded him in 2018 and he’s made pretty big strides.” - Marino
https://twitter.com/13WHAM/status/1192124661695500291?s=20
“Sometimes (Allen) makes your head explode with how (incredible) his ball placement is, but then there are other times where the ball is not even in the right zip code. I don’t think he’ll ever be a naturally accurate QB, but I also don't think he has Blake Bortles-type issues with putting the ball on guys. It’s all the other stuff he does that makes him a dynamic QB. He’s weird.” - Marino
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