Every NFL Draft cycle, players rise and fall on draft boards from preseason and midseason expectations. More talent evaluators, including high-level personnel members and coaches, are finally putting eyeballs onto prospects as the NFL season comes to a close and the collective Eye of Sauron turns toward the draft.
As more evaluators give their, well, evaluations, especially those who might have more sway than other members of the scouting staff, then opinions on players start to change. Players’ stocks gain more steam as coaches and general managers look at the players through a different lens and after the college season has completed, with more games and data to assess.
This happens at every position, especially at quarterback. And this year is no different.
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In a class that lacks consensus everywhere, it can create wildly different boards and rankings from team to team and evaluator to evaluator. (Although it is safe to say that Miami’s Cam Ward is essentially the unanimous QB1 in this class and likely No. 1 pick, a justified selection that I wrote about recently.)
Quarterback is the position where teams and fans desperately cling to any hope that their guy can be the guy, with the associated desperation that comes from NFL teams trying to find a real player at that position. Hope and cope rhyme for a reason. It can cause evaluators to latch onto any glimmer of high-end play, arguing that it can be extrapolated once they get to work with them and chalking up any blemishes to youth, a college system, lack of talent, or whatever else.
As I continue to look at this year’s crop of quarterback prospects, I see two players who have gained steam as the football season ended and the draft season began: Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Louisville’s Tyler Shough.
Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Louisville’s Tyler Shough are rising quarterback prospects this NFL Draft cycle. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
I’ll first start with Dart.
Why could Jaxson Dart go in the 1st round?
Traits are a good starting point with Dart. He has a strong build (6-foot-2, 223 pounds) and is a good athlete and a quality runner of the football. He is willing to run between the tackles on designed runs and scrambles and lower the shoulder on defenders (something he’s going to have to dial back, but it is endearing to watch). Dart actually runs with good vision, too, even pacing some of his runs to set up blocks before bursting through the line.
