Jets fans don’t have a lot to look forward to in the 2017 season. Expectations are at an all-time low for their team.
The glimmer of hope is the team could land the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft and have its pick of a college quarterback.
Jets fans can spend this season putting on their scouting hats and watching the college games to decide which quarterback they like.
We talked to ESPN draft guru Todd McShay about his preseason evaluation of the consensus top-three quarterbacks — USC’s Sam Darnold, Wyoming’s Josh Allen and UCLA’s Josh Rosen.
Here are his thoughts as the college football season kicks off this weekend:
Sam Darnold
USC, sophomore
The evaluation: “I think Darnold, to me, probably going back to Andrew Luck in terms of watching a quarterback in his first year and how polished and poised he was in different situations — going through progression reads, how fast he was able to go from one read to the next, to the next. One of his unique traits is his ability to hang in the pocket, feel pressure, not panic, extend plays, not necessarily by taking off and running, but climbing the pocket when there’s outside pressure, sliding away from it when there’s inside pressure, just keeping plays alive. It is really impressive.
“In a couple of the pressure situations he was in and how he handled it — specifically down 14 to Penn State in that bowl game — you don’t see that from a lot of young quarterbacks. That combination of handling clutch situations and just him maneuvering within the pocket was impressive to me.”
What questions he must answer: “He’s got a little bit of a unique delivery, but it doesn’t bother me. I think he needs to continue to progress. How does he handle success? He came in and was hungry. By all accounts, it shouldn’t be an issue, but now there is pressure on USC and pressure on him and he’s getting all this attention. How does he handle it and is he as prepared as he should be? I’m not concerned about it, but I think it’s the natural progression of evaluating a quarterback.”
Josh Allen
Wyoming, junior
The evaluation: “He is probably the least polished of the three but has the best skill set and potential of the three.
“Allen reminds me of — he’s a little bit more mobile — but he reminds me of Ben Roethlisberger, when Roethlisberger was about 40 pounds lighter, coming out of college. He’s tall, big, strong guy. He really does a great job of extending plays and he can move. He’s an impressive athlete for such a tall quarterback. He has a big-time arm. I would put him in the class of a Roethlisberger, a Cam Newton. That type of arm talent and arm strength. I don’t know in the last five years if there’s a quarterback who has had his raw physical ability.”
What questions he must answer: “He’s got to cut down on mistakes. He’s got to become more consistent with his accuracy and decision-making.”
Josh Rosen
UCLA, junior
The evaluation: “He’s really talented. He’s mechanically sound. In terms of the three quarterbacks, he’s got a good arm. Not as strong as Allen’s, but certainly can make all the throws. Where he excels is throwing to spots and leading his receivers open, anticipating where his receiver is going to be and getting the ball out on time. He does a really good job of that. He’s a pro-style quarterback with the accuracy you look for. He has to learn how to handle pressure better, basically just knowing when to wave the white flag and throw it away, take the sack, live to see another day.”
What questions he must answer: “You have to figure out the durability issue. How does he bounce back from the shoulder? It’s tough. He’s not a bad kid. He’s a very sharp kid. He’s just a bit of a different cat. The scouts that I’ve talked to are trying to figure out if he loves the game. Is he going to dive into it the way the Tom Bradys and the Mannings and the Aaron Rodgers and all those guys have kind of dived into it and attacked the preparation and the process? Or does he just like what the game gives him more than an actual love for the game.
“On the field, he’s got to cut down on forced mistakes or forced throws when under pressure. I think he was pressing a little bit last year before he got injured. Their team wasn’t that good around him and had a lot of injuries and a lot of dropped throws and protection issues.”