The subpar quarterback class in the 2022 Draft was the ugly elephant in the room for every NFL observer last year. And somehow, the class faired even worse than expected on draft day. No matter, we’ve moved on to previewing a stacked 2023 with Heisman winner Bryce Young and the newest Buckeye star C.J. Stroud. After those two, the real fun begins as scouts try to find the next best quarterback in the 2023 NFL Draft.
In the early assessment, there’s very little consensus. This is great news for fans as it adds to the fun of watching these prospects rise and fall over the course of the college season. But let’s have a look around at different evaluators to see the fascinating difference in opinion.
ESPN – Todd McShay
In what is now an annual tradition, McShay put out his way-too-early mock draft shortly after the 2022 Draft ended. McShay embraced the fun of the 2023 class with five quarterbacks in the top ten picks. McShay naturally C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young on top of the board, but he actually had Stroud edging out the Heisman winner for the number one pick.
More fascinating was the rest of his list, as he had Florida stud Anthony Richardson as the next quarterback off the board at six. Richardson is particularly intriguing given that he has incredible size and physical traits, but he has very little in terms of in game experience on his resume. After Richardson, McShay had Kentucky’s Will Levis at eight. Levis has become somewhat of a darling with his gritty demeanor and solid production last year in the SEC.
Finally, McShay rounded out his top quarterbacks with Tyler Van Dyke from Miami at nine. Van Dyke is a fascinating player who emerged as a star in the ACC after he took over for the injured D’Eriq King. The center of plenty of hype (and NIL deals), King was supposed to bring the Canes back to relevance. Instead it was the freshman Van Dyke who has Miami feeling relevant again.
CBS Sports
There is not one analyst responsible for the CBS Sports rankings, which actually makes it more useful when comparing evaluations of the quarterbacks. Like McShay, CBS also had Stroud edging out Young as the top quarterback in the draft. Stroud came in as the second overall prospects where as Young was fourth.
The interesting highlight of the CBS Sports list is that Levis comes in at number six, just barely behind the top two players. There aren’t too many folks around the league that put Levis in the same tier as Stroud and Young. It goes to show how high the hopes are for Levis as analysts have compared him to Dak Prescott or Josh Allen.
Farther down the list, Tyler Van Dyke comes in at 29 as the next quarterback. Anthony Richardson is currently in the second round range at 43. Just behind Richardson are two new names: Devin Leary of North Carolina State and Tanner McKee of Stanford. In his first year as the full time starter, Leary put up tremendous numbers with 35 touchdowns and only five interceptions in the ACC. McKee’s numbers were more pedestrian in his first year as the starter at Stanford, but he has tremendous physical tools at 6’6″ and 228lbs.
PFF – Mike Renner
When it comes to zagging on draft evaluations, no one is better than Pro Football Focus. While the site has a questionable track record when it comes to draft projections (in 2018, PFF ranked Mason Rudolph ahead of Josh Allen) they still have plenty of credibility when it comes to evaluating the tape.
This year, Renner’s first quirk was not only ranking Young ahead of Stroud, but also having him as the top prospect overall. This is pretty strange not because it deviates from other evaluations, but because PFF’s own rating system had Stroud (92.2) ahead of Young (92.0) in addition to Stroud’s superior size and athletic ability.
Farther down the list, the PFF preference for tape evaluation sticks out at as Tanner McKee is the next quarterback on their list at 17. Although it’s certainly an outlier, Renner makes a compelling case for McKee, “Despite putting up less than half as many total passing yards as Bryce Young, McKee had over twice as many passing yards into tight windows (725 vs. 326),” Renner Wrote.
PFF only had one other quarterback in their top 50: Will Levis. Levis came in at 48, where most other evaluators have him solidly in round one.
With all these different perspectives, it will be fascinating to see who lives up to the hype and who disappoints. It might even be worth remembering this moment down the road, given that last year many thought D.J. Uiagalelei and Spencer Rattler were the top prospects coming into the season. As the old adage goes, that’s why the play the games.
For more updates on this and other football news, stay tuned in to Gridiron Heroics all season long!