Jrry32 with a nice assessment of the Stetson Bennett pick…

Just a brief setup on Jrry32. He is a draft guru from another board and is highly respected as such over there. So his opinions carry great weight with me.

Here’s Jrry32…

small guy with a slight build, but he's a tough dude who will stand and deliver in the face of pressure. He's an underrated athlete. A 4.67 40 doesn't fully capture his mobility. He accelerates quickly, and he's very agile. It makes him a dangerous runner and a frustrating guy to play against for defenders.

In terms of passing ability, his arm strength is adequate. He can make the short and intermediate throws. He can make off platform throws. But when he has to push the ball down the field, the WRs are often making adjustments because he can't rip it like guys who have elite arms can. His accuracy is solid. He'll make some really nice throws. He puts a high a percentage on target, although not always in the strike zone. But he also has some frustrating misses. He does have a quick release and shows some ability to change arm angles to work around defenders.

Moving to the mental side, this is where he really shines. Decision making is mixed. He's good for a handful of throws each game that leave you scratching your head. It may just be overconfidence in his ability to fit passes into tight windows. But he'll need to cut down on those sorts of plays in the NFL, because NFL athletes will make him pay in a way college athletes didn't. That all said, he reads the field extremely well, moves through progressions with ease, and throws with the sort of anticipation you see in quality NFL starters. He's also very comfortable working in the pocket, feels pressure, and moves effectively in the pocket (particularly in terms of his ability to move to open space and find throwing lanes when forced off his spot).

The final part I want to discuss are the intangibles. On the negative side, I've heard that he's had some maturity issues and can be very cocky. On the plus side, this is a guy who beat out and held off multiple highly rated QBs to win the starting job on the most talented team in college football and then led them to back-to-back national titles. He's been underestimated his entire life, has refused to quit, and has consistently exceeded expectations. He's a gamer who has elevated his play in big games. And he's a winner. He also maintains his composure on the field.

All in all, I think it's a fine pick. Any QB you draft on Day 3 is going to have flaws. If there are attributes worth gambling on, they're mental acuity and intangibles. Stetson has those in droves. Will he ever be a starter? I don't know. I can't count him out, but he's not the sort of elite thrower that you typically see in a quality starting QB. But I do think he can be a quality backup if the maturity is there.

The guy he reminds me of is Taylor Heinicke. Stetson is smaller and more athletic, but he plays the game with the same kind of reckless abandon that Heinicke does.