Some players simply are who we thought they were.
As a Seattle resident, I watched a lot of Washington quarterback Jacob Eason through his 2019 season with the Huskies, which is where he wound up after leaving Georgia in Jake Fromm’s wake. Eason completed 64.2% of his passes last season for 3,132 yards, 7.7 yards per attempt, 23 touchdowns, and eight interceptions for his second collegiate team. He is a tough evaluation on tape because, for every big-time throw you see that makes you think he’s NFL-ready, there are two throws that are either erratic from a clean pocket, or an implosion under pressure (a large issue in his case) that have you thinking “career backup.”
During his combine drills, Eason played to type. He looked good on the deep throws, and highly questionable on angular routes requiring timing and rhythm. Fromm was much better on those types of throws, despite his relatively unimpressive arm.
Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm throwing at the #NFLCombine!@skinnyqb10 | @FrommJake
đź“ş: @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/baIcbW62kq
— NFL (@NFL) February 28, 2020
Teams will look at this, and Eason’s worrisome efficiency splits under pressure (a 78.1 passer rating as opposed to a 109.7 rating with a clean pocket, per Sports Info Solutions), and they may wonder exactly what they’re getting. That’s been my experience when watching Eason’s tape.