2021 NFL Draft Wacky Call No. 2: Justin Fields won’t drop too far
It’s the No. 1 2021 NFL Draft question I’ve been asked over the last two months.
Why don’t people like Justin Fields?
He seemed like a mortal lock to be the No. 2 pick last year at this time, and now he’s dropping like a rock in various mocks – DO NOT READ ANYTHING INTO MOCKS, though – with the idea thrown out there that he might even fall out of the first round.
Whatever. He’s fine. He might drop a bit, but it won’t matter and it might even be the motivational positive it seems to have been for Aaron Rodgers.
So what’s everyone’s problem?
1. I honestly think scouts got freaked out by the Indiana game. That gets brought up way too much, with the focus more on the three bad picks and strange all-around performance than the 300-yard passing day with two touchdowns along with 78 rushing yards and a score … and the win.
2. College guy talking here – I think he’s being misscouted – if I can make up a word. What some see as a problem reading coverages I saw as a guy who always tried to make a big play because he could, and because it worked.
No, he’s not tight enough with his reads, but that’s because he worked behind a phenomenal line and had Ohio State receivers to throw to against a whole slew of mediocre Big Ten secondaries. Things didn’t go too poorly against Clemson in this year’s College Football Playoff.
He played too much hero ball, partly because the big play would develop down the field if he could buy himself a wee bit more time, and … boom.
The guy averaged over nine yards per throw and hit 70% of his throws last season partly because he could wait for his primary guy to get open. The negatives can be tweaked. And then there’s …
3. The Dwayne Haskins factor. It’s unfair, it’s not right, and no NFL type is willing to admit it – because it’s Bad Scouting 101 – but Fields is being lumped into the Buckeye quarterback bucket.
Terrelle Pryor and Braxton Miller were turned into receivers. Troy Smith – despite being No. 1 in an early 2007 mock draft – didn’t have the NFL tools, and the Haskins fiasco scared the bloody hell out of everyone.
But that has nothing to do with Fields as a potential NFL player.
Wacky 2021 NFL Draft prediction that just might be right: Fields will be the fifth of the big five quarterbacks taken, but he’ll go in the top 15 and he’ll be a terrific pro.
If it’s not Denver at the nine it could be Minnesota at the 14 or New England at the 15 – or someone will trade up to get him.
Yeah, his slide will be a story, but he’ll also be a phenomenal value considering the pressure will be on the four guys taken ahead of him.
Now, if I was REALLY throwing something against the wall – which I was all set to do a few days ago, but wussed out over the last 24 hours …