5. Jacob Eason, QB, Washington
Height: 6’6″ Weight: 231
40-Yard Dash: 4.75 seconds
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 27.5 inches
Broad Jump: 9 feet, 2 inches
3-Cone Drill: 7.50 seconds
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.75 seconds
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Jacob Eason was a highly regarded recruit coming out of high school, with a résumé that had many big schools knocking on his door. He was the 2015 Gatorade National Player of the Year and the Washington state Player of the Year, and as a senior he completed 235 of 338 passes for 3,585 yards and 43 touchdowns. He left Lake Stevens High having completed 662 of his 1,025 passes for 9,813 yards and 102 touchdowns, with just 18 career interceptions.
Eason started for the Georgia Bulldogs as a true freshman in 2016, and completed 55.1% of his passes for 2,430 yards and 16 touchdowns, against eight interceptions. Not huge numbers, but not bad for a true freshman in the SEC. The next season, however, was cut short due to injury. He gave way to Jake Fromm, and his understudy would not relinquish the starting job. Eason transferred close to his hometown, joining the University of Washington and waiting for his eligibility to open up behind Jake Browning.
Eason finally got his chance to play again this past season, and he made the most of the opportunity, completing 64.2% of his throws for 3,132 yards and 23 touchdowns, with just eight interceptions. He posted a 143.9 passer rating, the best of his career.
Stat to Know: More on this in a moment, but Pro Football Focus gave him a grade of just 37.6 when pressured this past season, second-worst in the Pac-12.
Strengths: Similar to Justin Herbert, the easy velocity and impressive arm talent is going to get NFL evaluators excited. Eason certainly can spin it, and he has some of the best wow throws of any passer in this class. What also works in his favor is the offense he ran at Washington. The Huskies did a lot with Eason working under center and running play-action using that deep drop into the pocket and turning his back to the defense. Those plays illustrate his ability to quickly read and react to the secondary, because they compress the decision-making time for the quarterback.
Another area where Eason deserves some credit is his willingness to attack the middle of the field and up the seams. He has supreme confidence in his arm — for good reason — and will challenge some throwing windows that other quarterbacks in this group will avoid. He also shows some anticipation ability working between the hashmarks, and in his game against Cal last season, he converted a third-and-17 by throwing a post route in the middle of the field with anticipation.
Eason is not the most athletic quarterback of the bunch — as his combine results reveal — but he is athletic enough to spin away from pressure and extend plays when necessary. He is not a threat as a runner, but he will pick up what the defense gives him at times.
Weaknesses: Similar to Josh Allen a few seasons ago, his arm is a bit of a double-edged sword. There are times on film when he could benefit from getting the ball out a bit quicker, but he relies on his arm to bail him out at times. So, in a sense, his reliance on the arm strength and velocity creates some poor situations for him, because he gives throws a bit longer to read because he believes the velocity is going to save him. That works at times in the Pac-12, but it might not always work for him in the NFL.
He also made some head-scratching decisions in the pocket and seemed to struggle under pressure. As noted above, Pro Football Focus gave him a grade of just 37.6 when pressured, second-worst in the Pac-12, and this is one of those occasions when the grade definitely matches the tape. That is a pretty big red flag. Magnifying this issue is that when pressured, he often looks to bail to his left, away from his throwing hand, thereby just making his situation worse. A prime example of his struggles against pressure, as well as his questionable situational awareness, comes at the end of that game against Cal. On a second-and-8 play with just over two minutes remaining, the Huskies were trailing by a single point. Eason looked to throw a smoke route to the right, but it was read perfectly by the defense, so he pulled the ball down. So far, so good. But he bailed the pocket to the left, and instead of throwing the ball away, he slid to the turf for a loss of three yards. Thankfully, his field goal kicker converted a 49-yard field goal after a third down incompletion, but that was not the best of decisions.
Conclusion: Even with these weaknesses, Eason’s arm strength and upper-tier velocity is going to attract NFL teams. Scheme fit and landing spot is going to be critical for him, as he is best suited for a downfield, vertically based offense than a West Coast system that will require fast reads and quick decisions. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers almost seemed like a shoo-in for Eason before they acquired Tom Brady in free agency, but if he falls to their selection at No. 45 overall, he would be in an ideal situation to sit and learn.
Comparison: In a best-case scenario, Eason could mirror a career track like Joe Flacco’s, where he relies on his big arm and some athleticism to function in a heavy play-action system that schemes vertical shot plays for him. The low range of his NFL outcomes might mirror the path of Blake Bortles, where his athleticism helps keep him afloat, but he never truly puts it together.