The 2017 NFL Draft is only a few weeks away, which means final rankings and scouting reports are being released. The latest comes from Bleacher Report draft analyst and friend of the site Matt Miller. He is releasing his top 400 players, but starting position-by-position. He opens with the quarterbacks, which are of slight interest to 49ers fans.
Miller ranks Mitchell Trubisky his top QB, and the top five follows with DeShaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, DeShone Kizer, and Davis Webb. His scouting reports point to Trubisky and Watson as first round QBs, Mahomes and Kizer as second round QBs, and then Webb, Brad Kaaya, and Nate Peterman as third round QBs. He sees all of them as potential future starters, but obviously development will be necessary.
The most interesting would likely be Chad Kelly. Miller projects him as a potential fourth round QB, but rather than describe him as “backup caliber,” with a few other similar projections, he says, “starter traits.” People see plenty of potential, but the combination of ACL injuries and off-field history means he is going to slip, and opportunities could be limited.
You can ready full scouting reports here.
Everybody has their own thoughts on QB rankings, and later today, I’ve got a new idea to come up with our own community QB rankings. We’ve ranked players in list format previously, with people ranking out their top five, and building a board from there. We are having some issues with that HTML, so I have a new idea.
I’m going to post a poll for each quarterback, and it will ask, what is the highest of the 49ers picks are you comfortable spending on each of the QB prospects. Plenty of people like Trubisky’s development potential, but not everybody has the same level of confidence. Maybe you think the No. 2 pick is the choice, maybe the No. 34 pick, maybe No. 66. And for some, no pick is worth it. The idea is basically creating a sort of confidence poll for each quarterback and see how each player ranks out from there.
The first of these polls will come out later this afternoon. In the meantime, check out Matt Miller’s QB scouting reports here.