If your team needs a QB of the future right now, man did you pick a bad year! Since I’ve been writing about the NFL Draft, this ties the 2009 Draft (when Stafford and Sanchez came out) as the worst draft for QBs.
And this is also a bad year to try to figure out what teams are going to do about their QBs. Rankings of this class are all over the place and only one guy is generally showing up on all top-five lists: Geno Smith. But even he’s not a sure thing. And he’s not even the top QB on my list, either.
This year, the top QBs in my rankings are Matt Barkley and Geno Smith. Of the two, I see Barkley having the better NFL career (think a slightly better version of Mark Sanchez). Geno Smith, though he has a very high bust quotient, also has some good NFL qualities about him — especially his athleticism, mobility, and touch.
Though the 2013 Draft is very poor at the top, the quality of the class is helped slightly by the fact that there are a few more second-level guys than there were in 2009. Guys like Tyler Bray, EJ Manuel, Mike Glennon and Ryan Nassib. Each of these could make a solid backup and potential starter in the league, with Bray and Manuel the best of this second tier.
Behind them, you have maybe seven or eight QBs who will likely bounce around at the bottom of depth charts and practice squads for a while but who will likely never start a game.
Here are my rankings. Note that detailed scouting reports will be uploaded soon. Hopefully. If real life doesn’t interfere.
Rankings as of 4/12/2013
- Matt Barkley, Southern California
- Geno Smith, West Virginia
- Tyler Bray, Tennessee
- EJ Manuel, Florida State
- Mike Glennon, North Carolina State
- Ryan Nassib, Syracuse
- Landry Jones, Oklahoma
- Matt Scott, Arizona
- Zac Dysert, Miami (Ohio)
- Tyler Wilson, Arkansas
- Alex Carder, Western Michigan
- Brad Sorensen, Southern Utah
- Jordan Rodgers, Vanderbilt
- Ryan Griffin, Tulane
- Collin Klein, Kansas State
- Jeff Tuel, Washington State
- Colby Cameron, Louisiana Tech
- Ryan Aplin, Arkansas State
- Seth Doege, Texas Tech
- James Vandenberg, Iowa
- Robert Marve, Purdue
- Nathan Stanley, Southeast Louisiana
- Dayne Crist, Kansas
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