Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition to the NFL Draft Triple Take, presented by U P m C. Mike pursued it along with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson. We are the first line of Triple Take here at Steelers dot com and on all of the Steelers social media platforms. Hopefully you've been keeping up since this process began last month. If you have not, here's how it's put in working and how it's gonna continue to work leading up to the NFL Draft at the end of April. We take
a position by position look at the prospects. We've gone through all the positions once, so instead of giving you our top five again, we are justing UH and after further review, coming up with a riser, a faller, and a sleeper. As we continue our draft prep and today we are talking about quarterbacks. And I know quarterbacks get all the attention all the time, but Matt, I think all the UH uncertainty shall we say this year? You know the standard UH narrative had has been for a
long time now. While there's no Trevor Lawreds, there's no clear cut number one guy, you don't know what you're gonna get with these guys, and yet anybody gonna be surprised the four of them go in the first round, right, I mean, when it's all said and done, they're always in demand. I mean, I know people have been hard on this class, and yeah, there's not a Trevor Lawrence, there's not an Andrew Luck. But I still think there's five guys that may end up starting a lot of
games when it's all said and done. And clearly, I mean, this is, you know, a draft, it correlates with the draft. But it's been a crazy, crazy offseason in the quarterback world. Russell Wilson, Shawn Watson. I mean, big names are moving in trades and so that opens up some new spots too. Yeah, this is not the draft class. This is not EJ. Manual and Gino Smith that uh you know people are
looking at but they're kind of talking about it that way. Dale, So we ate ourselves and say it's not the n D. It's certainly not that either, though, Mike I would agree with that, Yes, I do. I remember all those guys, Dan Marino, John Elway, Ken O'Brien was the outli there was two more, Tony Eason. Tony Easton was in there, and the kid from Penn State, right, black black. There you go. A fearsome five some, if ever there was one. I don't think we've got quite that to work with
this time either. But uh, you know, the more I get into this process, and maybe it's just familiarity, and you know, you get a little more impressed with recent exposures. But I'm starting to like a lot of these guys, and I'm starting to love my riser. And this is gonna be kind of inconsistent with the spirit of the thing,
as Dicky Dunne would say. But Malick Willis was my number one guy when we did the top five, and Malick Willis is my riser because he did his pro day and Malick Willis put on a show, guys, and I get what it is. I get that the first read is the only read, and I get that the guy is always open, and I get that there's no rush and that you're throwing in a controlled environment. But this kid put on a Oh. There were some questions about his deep ball, among other things, as people have
tried to gauge his readiness. And I don't care if it's against no coverage and no rush. When you can run around behind the line of scrimmage the way he did and turned and fired the ball sixty five yards downfield and hit a guy in stride at the goal line. I'm impressed his his personality was oozing through my television screen. Uh. Daniel Jeremiah has done way more of these things than I have. Uh these proa Day said it was the
most joyful one he'd ever seen. He also said he couldn't remember seeing a better exhibition of deep ball throwing. I still don't think Malik Willis is a Day one Game one, Season one, you know, plug and play guy. But that upside matt to me, at least, it just keeps going a little higher and a little higher than a little higher. Yeah. And the more and more you learn about him, the more you have to like him. And you know, kind of what you said to is okay.
You know, maybe he doesn't read defenses, or his accurate or his anticipation isn't where it needs to be the second you put him on the field, But okay, um, Well, then he shrugs off a defensive end and buys two more seconds and somebody gets wide open and he drills a football to him or he touched in and runs for twenty yards. I mean, he has some trump cards that are going to get him out of the problems he puts himself in. Dale We had talked the last
time we did quarterbacks. But even if you don't want to plug and play this guy, you could have a package for him. You can do things. Yeah, it could be a third and one guy. He could be a goal line guy, could be a change of pace guy. You don't have to just sit him and learn and watch and be seen and not heard. He can contribute even if he's not the guy. Yeah, that's the thing. That's the difference between these these guys who have that mobility factor, uh, and and the guys who are pure
pocket passers. That you can come up with things for these guys to do um. And it doesn't have to be a Cordel Stewart like slash A put him out there at wide receiver. Now you put him at quarterback and just say, hey, go make a play. We need we need two yards here. And so there's these guys can do it. And mileek Willis can definitely do that. Uh.
There's a lot to like her. I like to that you mention his personality because I've talked to him now a few times between the Senior Bowl and not talk to him, you know, privately, but been in situations where I'm sat there and listen to him hold a press conference, and he is an impressive guy. He handles that stuff really well, which is what you want the face of your franchise to do. He's he's very laid back. Uh, but you see that leadership quality in him. And Uh,
I just I love the kid. Okay, So you're not familiar with these shows. Uh, you might not be aware that Matt and Dale formed the tag team for the show called The Drive on s n R and as that since they spend so much time together, they invariably pick the same guys. Well, we go through these lists, So which one do you want to talk about? Riser, Desmond Ritter? Go ahead, Matt. I'm really warming up though.
I mean, I think his personality, his maturity is obvious. Um, he won eight percent of his games at Cincinnati and he really changed what that program is and how they're viewed nationally. Uh. He was the best tester at the combine. Willis didn't run um, but the big thing with Ridder for me, Willis didn't run in his pro day either, nast them. Why not, he said, because I know him fast. Lamartin run either, you know, like we know you're fast.
You know there's nowhere to go with down. But here's the thing is like when when I was brought up in the scouting world, it was kind of taught to me, and it was certainly true that court A Matt quarterbacks don't get more accurate in the NFL. Well, that adds up. Things are harder. But lately, Dak Prescott, Josh Allen, more and more, you're seeing guys improve their accuracy at the
highest level of play. And the reasoning behind it is technologies so far advanced, the biometrics and all this stuff. And Ridder has been working out with Josh Palmer and they've they've talked about it publicly that his stride length was a bit of an issue and that's why he had just throw some balls where you say, what went wrong there? And he's gotten better and better with his accuracy.
And I trust some of these quarterback gurus to work out those kinks with things like biometrics that I don't know anything about. Bill. Let's talk about the faller category because I believe it or not, I think you and Matt have come up with a different guy. Oh good, really okay, Well my follower is Carson is strong. Okay, Yeah, there was there was there was some talk that maybe this guy might work his way into the conversation, would
be into the top five type conversation. And you know, watching him throw the football, you know that you know he's a pocket passer, he's not the most mobile guy, is coming off of a major knee injury. But watching him throw the football at the combine the accuracy that you'd want to see from a guy who's purely a pocket passer wasn't in the ball place, but wasn't great. And I just told us that the accuracy doesn't matter anymore. You get better like that because the stuff he doesn't. Yeah,
but I want to see them. I want to see that the accurate when you're throwing the ball against air, when there's no defenders there and a lot of his like crossing patterns and think of that nature were down low where they were you know a little bit behind, and things of that nature. And and I just think that, you know, he's gonna be there in the third round for somebody that doesn't mean he can't be a good quarterback.
You know, he's got size, he's he's got a big arm, but I just don't see him breaking that top five this year, you know, Matt. One of the other troubles is it's not like a dropback. Pocket passers totally extinct, but you better have ten years of experience in a lot of in helmet savvy built up over the years to make the quick read and to you know, get the ball where it needs to be as quick as it has to get there. And guys coming in just don't have that right. I mean, guys like a mac
Jones a year ago. You better be pretty far advance inst mentally. And I'm not saying strong isn't. But my right up of him was, yeah, he's a big, strong arm pat park pocket passer, but if that's all you can do, you need to blow my doors off throwing the football. And he was fine, but he wasn't amazing, you know, in the postseason and whatnot. I also wanted
to throw Bailey Zappy out there. He was my follower because he was I mean, he was that six guy at the Senior Bowl and you know the postseason, he just doesn't look like he throws it well enough. I'll tell you what. I didn't do a deep, deep dive on Bailey Zappy, but I watched Michigan State play Western Kentucky this year, and other than when Michigan State played Ohio State, that was the guy I was the most afraid of all season long in terms of the other
season's quarterback. It's like the Tide, just drop back thro drop back thro drop back thro. I just didn't stop. It was Revlentless and he did an awful lot in college. But I'm with you on the pro evaluation. But I'm sorry by the way that I had the ti Mary to suggest that you guys would have taken a different player there. I don't know. I don't know what I was looking at. But to to fall to Carson Strong is falling entries. I colored outside the lines a little bit.
My faller is everyone besides Malik Willis, with the possible exception of Kenny Pickett, because I just don't see all these other guys. Okay, he does this well, but he does that well, but he could be this, but that uh, They've all got uh shall we say a potential blemish or uh an unknown, something that might make you a
little nervous. I find it astounding. I opened the show by saying, we won't be surprised if four of these guys go in the first round, but uh, Matt, we probably won't be surprised if one of them goes in the first round either A right. I mean you look at a team like Detroit picking thirty two, or some of the team's picking early second round that have quarterback needs and aren't gonna use an early first round pick for it. They could trade back in. We just know
they always go Dale Kenney Pickett's you know. Yeah, but seems to be the hand sized thing. Yeah, and a lot of people are could have paid any attention to that, but some are right Yeah, I mean, especially if you're a cold weather team. Um, you know you're gonna look at that and say, okay, is this going to be an issue for us? Um? You know, the fumbles weren't as big an issue last season for him as they
had been in previous seasons. He only had three last year. Um, but you look at it and you're okay that that hand size. I mean historically guys with that hand size who are below nine inches just don't have a ton of success in the NFL. Doesn't mean that he can't, doesn't mean that he won't. I mean that the gloves that he wears are legal, So there's no reason to just to say that, well he wears gloves. Who cares they're legal. You're allowed to do it. But uh, yeah,
it will be an issue for some teams. Um, you know, that's that's just the reality of it. I'm betting Dale and I have the same sleeper. By the way, we might. We might. Yeah, you do, Matt, Before you get to that, I didn't take an ivy leaguer to figure that out. I wanted to ask you about pick it before we moved on Matt. Something Daniel Jeremiah the NFL Network said
during the Combine coverage. He said he researched the fumbles and most of them would pick It occurred when Pickett was trying to run or you know, evade in the pocket, and he said, invariably it was the trail hand coming off the ball. Daniel Jeremiah, who was a former quarterback at app State, which you know, has beaten Michigan. So you take his word to the heart. Can you can you naturally run with two hands on the ball or is that easier said than done in terms of changing
your style. I think that's great analysis. And look no further than you know who the Steelers played with for the last two decades and his ability to pump fake with one hand on the ball or shrug one guy off with that off arm. I mean what advantage that is.
And that's what worries me about pickets hands is if he can't really control that football, especially when it gets harder or wet or cold or whatever, that that's that's when the ball comes out and it's just hard to you know, uh, consistently operate with two hands on the football. Plus you don't run as fast. Yeah, it's unnatural too,
I mean yeah, yeah, just balanced and everything else. I will say, this guy's the quarterback with the largest hands in the NFL right now is Dak Prescott, and fumbles are an issue for him. So it's not it's not just a hand size things. It's a pocket, present thing, presents thing as well. You know, do you feel the pressure when it's coming and so that that can be part of it as well. M Dell, how big are
e J. Perry of Brown's hands? You know what, I don't know, and I don't care because he does every you know, if you look at his athleticism, um, you know, he's not going to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. Maybe, I mean, maybe he developed into one. But you could do some stuff with this guy's your backup. Maybe maybe he turns into the next Uh yeah, I mean you know that that kind of guy. He's six to he's
two eleven, so not huge but but decent size. But he ran a four or six five, looked really athletic at the combine, throws the ball fine. Um, you know, there's a lot there to work with. He's an Ivy League guy. So you look at that and you say, okay, maybe he's maybe he's a little smarter than your average bear.
And uh, you know, I could see him having a Ryan Fitzpatrick like career where he's just kind of one of these guys that hangs around for for ten fifteen years and and is always uh landing in spots where he you know, he gets a chance to come in and ride in on the on the white Horse and save the day. Madam, I remembering this correctly, was Perry one of the quote unquote throwing quarterbacks at the Combine that I'm not sure about. No, I don't think he was.
He he tested and everything. Yeah, I think he's interesting. I mean transfer from Boston College. Um you Brown missed a year because of COVID, if not more. They had a big stretch there of a yeah yeah, But then he was the m v P of the East West Shrine game. Really lit it up at the Combine and smart, tough, as Dale mentioned, like, I think he's the personal protector on the punt team and you know, you snap it to him and he throws the ball and gets you
out of a game. And maybe he's a short yardage rusher at times, just somebody you want to add to the mix. I mean a Taysom Hill type. And again Dale and I had the exact same three Mike. I mean, believe this or not, but during the drive during the season on Fridays, we make score predictions, and there was a stretch a year ago that we had like ten in a row where we picked the exact same score. I mean to the point where I would have it, I would write my score down and then have met
it was. It was completely random and we were getting the same score. Every time. It's not a hard sell. The share we share a brain that's scary. My sleeper is purely a numbers guy. Cole Kelly Southeastern Louisiana six seven to forty nine through for over ten thousand yards and eighty five touchdowns, ran for eight hundred forty one yards and thirty eight touchdowns in college. What do we want from quarterbacks? Guys? We want people with size. We want people who could throw it, and we want people
who could also run it. Yeah, people lead their team to touchdowns. You mentioned there are a lot of touchdowns. There a lot of touchdowns. So you know what. I didn't do a deep guy on deep dive on this guy, but uh I caught a glimpse of the numbers and yeah, okay, sure for a sleeper quarterback, why not? Yeah? I mean, like, if you bring that guy, a guy like that in as a camp arm, you never know, Um, he could turn in your off season basketball team got a lot better.
You know, six seven to forty nine playing against the gym teachers and like that. I think he could post a few of those guys up. I'm sure tight end too, those Logan Thomas types. You know, it's it has been known to happen. Just uh get athletes and figure out what they do best once you get them. That's gonna do it. For our quarterback further review, I want to remind everybody that you can catch all of these types of shows on all of the Steelers social media platforms.
We're gonna keep doing it and doing it and doing it between now and the NFL Draft at the end of April. Thanks for finding us for this version, however, and wherever you found us, until next time for Matt Williamson and Dale Lally on Mike PURSUITA and this has been the NFL Draft Triple Take, presented by U P m C