I think next year's QBs could be a bumper crop. Jake Locker just needs to develop more consistency. I don't see anything inherently wrong with his ability to throw accurately. He and Ryan Mallett both still have an opportunity to head into the next year and develop more consistency in their mechanics, in their game. What you like about Locker is that with the new coaching at Washington, he's really taken to a pro style like a fish in water, and he goes out there and looks like a pro. He makes pro decisions. He throws a pro ball. He has the makings of pro accuracy. He handles pressure. The game he had against LSU might not look like much on paper, but throw for throw, that was a pro quarterback sitting under center. Experience will help him tremendously. And I think Ryan Mallett has loads of potential, he plays games that are so different from what I had seen earlier in his career. Watch his performance against Troy some time. Troy fields some athletes on their defense but he picked them apart, while still under pressure from Sheffield and Lang, who hit him pretty often. He has that fearless ability to step into a throw and make his mark to a pinpoint while about to take a vicious shot. He sees the field well.
Then you have Christian Ponder, who I honestly believe might be better than both of those guys. He is an excellent quarterback with pro written all over him.
Andy Dalton bears watching, he has really led that TCU team to something special, he's got a good arm, accuracy and he's got some size, but the leadership stands out the most. Greg McElroy really started to step up at the end of this year, and I would be on a serious lookout for him. I'm interested in seeing how he handles this championship game and when he comes back for another year, I wouldn't be surprised if he rockets up the boards. Ben Chappell of Indiana bears watching. He's got size, an arm, and he takes wicked hits in that offense but keeps bouncing back. He doesn't have the talent around him to compete with the defenses he plays against on a regular basis, but he keeps firing back at them.
And as I've been discussing with Simon, what stands out most about this draft season are the players that won't even be available to draft until next year. Some of the best players in the country aren't even draft eligible. Guys like Jonathan Baldwin, Julio Jones, Michael Floyd, A.J. Green, Mark Ingram, Dion Lewis, DaQuan Bowers, Robert Quinn, Patrick Peterson, Luke Kuechly...
Where I'm going with this is, there are some QBs that fit into this category as well. Perhaps the best QB in the country, bar none, is Andrew Luck. He's a redshirt freshman this year, and he'll be a redshirt sophomore next year. After the 2010 season, he may come to face some tough decisions. He'll have seen what staying in for another year cost Sam Bradford. By that time, I think Jim Harbaugh could also leave for greener pastures (if he doesn't this year). He'll be draft eligible because he'll be three years out of high school, and he could come out just as Sam Bradford probably should have a year ago.
Another guy to keep an eye on there would be Blaine Gabbert, who is a physical specimen, though none of the scouts will particularly like the system he runs in Missouri.
