#5- What a spot to be!

[Digital]

It appears to me that he tries to play hero ball alot when things breakdown but hate to say it he just isn't good at it and will make throws that have no business in college let alone the NFL. Rewatched the Eason vs Utah game tape and I don't think he even steps into any of these throws all off the back foot but his arm is so good he can get away with it but throws most balls flat footed. He has upside but to me i see a 3rd or 4th round prospect in him. i know Utah is a pretty good defense but they aren't this good.

I can't help it ... the more of Eason I watch the more I like. That lightning quick release is seductive! Strong arm, quick flick downfield 40 yards, doesn't give up on plays, tries to and often does pull a rabbit out of a hat. I like it!

He is raw, yes. He needs better footwork, for sure. I'm not convinced by his progressions yet. It looks to me like he needs a strong coach to grab him by the ears and force-feed him a system, instill some real discipline to his game, and get him to play less frantically. If I'm looking at an upside comp, I'd say he reminds me of the Brett Favre we saw with the Atlanta Falcons as a rookie. The Falcons gave up on Favre, traded him to the Falcons, where Mr. Mustache had patience and developed his raw gun slinging talent. Now, I'm NOT saying that Eason will become the next Brett Favre. But I am saying that if a good coach can mold him and have patience as he develops, there is a high end reward waiting at the end of that rainbow.

This draft has a lot of developmental guys. I was hoping and expecting Justin Herbert to rise to the next level of consistency, leadership and production ... but he was mildly better, no big leap. Jordan Love was many people's sleeper developmental prospect ... but honestly, he fell flat on his face this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, new coach, lost surrounding talent, etc., etc., etc. But, Jordan Love's season was terrible, and I wouldn't take a chance on him. So ... maybe Jacob Eason is the developmental choice ... but I still need to look into it further.

But the instant-recognition is a skill that means a lot more in the NFL than it does in college where WR's get 7 yards wide open and maintain the window for like 5 seconds. And when Eason sees it, it takes almost no time for the ball to come out and arrive at this target--with very good accuracy most of the time. He definitely has the gift of precision passing. The questions are things like can he be consistently accurate? Can he show that he has width of vision? How willing of a student is he in the film room? Can he calm down and stand firm in the pocket knowing he is going to be hit (something Tannehill was very good at doing). Will he take direction from coaching or will he fight them and insist on doing it his way? Will he become a good decision maker? And probably most importantly, will he implement the coaches instructions on things like footwork? Will he drill it on his off time until it becomes pure muscle-memory. Will he stick to his fundamentals when things get chaotic?

I'm definitely intrigued by him ... and I like what I see. But, he is a projection and a high risk/reward prospect regardless of where he's drafted.