When Dale Lolley had the Steelers select Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson in his second mock draft, it obviously raised a question of need that many had not contemplated.
Jackson is a Heisman Trophy winner and a quarterback worthy of a first-round pick who is consistently being rated as the fifth-best quarterback of this class. So there's a good chance that if he is indeed the fifth quarterback taken, the Steelers might be in position to be the team to do it.
The last time five quarterbacks were taken in the first round was back in 1999, so with that, we dive into the realistic assessment of a dynamic quarterback who could be available for the Steelers:
Jackson has a solid build at 6-foot-2, 216 lbs., but his best physical traits involve what he's able to do with the ball in his hands. While he didn't run at the combine, Jackson's 4,132 career rushing yards and plenty of highlights illustrate his talents there.
We're here today to address his skills as a passer.
What gets called into question the most about Jackson is his 57% career completion percentage, leading to criticism of his accuracy. While some attributed it to being a running quarterback, a closer look at his tape reveals more accurate reasoning behind those numbers.
Some of those numbers come from him being in an offense that allowed him to test teams vertically rather than horizontally, a pro-style offense reality that will lower most completion percentages.
But the strongest component of Jackson's follies are his throwing mechanics. He has an absolute cannon of an arm, and because of that he often neglects to follow through his throwing motion, since he can often get the ball where he wants it with a simple flick of the wrist.
While that's a great show of athleticism, it leads to problems when under pressure, like this pass he missed against Florida State. Notice when we freeze the frame how Jackson doesn't really step into the throw and how his arm doesn't follow through to his receiver, and because the pocket is collapsing quickly, he misses his target:
But those problems under pressure were something that Jackson often found a way to work out of and still find ways to make huge plays for his team.
Here's a play when Jackson has a blitzing defender coming in completely clean from the opposite side of his play fake. Jackson not only discards him with a simple few steps up into the pocket, but keeps his head up and delivers the perfect strike 50 yards down the field for the score:
While that highlight was one which often got played over the season, it was not an anomaly. Jackson was often under pressure due to an inconsistent offensive line and would find the best ways to make it work. But when he was given time, Jackson could work through his reads and make throws that few other quarterbacks could.
Watch how comfortable he looks in this pocket as he scans the field from left to right, then fires an absolute laser on the back shoulder of his receiver for a score:
Jackson is not your stereotypical running quarterback who looks to just take the easy way out of situations by trying to always win with his feet. He processes defenses just like the other elite NCAA quarterbacks and knows how to attack different looks.
Here's an example of him making a read at the line of scrimmage against Purdue when he read Cover 3. At the onset of the play, Jackson called out an audible, and then quickly got his team to snap the ball when he recognized the one-high safety look. Cover 3 often forces quarterbacks to challenge the seams where linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks could all lurk, but he does it fearlessly here and delivers a calculated strike:
Being able to read defenses is the first step, but then manipulating them with your skills and capitalizing with strong throws is the finisher. Jackson demonstrated that he could not only process defenses, but find ways to pick at their designed weak spots when he identified their scheme.
Here he is against Clemson, the No. 4 defense in the country, presenting just those kind of problems. Watch how he recognizes the Cover 2 defense and then manipulates the secondary to get the look he wants. Jackson sees the two deep safeties and the middle linebacker trying to help between them.
But watch how when he evades immediate pressure, his head is up and looking down the field and processing how the entire secondary rolls with him outside the pocket and he finds the deep post between the Cover 2 defense:
Jackson is a real talent who can have an impact in the NFL. If given time to work on his mechanics to develop a more consistent throwing motion, Jackson could turn into one of the deadliest players in the NFL, as he already has a strong balance of how to use his legs to create opportunities for his arm, while also processing defenses.
That kind of talent doesn't come along too often, and in the ever-evolving NFL that favors teams that can execute a run-pass-option style of offense, his style of play could become the future of the league. If he's around when the Steelers pick, he would not be a reach.