Scouts show up to workouts and can immediately fall in love with a quarterback's skill set, if he has a cannon arm, incredible release and tremendous physical tools.
The guy in this year's NFL Draft who fits that criteria is Kentucky's Will Levis, who transferred from Penn State. There are still huge question marks about whether Levis can actually play quarterback in the NFL, but that hasn't stopped pretty much everybody from mocking him to be a top 10 pick.
One quarterback in the draft who could be described as kind of an anti-Will Levis had a visit with the Steelers on Wednesday, the first QB the team has had in for a top 30 visit.
His name is Jaren Hall, and he's not exactly the kind of quarterback who will wow anybody with an amazing skill set. He doesn't have a great arm and isn't the prototypical size for an NFL QB. But he did put up good numbers for BYU, and if you look closer, he does possess some skills that could translate to the NFL.
Hall is a project at QB, to be sure, and if he is drafted, it probably won't be until the sixth or seventh round. Whether the Steelers could be interested in taking him or any other quarterback in the later rounds remains to be seen, but they at least thought enough of Hall to bring him in for a visit.
The Steelers also brought in Michigan State wide receiver Jayden Reed and Cal safety Daniel Scott for visits Wednesday. More on them in a bit.
As for Hall, he's 6-foot, 207 pounds and is 25 years old, because he served a two-year mission while at BYU. So he's older and smaller than what you'd like to see in a rookie quarterback.
Still, he passed for 3,171 yards with 31 TDs and six interceptions while completing 66 percent in 12 games for BYU last season. In 10 games the year before, he threw for 2,583 yards with 20 TDs and five interceptions while completing 63.9 percent.
The numbers and accuracy are intriguing, and he could be a fit in a ball-control offense that utilizes short passes. That's pretty much what he did at BYU, although he also does throw a good deep ball.
Hall is not the kind of quarterback who has a big arm and can beat defenses with sensational throws.
This is the analysis on him from NFL.com:
"An undersized pocket quarterback with unimpressive arm strength, Hall’s field command gives him a shot to make it at the next level. He throws with excellent ball placement to targets on the move and delivers a feathery soft deep ball with accuracy. His lack of drive velocity creates smaller margins for error and his timing needs to be impeccable to beat NFL man coverage. Hall operates with ideal poise from the pocket. He does an adequate job of reading coverages and getting rid of the ball without taking sacks. The size and arm strength will concern some teams, but offenses operating out of heavy play-action with levels-based route concepts could target him as a solid future backup."
A smaller receiver with good speed, Reed is considered a third- or fourth-round pick. Our Matt Williamson wrote about him in today's Mikes Beer Bar War Room as a potential value pick in the middle rounds.
Reed is 5-11 and 187 pounds. He ran a 4.45 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, to go along with a 33 1/2-inch vertical jump and 10-1 broad jump.
Reed began his career playing one season at Western Michigan, then spent three years at Michigan State. He caught 59 passes for 1,026 yards and 10 TDs in 2021 before dropping to 55 catches for 636 yards and five scores this past season.
Scott is considered a late-round pick. The safety is 6-1, 208 pounds and ran a 4.45 40-yard dash at the combine, with a 39 1/2-inch vertical jump 10-8 broad jump.
He played five seasons at Cal, appearing in 39 games, including 12 starts each of the past two years. He finished his career with seven interceptions and 207 tackles.
Here's a breakdown of all the players who have visited the Steelers so far, a total of 23.
• March: Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo, Minnesota OC John Michael-Schmitz, Penn State CB Joey Porter Jr. (local visit), North Dakota State OL Cody Mauch, Purdue WR Charlie Jones.
• April: Wisconsin DL Keeanu Benton, USC DE Tuli Tuipulotu, Kansas State CB Julius Brents, NC State OG Chandler Zavala, Maryland CB Deonte Banks, NC State S Tanner Ingle, Oklahoma OT Anton Harrison, Florida OG O'Cyrus Torrence, Baylor DT Siaki Ika, Miami CB Tyrique Stevenson, Oregon CB Christian Gonzalez, South Carolina CB Darius Rush, TCU G Steve Avila, Georgia Tech DT Keion White, Georgia DE Robert Beal Jr., BYU QB Jaren Hall, Michigan State WR Jayden Reed, Cal S Daniel Scott.
