Cincinnati Bengals Zero-Snap Spotlight: Jeff Driskel

Continuing to analyze the Cincinnati Bengals roster with the Zero-Snap Spotlight series, looking at quarterback Jeff Driskel.

The Zero-Snap Spotlight series continues in the offseason, going deep into the Cincinnati Bengals roster to highlight players that many may not be aware of. Every player put in the spotlight has been in the league for some amount of time, but no player has played a single NFL snap.

So far, we’ve taken a deep dive into the following players: Andrew Billings, Marcus Hardison, David Dean, Ryan Brown, Tra Carson, Alonzo Russell, Jake Kumerow, and Chris Brown.

To continue this series, I look at quarterback Jeff Driskel.

Driskel’s path to the Bengals has been long and confusing, with little working out as planned. He began his college career at Florida in 2011, having to act as the new future as two long-term mainstays of success and beloved fandom with the university — Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer — both left following the 2010 season.

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It worked out decently well at first. He was a backup as a freshman, but quickly became a successful starter as a sophomore, leading the Gators to an 11-2 record with an eventual loss to Teddy Bridgewater’s Louisville Cardinals in that year’s Sugar Bowl.

Things changes quickly during his junior season, however. A broken leg in 2013 ended his junior season only three games in, and when he returned in 2014 he wasn’t quite the same player. He struggled during a decent opening month of the year (Florida went 3-1, but Driskel threw 6 INTs and completed just 54.7% of his passes in those contests), and losses to LSU and Missouri got him benched.

For the majority of players, that would be where their career ends. Driskel graduated that year; normally this means he would be finished. Through a little-used (and frankly, probably not well known) transfer exception in the NCAA’s rulebook, he was able to continue his college career elsewhere. In this case, it was Louisiana Tech.

Finding himself in a much more amiable, player-friendly situation than he was leaving, Driskel got to end his college days on a high note. Over 4,000 passing yards and a TD:INT ratio of 27:8 by Driskel helped the Bulldogs earn a berth in the New Orleans Bowl and end the year with a 9-4 record and a victory there over Arkansas State.

His play over that year with Louisiana Tech worked wonders for his professional prospects, taking someone who was sure to be undrafted and forced to immediately pursue a non-football career path and allowing him to be worthy of draft consideration. Consideration became actuality for Driskel when San Francisco used a sixth-round selection on him in the 2016 NFL Draft.

His time in San Francisco didn’t last long — he was cut before the 2016 season began — but he again found himself with another chance to continue his career. Off waivers, this is where he joined Cincinnati, sticking around as their No. 3 quarterback throughout the season.

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In reality, he probably doesn’t have much chance to find a better spot than that (if he gets one at all), especially with this team. Despite his faults, Andy Dalton is a quality starter and clearly the best option available to the Bengals for the near future; he’s not going anywhere. A.J. McCarron did show he’s a decent starter (at least in short bursts). Having that in your No. 2 quarterback is what should be expected, but far too often is not close to being true across the league. With the team looking to return the the playoffs for the sixth time in the past seven years,  making sure they have a trusted option behind center at all times must be part of their plan.

There is a slight chance for Driskel to acquire a stronger role, however. McCarron spent time before the draft being mentioned as a potential trade target for quarterback-needy teams, and should one make an offer Cincinnati likes they could pull the trigger, thus elevating Driskel to the No. 2 role by default.

This seems unlikely though. The asking price for McCarron never went below a first-round selection back before the draft, and there have been no indications Cincinnati has lowered their expectations on that front. McCarron could possibly act as a decent starter for someone out there, but it’d be risky to expect him to reach even top-20 territory. That’s not the type of player you trade a first-round selection for.

With that said, it can’t be ruled out, of course. We have seen teams get desperate for competency behind center, especially when we get closer to the season. Young players prove themselves unready for the spotlight. Injuries remove expected starters from the equation for large chunks of time. Remember that Minnesota came into last year with Super Bowl hopes, but a devastating knee injury to Teddy Bridgewater right before the season made them rush to find a new starter. They got one in Sam Bradford, but had to give up a first-rounder to do so.

McCarron isn’t as established as Bradford, but he also doesn’t have the ugly injury history and should be a lot cheaper for at least this season. Watch the teams who are desperate to be in the playoffs this year. Would it really be surprising to see one of them overpay to get even just a year out of McCarron if it means they elevate their odds of getting in the postseason? A first-rounder likely is still too much, but maybe one of them can convince the Bengals with a second-rounder and a Day 3 selection within the next couple drafts.

Assuming McCarron is here to stay (for now), Driskel could stay as the No. 3, but may find himself on the outside looking in once roster cuts hit. The Bengals have mounds of talented players to delve through across their entire roster. It’s already been mentioned that they want to keep seven wideouts (per Cincy Jungle), and they have so many young defensive talents they’ll surely want to keep on the roster too.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Pre-training camp

It will come down to whatever the decision-makers have in mind going forward. What makes more sense to them? Is it planning to keep McCarron this year and (likely) let him go next offseason without any other backup plan set while keeping as much depth elsewhere as possible? Or would keeping a No. 3 quarterback who will only see the field if things go terribly wrong and hoping he can be the No. 2 after this year, but letting go of a possibly more talented option at one of their other position groups better fit their goals?

All Driskel can do is wait to find out.