Connor Cook headed for a Blake Bortles-like rise?

Michigan State Spartans starting quarterback Connor Cook isn’t touted as a future first-round pick by the national media, but plenty of draftniks know that the junior is legitimately in the discussion with the likes of Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Brett Hundley, and Bryce Petty. Cook is an incredibly efficient passer with the requisite tools to succeed in the NFL, but he does have a couple of significant flaws that could keep him out of the first round, with his inability to succeed under pressure being the largest red flag.

According to the NFL Network’s Albert Breer, Cook could receive a meteoric rise in draft stock this year a la Blake Bortles last year, and we should definitely consider ourselves warned by an NFL insider who regularly reports valuable draft-related nuggets during the college football season.

Bortles was the first quarterback taken in the 2014 NFL Draft, and he was ranked at the top of a varying list of QBs by most analysts. But Bortles wasn’t always a top prospect at the position, as his rise occurred during the regular season. Like Cook, Bortles received plenty of love from draftniks before the season, so the parallels are certainly there. Cook is easily a top-five QB in the upcoming draft class, and there’s a chance he could end up being ranked as high as third behind the consensus top two of Mariota (the consensus No. 1) and Winston.