2020 NFL Draft: 10 Prospects being valued way too high
By Samuel Teets
3. Jordan Love, QB, Utah State
Two quarterbacks matter in this draft class. If you want a quarterback and you don’t get Joe Burrow or Tua Tagovailoa, better luck next year. There’s that big of a gap between this class’s top two quarterbacks and everyone else.
Some analysts, mainly ESPN’s Todd McShay, believe Jordan Love will come off of the board before Justin Herbert. Even with the questions surrounding Herbert’s game and ability to process defenses, Love shouldn’t hop him in the draft.
At this point, you’ve got a better chance at determining whether or not Love will succeed in the NFL by flipping a coin than reading through all of his draft profiles and watching his tape. Love played fantastically in 2018, tossing 32 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 64.0 percent of his pass attempts. A year later, Love logged a 61.9 completion percentage, 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
Utah State did say goodbye to several of Love’s best weapons between 2018 and 2019, but the dramatic drop off in play represents something more than simply losing weapons. Love made terrible reads, threw balls into coverage, struggled with deep passes, and looked lost at times. Yet, some team will fall for his “potential” around the middle of the first round.
2. Austin Jackson, OT, USC
Be very careful when it comes to praising offensive linemen for their sheer physical gifts. Sometimes raw linemen come into the NFL and get refined into great players. However, they sometimes fail to develop technically and fall flat on their faces.
Germain Ifedi, who will enter free agency this spring since Seattle declined his fifth-year rookie option, perfectly embodies the issues with raw but physically gifted linemen. If a team needs a tackle they can rely on for the next decade, they’re better off trading up for one of the top four tackles instead of reaching for Austin Jackson.
Some mocks place Jackson at the lower end of the first round. However, he should come off the board between the late second round and late third round.