Will Spencer Rattler be a 1st-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft?

There are a variety of fascinating quarterbacks available in the 2024 NFL Draft, but few are quite as polarizing as South Carolina's Spencer Rattler. Rattler left a lasting impression on football fandom with his appearance in the Netflix series QB1, a series which didn't exactly paint the former high school superstar in the most positive light.

In that particular show, Rattler came across as arrogant and not overly likable, and the way he was perceived in that show has followed him all the way to today, where he's a potential top 50 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. There are still people who wonder today whether or not Rattler is the same type of person that was portrayed in the Netflix show, but he's obviously grown a substantial amount since he was a teenager.

Go figure.

Rattler has become a captain at South Carolina and is now interviewing to be the on-field leader of an NFL franchise. The question at this point is this: How high is he going to go in the NFL Draft?

It's possible that we could see Rattler come off the board in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. All it would take is one team, as we all know, and as of right now, it seems at least plausible that NFL teams would like Rattler more than Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix, both of whom have been projected as possible first-round selections.

The top 10 of the 2024 NFL Draft is expected to be a frenzy at the quarterback position with Caleb Williams going 1st to the Bears, and quarterbacks expected to come off the board with the next two or three selections. It wouldn't be overly shocking if the top four picks were quarterbacks.

With that being the case, there does seem to be a bit of a consensus of who the top four quarterbacks are. In whatever order you choose, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, and JJ McCarthy are generally expected to go in the top 10 of this year's draft with the absolute floor for any one of them being the 12th overall pick to the Denver Broncos.

Let's just say for the moment that those four quarterbacks come off the board in the top six picks. What is the domino effect at quarterback beyond that? There have been mock draft scenarios with Bo Nix going 12th overall to the Broncos and Michael Penix Jr. going 13th overall to the Raiders. The Los Angeles Rams have been dubbed a sleeper team for Penix at some point.

But what if even just one NFL team has Rattler ranked as their 5th-best quarterback in this year's draft? This wouldn't be a situation where teams would just sit around like they did in the 2022 NFL Draft at the quarterback position, where only Kenny Pickett went in round one and the rest just sat on the board until the middle of Day 2.

Rattler has projectable NFL traits that might warrant a first-round selection, even if it's in the later portion of round one where the risk isn't as great. He's just a shade over 6 feet tall, which isn't optimal compared to Nix and Penix. He may not have had the consistent production those guys had upon transferring to their respective schools.

But it's clear that the move from Oklahoma to South Carolina did wonders for Rattler as a professional prospect. He tried way too hard at Oklahoma to play out of structure, and it resulted in such a high variance of highs and lows.

But Rattler does have some traits that will be appealing to NFL teams. He navigates the pocket and pressure well, and he has a big-time arm. The issues with consistency at this point may not be deal breakers because of the fact that no quarterback coming out of college is a finished product.

But where could you envision Rattler a couple of years from now? With his physical profile and arm talent, it's not out of the question to think that he could have a similar NFL profile to someone like Baker Mayfield. Obviously, there was a ton of hype with Mayfield coming out of Oklahoma, and he was the #1 overall pick.

Rattler may not quite be there, but there are some similar things you see in those two guys.

It's going to be fascinating to see where NFL teams rank him when it comes time for the NFL Draft. He could go as low as the third or fourth round, but if some team has him as their 5th overall QB, maybe he sneaks into round one.