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http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/nfl-draft/post?id=2137
Blake Bortles is one of the fastest-rising prospects in the 2014 NFL draft class. He didn’t even appear in our top 32 rankings until Dec. 4, and by the time we released our first 2014 mock draft on Dec. 18, we had him going No. 3 overall.
Because of his quick emergence as a prospect, Bortles is still relatively unknown, and there are varying opinions on him. But his decision to leave Central Florida early could have a significant impact on this year’s draft. Based on what I’ve studied of him so far, I believe that he has the highest ceiling of all the quarterbacks in the 2014 class (assuming Oregon’s Marcus Mariota returns to school, as he has announced).
Bortles has an impressive set of physical tools. He has very good size, at 6-foot-4 and 228 pounds, and is deceptively mobile for somebody that big. He isn’t Cam Newton, but he reminds me a little bit of a cross between Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco in terms of his ability to extend plays with his legs and deliver throws even when defenders are hanging from his frame. Most importantly, he shows the potential to develop into a quarterback who can beat NFL defenses from inside the pocket, with good arm strength, accuracy and football IQ.
But he’s still a work in progress, which is part of what makes him difficult to project at this point in the process. He can certainly become more consistent with his mechanics as a passer. He has a bit of a three-quarter delivery and has more balls batted down at the line of scrimmage than most QBs his height. And most importantly, he has to improve his decision-making skills; right now, he forces too many throws and he must learn to make quicker, more efficient decisions when working through his progressions (past his first read).
Bortles could have benefited from another season of developing at the college level, and ideally the team that drafts him will not force him onto the field immediately. But the reality is that Bortles is likely to be a first-round pick (remember, there are several NFL teams picking at the top of the draft that need to upgrade the QB position), and first-round picks rarely get time to sit back and learn in today’s NFL.
We’ve only studied four tapes of Bortles so far this season, and there’s a lot of information still to be gathered on him (medical tests, psychological tests, personal interviews, etc.). But for now, we have Bortles ranked as the No. 2 QB prospect behind Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, at No. 15 overall.
Blake Bortles is one of the fastest-rising prospects in the 2014 NFL draft class. He didn’t even appear in our top 32 rankings until Dec. 4, and by the time we released our first 2014 mock draft on Dec. 18, we had him going No. 3 overall.
Because of his quick emergence as a prospect, Bortles is still relatively unknown, and there are varying opinions on him. But his decision to leave Central Florida early could have a significant impact on this year’s draft. Based on what I’ve studied of him so far, I believe that he has the highest ceiling of all the quarterbacks in the 2014 class (assuming Oregon’s Marcus Mariota returns to school, as he has announced).
Bortles has an impressive set of physical tools. He has very good size, at 6-foot-4 and 228 pounds, and is deceptively mobile for somebody that big. He isn’t Cam Newton, but he reminds me a little bit of a cross between Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco in terms of his ability to extend plays with his legs and deliver throws even when defenders are hanging from his frame. Most importantly, he shows the potential to develop into a quarterback who can beat NFL defenses from inside the pocket, with good arm strength, accuracy and football IQ.
But he’s still a work in progress, which is part of what makes him difficult to project at this point in the process. He can certainly become more consistent with his mechanics as a passer. He has a bit of a three-quarter delivery and has more balls batted down at the line of scrimmage than most QBs his height. And most importantly, he has to improve his decision-making skills; right now, he forces too many throws and he must learn to make quicker, more efficient decisions when working through his progressions (past his first read).
Bortles could have benefited from another season of developing at the college level, and ideally the team that drafts him will not force him onto the field immediately. But the reality is that Bortles is likely to be a first-round pick (remember, there are several NFL teams picking at the top of the draft that need to upgrade the QB position), and first-round picks rarely get time to sit back and learn in today’s NFL.
We’ve only studied four tapes of Bortles so far this season, and there’s a lot of information still to be gathered on him (medical tests, psychological tests, personal interviews, etc.). But for now, we have Bortles ranked as the No. 2 QB prospect behind Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, at No. 15 overall.
