http://www.todayspigskin.com/nfl-draft/mason-rudolph-deserves-among-top-quarterbacks-nfl-draft/
After that, it could go in one of many directions. Baker Mayfield has gotten some first-round buzz after his fourth-place finish in last year’s Heisman voting. Chad Kelly has the physical tools for the conversation, while Pat Mahomes and Luke Falk have the eye-popping numbers in their pass-happy spread offenses. Even lesser known Big 10 passers like C.J. Beathard and Mitch Leidner have their supporters and so does Davis Webb who transferred to Cal to replace No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff.
With many mock drafts labeling Watson and Kaaya as the No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks, the other seven quarterbacks mentioned have all been spotted at the back end of round one or somewhere in round two of reputable analysts projections.
Which brings us to Rudolph, who sometimes gets left out of those forward-thinking predictions. It isn’t surprising, coming from a spread scheme in the offense-dominated Big 12 his raw totals are a little underwhelming, throwing for 3,770 yards and 21 touchdowns with nine interceptions on the season. He completed better than 62 percent of his passes, but he lost snaps to a senior quarterback, particularly in the red zone.
It may seem odd for a quarterback so adept at throwing deep to have questions over his arm strength, but those long throws require just as much finesse as they do power in the arm. Well-placed passes can go for big plays even if they don’t travel 60 yards in the air at high speeds. Watching quarterbacks hit deep crosses down the middle of the field and send the ball to the sidelines on a rope are better indicators of what separates the great arms from above average ones at the NFL level. Rudolph does have the arm strength to drive the ball deep over the middle of the field, although it isn’t quite Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler in terms of the way the ball spins.
Rudolph can get the ball there, but the football floats a little more than someone with an elite arm talent, and while in this instance, he shows great anticipation, there isn’t a tight window he needs to navigate. Had he tried to split defenders, he may have put a little more heat on the ball, but ultimately it would be surprising for him not to give most of his arm strength to such a deep throw traveling nearly 30 yards on a crossing route
