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https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/04/19/mmqb-nfl-draft-primer-20-things-to-know-offseason-workout-squabble
If the discussion of every draft class starts with the quarterbacks, then here’s what you need to know about 2021’s: It’s been a half-decade in the making.
NFL people will hand-wring over the difficulties of this scouting cycle. They’ll worry about taking a player who opted out, an injury risk or a player who’s been flagged as a character concern. They’ll tell you that, because of the difficulty of information-gathering, this year’s class is a complete and total crapshoot from the third or fourth round on. That there aren’t any defensive tackles. That the depth drops out quickly.
And all of that may be true. But the makings of this class started way before any of that came known.
“Actually, yes, and I can’t say that every year,” Elite 11 head coach Trent Dilfer said last week on my podcast. “I can’t say every year that we nailed the Elite 11 and we knew that there were going to be future pros. I think we’ve gotten better over time. But [the high school class of] ‘18 was a unique class where you knew Trevor [Lawrence] and Justin [Fields] would wind up in the top five in the draft.
“You knew when they were 17 years old: They had rare traits, they had rare work ethic, they had rare awareness, they had rare leadership qualities. They checked every box at 17, and they were only going to get better, and we knew they were going to good places too.”
All this time later, both wound up Heisman finalists, played for national titles in college, and are now on the precipice of the top of the first round of the draft. Lawrence’s path was a little cleaner, of course, with Fields having transferred from Georgia to Ohio State. (“So he went from a really good situation to a better situation,” Dilfer said.) But both are here now, two kids who grew up 40 minutes from each other near Atlanta, having lived up to all the expectations, and even having played each other twice in the College Football Playoffs.
In the time in between, a skinny high-schooler who filled out and developed into a freakish passer at BYU jumped into the fray, as did the “other” quarterback Alabama took in its 2017 recruiting class, plus a kid from an interstate exit of a Minnesota farm town who was only pursued by his State U as a safety prospect.
But the point remains: Remarkably, people like Dilfer could’ve told you this might be coming a very long time ago. And it has.
So as we set up our draft primer for 2021, with the event itself now 10 days away, that this has a shot to be a really, really strong quarterback group is the first thing you need to know. We’ve got 20 more of those coming for you.
If the discussion of every draft class starts with the quarterbacks, then here’s what you need to know about 2021’s: It’s been a half-decade in the making.
NFL people will hand-wring over the difficulties of this scouting cycle. They’ll worry about taking a player who opted out, an injury risk or a player who’s been flagged as a character concern. They’ll tell you that, because of the difficulty of information-gathering, this year’s class is a complete and total crapshoot from the third or fourth round on. That there aren’t any defensive tackles. That the depth drops out quickly.
And all of that may be true. But the makings of this class started way before any of that came known.
“Actually, yes, and I can’t say that every year,” Elite 11 head coach Trent Dilfer said last week on my podcast. “I can’t say every year that we nailed the Elite 11 and we knew that there were going to be future pros. I think we’ve gotten better over time. But [the high school class of] ‘18 was a unique class where you knew Trevor [Lawrence] and Justin [Fields] would wind up in the top five in the draft.
“You knew when they were 17 years old: They had rare traits, they had rare work ethic, they had rare awareness, they had rare leadership qualities. They checked every box at 17, and they were only going to get better, and we knew they were going to good places too.”
All this time later, both wound up Heisman finalists, played for national titles in college, and are now on the precipice of the top of the first round of the draft. Lawrence’s path was a little cleaner, of course, with Fields having transferred from Georgia to Ohio State. (“So he went from a really good situation to a better situation,” Dilfer said.) But both are here now, two kids who grew up 40 minutes from each other near Atlanta, having lived up to all the expectations, and even having played each other twice in the College Football Playoffs.
In the time in between, a skinny high-schooler who filled out and developed into a freakish passer at BYU jumped into the fray, as did the “other” quarterback Alabama took in its 2017 recruiting class, plus a kid from an interstate exit of a Minnesota farm town who was only pursued by his State U as a safety prospect.
But the point remains: Remarkably, people like Dilfer could’ve told you this might be coming a very long time ago. And it has.
So as we set up our draft primer for 2021, with the event itself now 10 days away, that this has a shot to be a really, really strong quarterback group is the first thing you need to know. We’ve got 20 more of those coming for you.
