2020 NFL Draft: K.J. Costello to miss Stanford’s season finale

K.J. Costello was tipped as a possible riser heading into the 2019 season, but an injury-ravaged year has hurt his standing ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft.

K.J. Costello will miss Stanford’s final game of a hugely disappointing 2019 season, ending a miserable year for a quarterback many had pegged as a potential riser.

Costello enjoyed an impressive 2018 season, completing 65 percent of his passes for 3,540 yards and 29 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. However, any hope of him building on that campaign and putting himself in the conversation as a potential day-two pick in the 2020 NFL Draft has been extinguished by his inability to stay healthy.

Stanford head coach ruled Costello out of Saturday’s meeting with Notre Dame, meaning he will end the year having played only five games, in which he threw for six touchdowns and three interceptions.

“We thought maybe he had a chance (to play), but he just wasn’t back,” Shaw, per The San Francisco Chronicle, told the media on Tuesday.

With another full season of tape under his belt, Costello could have been an intriguing option for teams looking to add another quarterback to the mix.

Instead, should he declare, Costello will likely spend his draft season trying to convince organizations durability will not be a concern going forward and that he is worthy of being selected at all.

A fourth-year junior, 2019 was expected to be Costello’s final year at Stanford. However, after a nightmare season, the prospect of him returning to Palo Alto for 2020 has to be considered.

Before the season Shaw, per Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, said of Costello:

"“There’s no thought in my mind that he would come back for a fifth year; I don’t think he’s gonna need to. He showed last year he can play this game at a high level, and now it’s that transition of going from being a good college quarterback … to a true NFL-caliber starter.”"

Costello has had next to no chance in 2019 to prove he is capable of making that transition, and, at this point, he may well have more doubters than believers.

If Costello is advised correctly, he’ll eschew the NFL in favor of one more year with Stanford, and try to rebuild his stock by leading the Cardinal to a bounce-back year after a dismal 2019 for him and the program.