2020 NFL Draft: The difficult and confusing evaluation of Justin Herbert

Herbert’s Weaknesses

While Justin Herbert’s arm talent is easy to spot, the trait that makes him a hard evaluation is his inconsistency in multiple areas. Some of these inconsistencies could come back to coaching and development playing under three different head coaches in his four years at Oregon. Even the best arms that the NFL has seen in the last 100 years rely on consistent mechanics and good decision making.

There were numerous occasions from a game to game basis where Herbert would overthrow his receivers in every portion of the field. Some of this results from not setting his feet before delivering the pass which we saw in the game against Utah. He has a tendency to throw off his back foot when he has time to plant his feet in a clean pocket. Another reason for some of these inaccurate throws was that he would not finish his delivery by not following through with his lower half of his body.

The other inconsistent issues that come up with Herbert are his decision making and his poise under a collapsing pocket. Anyone can see that Herbert has rare talents and abilities from a clean pocket behind that incredible offensive line. When the pocket collapsed, however, he panicked too often leading to poorly thrown passes or interception worthy throws. He will have to learn how to identify pressure pre-snap, and learn how to speed up his timing in these circumstances. Sacks get pinned on the offensive line too often, and Herbert was the culprit for many sacks that he took throughout his career at Oregon.

The last weakness that stands out which is a trait that just needs developing under the right coaching staff is reading through progressions. Oregon ran a first read, quick hitting offense that limited the amount of progressions to just one side of the field for Herbert. When he was asked to make multiple reads, Herbert looked uneasy if his first read wasn’t available which led to bad decisions and at multiple points, turnovers. His tendency to stare down receivers or waiting too long to move to his next read got him into trouble, and will be a career ending problem at the NFL level if he cannot develop in that area.