NFL Draft quarterbacks: Holley’s top-5 QBs as Justin Fields lands as QB2

It’s NFL Draft time again, and the 2021 NFL Draft quarterbacks class is a hotly contested one.

Many teams are in need of a solid quarterback to anchor their teams. It’s the most important position on any offense, and often the most impactful position on a team. It is rare to win a Super Bowl without a franchise quarterback, and that’s the goal every season, right? That’s the beauty of the NFL – any team can break out during any given season.

How does this 2021 NFL Draft quarterbacks class shape up?

With blue chip free agent quarterbacks such as DeShaun Watson floating around, this year’s quarterback draft prospects are more of a wild card factor for teams than ever. Maybe even more noteworthy is the variety of rankings that have perpetuated throughout draft Twitter and other social media… So why not throw another ranking into the ring?

Well, this one’s different. It’s time to end the overthinking. It’s time to end the hot takes. It’s time for common sense among quarterbacks. Here are the top five quarterback prospects in the 2021 NFL Draft as of March.

Trevor Lawrence on top of NFL Draft quarterbacks rankings

I did say no overthinking, right?

Trevor Lawrence has about a one percent chance of being a bust in the NFL, but let’s not crown him the GOAT just yet. However, he has more than enough talent and capability to be a star at the next level. If he somehow doesn’t turn into at least a top-50 percent quarterback in the league, then we were all wrong.

Lawrence is a 6-foot-6 230 pound mountain of a quarterback with the wheels to make it to the first down line when scrambling during busted plays – and those will happen in the NFL. He is adept at throwing darts on the run – especially far outside the pocket down the sideline.

He also is able to anchor his feet into position after scrambling outside the pocket in order to rocket a pass to any corner of the field as if he was still dropped back in the pocket. He shows the potential to become a mixture of the best parts of Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.

However, he could become obsolete early on if he doesn’t learn to make his reads quicker. He can become stuck on one receiver and occasionally telegraph his throws. That wasn’t a big deal at Clemson because of his sheer arm talent, but in the NFL he could quickly turn into a Jameis Winston-Esque interception machine if he never progressed. Hopefully, COVID-19 will allow for training camps to happen, in which he could have some time to work through those issues with his coaches.

2. Justin Fields – Ohio State

Justin Fields has gone up and down the board like a buoy.

He entered and exited the 2020 college football season as the second-best quarterback prospect in the draft class. At a solid 6-foot-3 and around 225 pounds, Fields is nearly the prototype size for an NFL quarterback. He also has the ability to scramble outside of the pocket, which is coveted in today’s NFL. No quarterback with substantial success to be drafted since 2015 has not been considered at least moderately mobile. He is also the most accurate passer of these NFL Draft quarterbacks.

His arm is top-notch, even though he does sometimes put too much trust in it. He has a similar problem with reads as Trevor Lawrence, except that instead of forcing throws, he sometimes takes too many sacks instead of using his legs, which could hurt his effectiveness as an NFL quarterback early in his career if he does not learn to change his ways.

3. Zach Wilson – BYU

Zach Wilson’s stock skyrocketed during the season as football lovers ate up some of the ridiculously impressive throws he made later in the season. He shows hints of elite ball-placement skills, as well as the ability to stand in the pocket and make fearless throws.

He’s also extremely athletic – he’s a guy with the ability to make a few people miss in the open field. However, NFL defenders will be much savvier about his scrambling ability. My guess is that once he hits the NFL, he will have to rely more on his arm than his legs. I think his ceiling may be higher than Justin Fields, but his floor could also be lower, which leaves him solidly as QB3 on my list.

4. Trey Lance – North Dakota State

Trey Lance is a lesser prospect in terms of experience. He was a dominating force at NDSU, and he has all the tools and potential to be a great quarterback in the league. However, he is supremely inexperienced. He also had the disadvantage of not regularly playing against FBS competition during his time as a Bison. That’s not a dealbreaker by any means (Carson Wentz was drafted second overall from the same school), but I still think of it as a disadvantage.

Lance shows great versatility as a passer. He can successfully run plays from different formations – including the shotgun, pistol, and single-back formations, unlike many QBs who enter the league, who usually specialize in shotgun offenses and spread-like schemes. Lance may have the best five-step-drop of any quarterback on this list not named Trevor Lawrence.

However, Lance only played one year of college football. I think he will need to sit under a veteran for a bit to become a starting-caliber quarterback. He could be a fit in Chicago under Nick Foles, in Pittsburgh under Ben Roethlisberger, or under Alex Smith with whatever team he ends up with. Even so, he could definitely end up taking that job from someone like Foles or Smith in the future, and by that, I mean sooner rather than later. He has all the tools to be successful, though – including twitchy feet in the pocket and a knack for making throws on the run.

He sits as QB4 in this NFL Draft quarterbacks class for me due to his natural ability, in spite of his inexperience.

5. Mac Jones – Alabama

This list should really be a top-four, because there’s an enormous drop-off between fourth and fifth on this list.

Mac Jones is not a starting quarterback in the NFL, and neither is any quarterback ranked below him. There are four quarterback prospects in this draft who could have great NFL futures.

Mac Jones is a backup quarterback at best, in my opinion. He doesn’t have particularly great arm strength, and he can’t make difficult throws regularly. He has a decent eye for reads, but not one good enough for the league. Mac Jones benefits from being a quarterback in the most prolific offense in years, aside from LSU’s offense in 2019.

His biggest strength is that he has a knack for knowing receivers will be open before they actually are. He has good anticipation of pressure in the pocket as well, and he knows how to extend plays. The problem is that I doubt that skill transfers over into a quicker, much more intellectual defensive game in the NFL.

He won’t have the kind of talent-to-adversary ratio in the NFL. His receiving corps won’t dominate, and he won’t have Najee Harris to fall back on with dump-off passes behind the line of scrimmage. He could prove me wrong, but his lack of NFL-caliber talent solidifies him as QB5 on in this NFL Draft quarterbacks class.