2024 NFL Draft: Tackling the Biggest Narratives Surrounding this Year's Quarterback Class

With March being right around the corner, we have officially entered the period where football junkies begin watching the prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft. This year’s draft has a lot of evaluators excited because the quarterback class is absolutely loaded. From Caleb Williams to Bo Nix, there are many quarterback prospects who have the skills to be productive at the next level.

Unfortunately, now that people are putting these quarterbacks under the microscope, there are a lot of narratives being spread around social media. Some of these narratives are true, but many are not. Let’s dive into some of the biggest narratives surrounding this year’s quarterback class and why these narratives are not true.

1. Caleb Williams doesn’t like to play in structure

USC quarterback Caleb Williams is known for his ability to extend plays and create big throws when opposing defenses play perfect coverage. He does this a lot, though, and this has led to many people claiming that he does this too much. Some people worry that he might not be able to play from within the pocket in the NFL.

To be fair, Caleb does play out of structure a lot and there are times when he turns down easy throws to target receivers deep down the field. However, his ability to play from within the pocket is extremely underrated.

When looking at the numbers from Caleb’s entire collegiate career, it’s clear that he prefers to stay within the pocket as much as possible. Across 36 games, he had a clean pocket on 65.9% of his dropbacks. When he didn’t face pressure, he threw the ball on 96.4% of his dropbacks and scrambled on just 3% of his dropbacks. 

These numbers are around average for all quarterback prospects since 2017 and this is a good thing. These numbers show that he doesn’t leave the pocket very often when he doesn’t face pressure. Of course, he will scramble when he needs to, but he doesn’t leave clean pockets too much. He knows how to balance staying in the pocket and scrambling to extend plays, which is an extremely valuable skill.

For comparison, both Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels scramble on 7% or more of their dropbacks in which they have a clean pocket, which is pretty high.

Caleb performs similarly when he faces pressure, attempting a pass on 68.7% of these dropbacks and scrambling on just 12.4% of them. Once again, these numbers are about average, showing that he has a good balance of standing tall within the pocket and scrambling when facing pressure.

The numbers make it clear that Caleb Williams has a consistent track record of being willing to stay within the pocket and not panicking even when facing pressure.