Jacksonville Jaguars: Looking ahead at the 2018 quarterback class

With yet another disappointing performance from Blake Bortles, the Jaguars must look ahead to the 2018 NFL draft for their QB of the future.

A week after the drubbing in London, the Jaguars struggled in crunch time against the lowly Jets in New York. Despite an NFL leading 18 sacks through four games, two shutdown corners, and an improved offensive line, the Jaguars simply cannot overcome their inept quarterback to turn in consistent victories. Bortles is not the only player to blame, Marqise Lee, Arrelious Benn and Paul Posluszny also come to mind.

However, 15-35 (42%) for 140 with one touchdown and one interception is just another in a long line of abysmal performances by Bortles. 2017 was seen as a “last shot” of sorts for Bortles, and he has still been unable to capitalize on this opportunity showing time and time again that he is not the franchise quarterback.

Luckily for the Jaguars front office and the fanbase, the 2018 draft has been dubbed the year of the quarterback. The Jaguars will likely play themselves out of a top 10 pick, but this class is deep. This will provide an opportunity for the team to snatch one up in the 2nd round or beyond. Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, and Washington State’s Luke Falk all project as prospects to be available in the 2nd round of the draft.

Focusing on those 3 quarterbacks, considered outside of the top tier of Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold, let’s take a deeper look at each of these signal callers.

Baker Mayfield: 6’1″, 220

Strengths:

Mayfield is a winner. He is a ferocious competitor who plays like someone who’s 6’8″ not 6’1″.  After walking on at Texas Tech, he transferred to Oklahoma and took over the starting job from Trevor Knight and never looked back. Mayfield has performed well on the big stage and is supremely confident in his abilities to lead a team. He has shown ability to escape the pocket, create something out of nothing, Mayfield is not an explosive runner, rather someone who is mobile within the pocket and throws on the run. He has great velocity on the ball, he also excels in short to intermediate throws. For someone that throws on the run and scrambles a lot, Mayfield does not throw interceptions very often, he owns an 89-15 TD to INT ratio in his 854 career attempts at Oklahoma.

Weaknesses:

While Mayfield throws the ball well, his arm strength is above average however not elite. Mayfield also struggles with deep throw ball placement at times. There are some off the field questions, he was arrested in February in Arkansas, the arrest made complete with a video of him trying to flee the scene. Mayfield does not run for big gains often, however did have a higher number of fumbles than you’d like to see.

Pro Comp: Many people have compared Baker Mayfield to Russell Wilson, just with a lesser arm, but the most common comparison has been Colt McCoy. McCoy is a solid game manager who played on some putrid Cleveland Browns teams, this comparison is apt, however I believe Mayfield will have more success than McCoy in his NFL career.

In Summary: Mayfield projects as an undersized, but solid NFL prospect that at worst will be a long term backup who will perform as a spot starter. I believe his skill set lends itself to the Jaguars offense and should consider him with their second round pick. It is also worth noting that Dede Westbrook, a favorite target at Oklahoma, was a draft pick of the Jaguars.

Tune in next week for the next Quarterback scouting report, Louisville QB Lamar Jackson.