Ryan Mallett- 2011 Draft Scouting Report

I have seen a lot of Ryan Mallett, and I am quite undecided on whether or not he will have success at the NFL. But there is one thing that seems consistent; he is not a football player. He is a football playing robot. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A football playing robot might use outstanding fundamentals (especially with his release), be mechanically designed to have great throw power, he can be a good decision maker, and he can be very accurate when comfortable in a pocket environment. This describes Mallett.

Mallett has excellent size, but awful athleticism. He is 6’5, he has enough bulk to avoid injuries, but he is probably the most unathletic quarterback I have ever scouted. With a 5.37 40, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he is a poor athlete and a poor rusher, but he also lacks the lateral mobility to be comfortable outside of the pocket. Mobility is a real issue with Mallett.

Mallett has outstanding throw power. He puts a lot of zip on all of his passes, and he can throw pretty far on the fly, even off his back foot. His throw power is as good as any quarterback’s in the FBS.

Mallett is an extremely accurate quarterback. His strong fundamentals allow him to be very accurate, and he is outstanding when throwing the deep ball. However, he is very inaccurate when throwing on the run, and his accuracy tends to suffer in bowl games and other games against big teams.

Mallett is a solid decision maker. He will force some throws, and he can be reckless with the football. Occasionally he will try to throw deep too often, but he usually does a bang-up job of reading defenses and looking off the safety. He also rarely locks onto receivers.

Decision making ability is one of Mallett’s best assets.

Mallett has a simple, effective delivery. The ball gets out of his hands quickly, which makes it difficult to deflect his passes at the line. He uses effective footwork with most of his throws.

Mallett is one of the most productive quarterbacks in the FBS. He has the 7th best quarterback rating in the FBS, especially impressive considering he played in the SEC. Last year, he got 3869 passing yards, which is among the best in the FBS. He also completed 64% of his passes and amassing 32 touchdowns. However he did throw 12 interceptions.

Like I said before, Mallett is a football playing robot. K.C. Joyner (“The Football Scientist”), thinks Mallett is a better player than Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that his sabermetrics will favor Mallett (you can only read the article if you are an ESPN insider). From a statistical standpoint, Mallett is outstanding. But there are a lot of character questions regarding Mallett. At Michigan, he ticked off a lot of coaches and teammates with his annoying cockiness and his tendency to ignore his coaches (reportedly).

He then transferred to Arkansas, and was promptly arrested for public intoxication before he started playing. However, when he started playing for Arkansas, his teammates claim that he became a better person. Despite this, rumors soon started to swirl about a drug addiction, which was heavily questioned during the NFL combine. In the end no clear answer was revealed. I am personally inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt on this issue. He was never actually suspended at Arkansas for any failed drug tests, nor did he test positive for drugs at the combine. There just isn’t enough evidence against him for me to believe he is a drug addict.

On field intensity and leadership are also an issue. I’ll admit he is a mediocre leader at best for a quarterback, in my opinion. I also think that he really doesn’t play with much on field intensity. I have a feeling that he must work pretty hard based on sole mastery of SEC defenses alone (I bet he spends a lot of time in the film room), but he is not tough at all (see: poor effort when attempting to tackle Texas A&M’s Terrence Frederick after interception). Toughness and on field intensity are an issue.

Overall, Mallett could be great, but the intangibles are a reason to worry. Mallett could turn into Ryan Leaf.

Leaf had a real tendency to blame his teammates for every mistake he made. No one wanted to play with him. And he had drug issues. Could this be Mallett? Well, without evidence of drug issues, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

His stock could really depend on the interviews he had with the teams at the combine, which I have no access too.

NFL Comparison: Joe Flacco, with character concerns.

Grade: 95 (worthy of a mid 1st round pick)

Projection: 90 (he will probably drafted late 1st to early 2nd round)

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