2018 NFL Draft: Baker Mayfield ascending to top QB spot

2018 NFL Draft: Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield is ascending quickly in this year’s quarterback rankings, and could be at the top of the list…

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield started his collegiate career as a lightly recruited walk-on at Texas Tech, who ended up starting as a true freshman.

An unprecedented start to his college career, Mayfield has grown over the past few years into one of the most impressive quarterback prospects in all of college football, transferring to Oklahoma after one season with Texas Tech.

With a couple of issues off the field hopefully permanently in his past, Mayfield now looks like he could be the best quarterback in the 2018 class.

So far in his senior season with the Sooners, Mayfield has completed just under 72 percent of his passes for 3,226 yards, 28 touchdowns, and only five interceptions. He’s also rushed for another five scores, proving his versatility and helping Oklahoma to a potential college football playoff berth.

His trajectory of improvement over the past four years has been astounding, considering when he started off as a freshman, he was already playing at a very high level. With Texas Tech in 2013, Mayfield completed over 64 percent of his passes. With Oklahoma in 2015, it jumped over 67 percent. In 2016, nearly 71 percent.

Now, he’s hovering around 72 percent, and is making throws to every level of the field.

Sure, Oklahoma uses the short-intermediate passing game quite a bit, but Mayfield is also one of the most accurate deep ball throwers in the entire country.

His ability to run with the ball is a bonus, and many are now talking about Mayfield as the next Russell Wilson or Drew Brees because of his 6-foot, 220 pound frame.

Built a bit more like Wilson, Mayfield looks to me to have the ability to make the quickest, most successful transition to the NFL game of any of this year’s quarterbacks, right up there with Josh Rosen.

Rosen is coming from a pro-style offense, but Mayfield is coming from almost strictly taking snaps from shotgun and will have to adjust in that regard.

Still, his ability to make good decisions with the football almost every single play and get the ball on target and on time to his receivers makes me wonder how much of a deficiency his height really is.

People said the same thing with Russell Wilson and Drew Brees.

Well, if he were three inches taller, he’d be in the top five discussion…

What difference does it really make? Wilson proved as a third round pick of the Seahawks that he was almost inarguably the most NFL-ready quarterback in a class that included Andrew Luck and rookie of the year Robert Griffin III.

Wilson had the best situation around him, sure, but Mayfield has a similar skill-set, competitive fire, and playmaker mentality.

What I see in Mayfield is someone with an elite competitive edge, the physical talent required to play in the NFL, and a chip on his shoulder that dates all the way back to his recruitment coming out of high school.

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Mayfield is obviously a very good college quarterback, but his ability to see the field so well and make plays both as a passer and runner lead me to believe his transition in the NFL will be quick.

I liken Mayfield to sort of a combination between Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson. Prescott had to adjust quickly to what was initially a ‘Tebow-like’ offense at Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs implemented more and more pro-style concepts as he progressed through the system. Wilson played a pro-style the majority of his collegiate career, but struggled with accuracy until he got to Wisconsin.

Mayfield is going to need a crash course on running a pro-style attack, but the concepts being used at Oklahoma are starting to slowly but surely trickle into today’s NFL game. Mayfield has the ability to learn what he needs to learn right away, and whatever team drafts him would be wise to implement concepts that fit his skill set right away.

This guy is the real deal, and if I were a team drafting in the top 10 this coming year, I wouldn’t hesitate to bring this kid in as my future franchise quarterback.

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