2019 NFL Draft: NFL teams need to ignore McKenzie Milton’s size
After a stellar debut against UConn, where is the 2019 NFL Draft stock for UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton? Can teams look past his size?
UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton was incredible in 2017, and picked up right where he left off last season in his season opener against UConn.
Milton completed over 67 percent of his passes in 2017 with over 4,000 yards, 37 touchdowns, just nine interceptions, and another 613 rushing yards with eight touchdowns on the ground.
It was a Heisman-caliber campaign for the Hawai’i native, but neither he nor UCF as a general whole was recognized the way they should have been last season.
In the 2018 season opener against UConn, Milton completed 75 percent of his passes with 346 yards, five touchdowns, and 50 rushing yards. Not only is McKenzie getting it done right now statistically, but with him at the helm, UCF seems borderline unbeatable.
This brings up the very difficult question right now of whether or not NFL teams are going to like McKenzie or if they will write him off because he’s 5-foot-11, 185 pounds (listed).
As was the case with Baker Mayfield last year, the one thing you want to pay attention to when evaluating a player at the quarterback position, specifically when it comes to their size, is how often that lack of height is a detriment to their game.
How many passes do they have batted at the line of scrimmage? Are they durable? Does their lack of size translate to a lack of overall arm strength?
McKenzie isn’t slinging the ball around the yard like Josh Allen, and he’s not even as big as Mayfield, who is over 6-feet tall and 210 pounds.
Despite his size limitations, Milton has shown he’s a natural playmaker at the quarterback position and he understands how to beat whatever defenses throw at him. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the country (along with Mayfield) last year against pressure.
NFL teams may have another couple of years to evaluate Milton. He will be heavily scrutinized for his size and unfortunately probably won’t get enough credit as a football player.
What are the legitimate knocks on Milton at this point?
Again, it’s hard to say something is a major detriment to his game when it hasn’t proven to be so, but he has a very non-traditional arm slot and release point. How will that translate to the next level?
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There are certainly going to be questions about his game but Milton passes the eye test, which is to say that if you watch him in any given game, you probably aren’t going to notice that he’s 5-foot-11 by the way he plays the quarterback position.
If Milton continues to play at this high of a level and contends for a Heisman Trophy, he’s definitely going to get NFL hype, even if it’s not as much as he deserves.