2020 NFL Draft: Utah State QB Jordan Love scouting report

Best Fits in the 2020 NFL Draft

Based on the film I have watched and the stats Jordan Love accumulated in his two years playing for Utah State, I think there is a strong possibility that Love will be selected in either the first or second round. Love certainly has flaws and Utah State’s regression in 2019 will be an easy excuse for some scouts to dismiss him as a starting quarterback.

But the same way general managers and scouts dismissed Patrick Mahomes as not being ready to start his first season, I believe at least one team will see enough potential in the young quarterback from Bakersfield, California to select him early in the draft, even if he needs a season sitting on the bench.

Love sat out his first semester in college, and he used the time to train, watch tape and become more enmeshed in Utah State’s playbook. So that when the day came, he would be ready without hesitation.

Here are the teams I think Love would thrive the most in:

Owning the fourteenth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts would be largely unobstructed from drafting Love. This is a popular prediction online, as several draft analysts and fans believe Love would help get the Colts back to their winning ways.

I really like this option for the Colts in the 2020 NFL Draft, as the team needs a gunslinging, vertical passing threat like Love to replace the generational talent that left the team during the 2019 pre-season.

Andrew Luck and the Colts were able to get to the divisional round of the AFC playoffs last season and were re-loaded this offseason to make a serious run in 2019. When Luck chose to retire rather than go through another grueling rehabilitation period, the team’s playoff prospects for 2019 were all but extinguished. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett re-lit that flame early in the season, by starting off the season with a 5-2 record, before ending up at 6-8 going into Week 16.

Brissett has always been a fine backup quarterback. But this year the team had him playing a game manager style of offense. The team was built with Luck in mind, and the Colts have missed his evasive, deep-throw ability this season.

The Colts gets special consideration here because of head coach Frank Reich. The former offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles, Reich was able to scheme up some amazing plays for backup quarterback Nick Foles. Time and again I watched Love during my film review make excellent screen throws for a significant amount of yards while at Utah State.

So we already know Love thrives in a system where moving defenders with deceptive movements is a great way to get yards out of the young quarterback. With Reich’s ability to draw up imaginative plays and Love’s deep-throw accuracy, this team could be an AFC contender again in 2020.

The biggest obstacle for the Colts drafting Love will almost certainly be whether or not the team has given up on the idea of Brissett being the full-time starter going into 2020. Brissett has a 62.6% completion rate and he has played as well as could be expected given the circumstances this season.

The best fit for Love in the 2020 NFL Draft would be the Colts. They have the great skill players and an offensive line ready to help a rookie quarterback get back to his high-flying style of play.

Like the Colts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are built for a vertical passing quarterback like Love. They have Mister “No risk it, no biscuit” Bruce Arians coaching the team, who has shown he can squeeze diamonds out of quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and Jameis Winston.

The team is heading into the final season of Winston’s rookie deal and they are likely to franchise tag the problematic first pick before the 2020 NFL Draft. But if they were to cut bait with Winston and select Love in the 2020 NFL Draft, the team would be well situated to help Love transfer his skill’s to the pros.

They have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and O.J. Howard to help prop up the offense. They have the pieces to make a new quarterback very productive in his rookie year. Their offense was for a vertical passing quarterback like Love. But like the Colts, the biggest roadblock for a Love-lead Buccaneers in 2020 is the team’s patience with Winston.

Winston has thrown 30 touchdowns this season, second-best in the NFL according to ESPN. Along with 4,573 total passing yards through week 15, many in the organization may feel Winston is just one off-season away from putting it all together.

But considering this has been the Siren’s Song of the Buccaneers since 2015, this tune may be getting a little old in Tampa. The Buccaneers very well could franchise tag Winston and draft Love, but that would be a de-facto recrimination of Winston, and likely signify the end of the Winston era.

Either way, expect the Buccaneers to take a serious look at Love in the 2020 NFL Draft.

No matter which team drafts Love in the 2020 NFL Draft, I believe that with the right circumstances and a slight tweaking of his playstyle, Love can be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Whether he is drafted to be a day-one starter or a developmental quarterback on the bench, his accuracy and his ability to throw big-time throws will make him an attractive starter on a team somewhere. His most recent legal citation may cause trepidation with some general managers. But with a highlight reel of Love’s caliber, expect those concerns to go out the window when the 2020 NFL Draft starts.