Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler has another rough start to the season

Last season, Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler’s season got off to a rough start. In his first game against an FBS opponent last year he threw three picks against Kansas State, and overall he threw five picks in the first four games of the season. Unfortunately, this season did not get off to a strong start either, as Rattler threw two interceptions against Tulane today.

While there were some bright spots in Spencer Rattler’s game one major concern came to light and that is his ability to read defenses. In today’s game, he threw several passes into coverage including his second pass of the day which was thrown into double coverage and resulted in an interception.

He also threw several other passes into coverage on the day which could have resulted in turnovers if he were facing a defense better than Tulane’s which ranked 115th in pass defense last season.

Another issue when it came to Rattler’s ability to read a defense was how long he hung onto the ball. Rattler was the benefit of great pass protection from the Oklahoma offensive line today, however, he needs to do a much better job of throwing on rhythm. On several occasions in this game, he took multiple hitch steps in the pocket and played backyard football at times instead of quickly going through his reads and getting the ball into his receiver’s hands.

While his ability to process at a quick rate will be a concern for NFL scouts he did show several promising traits in the game as well. He proved he is one of the more athletic quarterbacks in the 2022 NFL Draft. He did a terrific job of throwing the ball on the run and also displayed the ability to take off and run at times.

Another positive trait that stood out with him was his touch on short to medium passes. He threw a very catchable ball in these situations which allowed his receivers to make the catch and pick up yards after the catch. One other positive that was on display today was his arm strength. He has the arm to throw any pass in an NFL offense and has good ball placement on his deep ball.

While it would be a snap judgment to say Spencer Rattler’s NFL stock is going down after one game, it would be accurate to say it is worth monitoring how quickly he can digest defense the rest of this year.

If Spencer Rattler can improve in this area he will still likely be the number one pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, however, if he has trouble with more advanced defense it could prevent him from being the number one draft pick.