The 2019 NFL draft will feature two first-round worthy quarterbacks in Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins and Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray. Both passers are expected to come off the board in the first 15 picks, but it remains unclear who will be first.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah held a conference call Monday and discussed Haskins and Murray and gave a few reasons why he has Murray ranked as the top quarterback on his most recent big board.
“It’s polar opposites with these top two quarterbacks, for me,” Jeremiah said Monday. “I started out with Haskins ahead of Kyler Murray. But, Kyler can make every single throw. He can drive the ball, and those hole shots in cover-two between a cornerback and a safety, those are big-boy throws. He makes them effortlessly. He has plenty of arm strength, and I’ve seen him work his progressions. The X-factor is, when he takes off and runs, it’s electric. Kyler can do a lot of things that Haskins can do throwing the football, but Kyler has that extra element of what he can do athletically.”
Jeremiah is right on the money. There isn’t a lot separating Murray and Haksins as throwers, but the gap between the two athletically is Grand Canyon-like. In fact, there haven’t been many quarterbacks with Murray’s dynamic traits to enter the league in recent years, sans Lamar Jackson. And Murray is lightyears ahead of Jackson as a passer.
Murray should be the near-consensus QB1 by the time the NFL combine comes to an end. It will be impossible for teams to not fall in love with his combination of skills, assuming he checks at or near the minimums physically.
“The information that I’ve been given, is that he’s up to 206 pounds,” Jeremiah said of Murray’s size. “I don’t know what he played at in the fall, if he played at 185, 195, 200, I have no idea. If he shows up at the Combine over 200 pounds and carries that weight well, that will answer some of the durability concerns.”
The quarterback drills are scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 2.
