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2015 NFL Draft: Previewing The QB Prospects Week 2

Checking out the quarterbacks that could end up being the Rams future at quarterback.

By Tevin Broner
Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Rams begin their conquest to make the playoffs this Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Just because the season is just getting underway, it doesn't mean that we can't look at the potential Ram quarterbacks out there.

So let's do it, let's look at the quarterbacks.

Two good prospects collide: Michigan State vs. Oregon

This week two good quarterbacks will collide in what should be a good game. Michigan State's Connor Cook looks to pull an upset over Marcus Mariota and the Oregon Ducks. When two of the top ten teams, with potentially two first round quarterback's play it's hard not to take notice.

Connor Cook - Isn't a household name, but he's one of the best quarterback prospects in the nation, either the third or the fourth best. He's a pro-style quarterback that should be available in the mid-first round if he keeps developing.

Marcus Mariota - Mariota is the first or second best quarterback available in this upcoming draft. Mariota might not be in a pro-style offense, but he possesses the running and throwing ability that makes NFL GM's drool. He's currently my favorite quarterback in the draft, I could be wrong but from the little that I saw he reminds me of Russell Wilson.

Here's Rotoworld.com, college scout Josh Norris, on both of these quarterbacks from his own weekly quarterback column that you can find here.

Marcus Mariota

There is a big difference between Mariota and other athletic/extremely mobile passers: he effectively creates space to throw or run outside and inside the pocket. Mariota can play the quick or progression game.


My favorite play from this past weekend (versus South Dakota) showcased Mariota’s eye level development. With around four minutes left in the second quarter, Mariota climbed the pocket, evaded left once reaching the apex, and found a receiver for a ten yard touchdown. All with his eyes up. That sounds easy, but it does not happen enough.


Mariota does not get enough credit for how comfortable he is in the pocket. He wins there, but is not limited to it. With that said, his vertical passing was very spotty against South Dakota.


Connor Cook

Cook showed positive traits in this game, many of which I wanted to see more consistently last year.


Cook climbed the pocket against an edge rush on his first touchdown, drifted right, and lofted a beautiful ball while taking a low hit. Then later he made a check at the line of scrimmage after seeing single coverage on the outside in the redzone. The result was an endzone lob for a touchdown.


If Cook continues to show positive pocket movement and an ability to throw in closing spaces, he will cement himself as the third quarterback prospect in my eyes.

The Tale of the Tape

Pros:

He can scramble to by time and to gain yards. Also he broke a few tackles in the backfield that would have been sacks.

Made some impressive throws, some of which were dropped.

I like how he looked at multiple reads

Cons:

Hundley has a problem of tucking and running whenever he feels pressure. But he never keeps his head up when he runs which is a negative because he can never tell if a player is getting open.

Needs to learn to slide with his feet and not with his head

Threw behind receivers and just needs to work on ball placement more

A QB That Failed To Impress last week

Jameis Winston looked pretty bad to me last Saturday. He routinely stared down his receivers which resulted in two picks and almost a third. However he did have some positives, he showed his impressive arm strength on various passes, and scored a touchdown on an impressive run for a touchdown.

Winston might have finished the game completing 25/40 passes, one touchdown pass, and two interceptions. The game was a sore spot, but he still has a season left to play to his potential.

Who To Watch This Week?

Obviously all eyes will be on Connor Cook and Marcus Mariota this week when their two teams face off, but there's another interesting game to watch.

This week, Stanford's Kevin Hogan will play against the USC Trojans which will be an interesting game. Not many pundits are talking about Hogan, but with a solid game against the Trojans he could be a player that draft stock trends up. He's an interesting prospect that runs a pro-style offense, he has some athleticism and his arm is good enough. But he didn't throw

Some Interesting Tweets

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