Reese’s Senior Bowl 2019: 10 NFL Draft prospects to watch

1. The Quarterbacks 

This is cheating, but the group of quarterbacks in Mobile is loaded with talent and far and away the most intriguing position; I didn’t want to spend five or six spots of the Top 10 talking about the quarterbacks, so I’m condensing it to one slide here.

Here’s the list of quarterbacks for each team:

North:

Drew Lock (Missouri)

Daniel Jones (Duke)

Ryan Finley (NC State)

Trace McSorley (Penn State)

South:

Will Grier (West Virginia)

Jarrett Stidham (Auburn)

Gardner Minshew (Washington State)

Tyree Jackson (Buffalo)

Both teams boast talented signal callers who could boost their draft stock into the first round with big performances this week, while each team also has an intriguing quarterback who will be looking to prove they are deserving of any draft pick.

On the North side, Daniel Jones and Drew Lock have the potential to be the No. 2 quarterbacks taken behind Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins. Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray throws a wrench into that, but both Jones and Lock are the more prototypical NFL quarterbacks with great size and arm strength.

Ryan Finley also boasts the prototypical size that NFL teams covet, and while he doesn’t figure to threaten for the first round barring a huge week and strong combine, Finley could be an intriguing option on day two for teams who don’t want to reach for a quarterback in the first round.

Trace McSorley could find a niche in the NFL similar to what Taysom Hill has done for the Saints if he shows a willingness to play multiple positions instead of wanting to stick with quarterback full-time.

On the South side, Will Grier has been mocked in the first round by some. He figures to get the first snaps for his team this week, and if he can show he’s more than just a system QB, he could claw his way into the first round.

Jarrett Stidham had a lot of hype after a brilliant redshirt sophomore season at Auburn, but he seemed to regress as the Tigers struggled throughout much of 2018. He has good arm talent, though, and throws a really nice deep ball. He was once pegged as a potential first round pick, and while that seems unlikely at this point, a strong week could see him improve his stock to an early day two selection.

Gardner Minshew came out of nowhere as a senior at Washington State to lead the FBS in passing yards and lead the Cougars to a school-record 11 wins in 2018. The graduate transfer from East Carolina considered giving up football before receiving a call from Mike Leach that brought him to Pullman. Now he’s in Mobile with a strong shot of getting drafted. He doesn’t have elite arm-talent, but Minshew should be picked somewhere on day three and cash backup QB paychecks for a decade.

Buffalo’s Tyree Jackson is the most polarizing quarterback among the eight in attendance. Jackson has outstanding size and arm talent, but he has struggled with his accuracy and decision making. He thought about returning to college as a graduate transfer for 2019, but instead has decided to enter the draft. Jackson could be an intriguing project quarterback that some team takes a flier on in the late rounds.

The QB class is wide-open after Haskins, so look for scouts to be paying particular attention to this crop of signal-callers with a couple emerging as potential first round selections.