Georgia Football: Could Jake Fromm being first QB chosen in NFL draft?

Jake Fromm might be one of the best quarterbacks in the 2020 NFL Draft class, but could the Georgia football star be the first quarterback chosen?

Just how good is Jake Fromm? Making sure that two five-star quarterbacks didn’t get action between the hedges, who are now excelling for other schools, and getting first round grades should answer that question.

Jake Fromm isn’t simply good, he’s great. It’s no secret, the world is now on notice. The fact that this kid has a chance to be the first or one of the first picks in the draft in 2020 is not surprising to fans of Georgia. For everyone else though, let’s break down his game and talk about why he’s about to be the first of many picks in the 2020 NFL draft.

First, what sets him apart from the other passers of this class such as Tua Tagovailoa, Jacob Eason or Justin Herbert is simple, it’s his pre-snap reads.

The Georgia Bulldogs run a pro-style system. The audibles and the plays are complex in design and pre-snap reads that Fromm has to know and perform while under a 25-second clock are enormous.

To the standard eye, it’s simple: read the blitz, pick the coverage and make the throw. To Fromm’s eyes, it’s something entirely different. The center is calling a blitz scheme, the line is in a slide left or right depending on where they see the slants and where blitzes coming from. The coverage, knowing where the safety is and knowing where the corners are and are they in man or Cover 3? Are they disguising the coverage?

All pre-snap reads and thats for one play of around 50-70 that any offense can run in one game alone.

Where does this start? Well, it’s simple, it starts in the film room where a quarterback must be the first one in and last one out.

As a freshman, Fromm knew what was expected of him. He had a pretty good mentor in Eason who had been a Georgia for a year. Knowing that, Fromm didn’t waste a beat, learning and applying to what he already knew — there was a reason early enrolling helped the five-star and future first-round pick.

The fact that he instantly got praise from the players such as Nick Chubb, Roquan Smith and Deandre Baker as a true leader during his freshman year — oh and did I forget to mention that he helped lead Georgia to it’s first national title game since 1980? — was impressive.

The point is, this kid can read defenses and make the right decision better than anyone at the collegiate level and even some NFL quarterbacks — let’s be honest and give credit where it’s due. Also, he’s drawn heavy comparison to Drew Brees.

The kid can flat-out play and isn’t a three-year starter forcing out the nation’s No. 1 recruit in Justin Fields who is tearing it up at Ohio State and Eason who was forced to sit a year now bringing down the walls in Washington for no reason. The mechanics of his throwing motion will hurl its way into the NFL where a lucky top five or top 10 pick in the draft are able to land a potential quarterback for the next 10 years.

The mechanics and his ability to throw on the run are there. The ball is held a little lower than most and the fancy ball flip he does to find the laces might be concerning to some, but that is easily fixable. The biggest question is how can his mental aspect of the game translate to the NFL? That’s what we already know he can do which is hit the film room and learn from his mistakes.

The question isn’t whether he’s ready, it’s does he understand that the success rate of quarterbacks who declare early are significantly lower than those who stay four years to further work on one aspect of their game that is the weakest.

I don’t think he’s going to stay all four years personally but if he does, the things he needs to work on is simple: pulling the trigger. Working on making sure that the defense must respect his arm. Taking shots down the field and making sure the window that is smaller at the the NFL level than it is at the collegiate level is broken by his quick releasing throws.

If he’s able to do that, he’s going to have a very long and successful career, no matter when he joins the NFL.