Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph Belong in the First Round.

"Elliot Kennel, you stupid jerk!  Did you really say Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph might be better than me?  Man, I'm putting you on my enemies list!"

   

Call me crazy but Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph are darned good and belong in the first Round.   Let's think this through a little bit, shall we?

   First, Mason Rudolph has done everything Baker Mayfield has done, except get arrested or grab his crotch on national TV.   I mean, 4900 passing yards, 37 TDs and 9 INTs. Jeepers.  Well, of course he did that in the Big 12,  and it may be argued the Big 12 does not know how to play pass defense.  

    That may be true, but isn't that the same conference that Oklahoma plays in?   Mason Rudolph is known for having a deadly accurate deep ball and has plenty of arm strength, though quite not at the level of Mayfield or Allen.  I think both Mayfield and Rudolph are candidates  to play in Game 1, depending on who drafts them.   Rudolph seems to have the right kind of work ethic to succeed in the NFL, whereas Mayfield is going to have to work hard to shake off the comparisons with Johnny Manziel. 

    Like Mayfield, Josh Rosen has also alienated a few people with his mouth.  It's not that he's said or done anything bad,  but there is some concern that he might not have the right kind of personality to play quarterback in the NFL   

   CBS Sportsline, incidentally, ranks Mason Rudolph as the top quarterback in America in at least one mock draft, but 10th overall.  They also like Lamar Jackson at 11th overall. That's probably not a bad estimate for where he will be taken. The main gripes against Lamar are that he is a running quarterback, has his mother for an agent, and scored poorly on the Wonderlic intelligence test.    Well, all those are true.  

    I am not crazy about running quarterbacks, either, but this fellow is just as talented if not more so than DeShaun Watson. Jackson will probably never have to pass against a seven man front, because other teams are going to have to stack the line to prevent him from running wild.  So it may be that Jackson is not quite the passer of the other five, but he doesn't have to be.  He will succeed.
    The Wonderlic flop didn't have to happen.  I blame his inexperienced agent (namely his mother) for not preparing him for the test.  There are test taking strategies that a normal agent would prepare his client for (i.e., if you don't know an answer, should you guess or not?  How much time should you spend on a tough problem before giving up and moving to the next). I doubt whether his well-intentioned but inexperienced agent knew how to prepare. Hence her son wound up being embarrassed.  Thanks, Mom.  But irrespective of test scores, he ran a complex Louisville Offense and is clearly football smart. I'm not buying the stupid quarterback narrative.  Jackson will be a star.       

    Per my own evaluation, I'd go with the following order:  Allen, Darnold, Jackson, Rudolph, Rosen and Mayfield.  But I think the draft order will be Allen, Mayfield, Rosen, Darnold, Jackson, and  Rudolph at the end of Round 1.  Really I'm comfortable with all 6 guys.  Although Mayfield and Rosen may have some perceived risk factors, it's still a worthy gamble that they will grow up to be star players.