INDIANAPOLIS -- The quarterbacks took center stage Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine, and just like two months ago in the national title game, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson was the best player on the field.
Throwing immediately after North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky (who also performed very well), Watson delivered accurate passes all over the field, showing impressive rhythm, balance and accuracy in the complicated five- and seven-step drop passes that he was rarely asked to make at Clemson.
The performance was reminiscent of the one Marcus Mariota enjoyed two years ago, helping to erase doubts about his ability to make a similar transition from Oregon’s relatively simple spread offense, ultimately catapulting him to the No. 2 overall pick.
Whereas Watson turned heads with his surprisingly polished footwork and consistent ball placement, Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer was a stark and disappointing contrast a few hours earlier.
There is no questioning Kizer’s arm talent. The ball comes out of his hand as impressively as any quarterback testing this year in Indianapolis. He looked off-balance dropping back, however, and was sporadic with the placement of his front foot when stepping into his throws. As a result, Kizer sprayed the ball, forcing his receivers to adjust, including on relatively simple curl routes to right side in which on three successive passes he threw a very high pass, a well-thrown ball that would have hit his receiver in the chest and a very low one.
Trubisky, the top-rated quarterback on NFLDraftScout.com’s board, threw the ball well, showing the efficient set-up and delivery, smooth throwing stroke and accuracy that belies his 13 career starts. Before throwing, Trubisky also showed off his exceptional athleticism, officially clocking in at 4.67 seconds in the 40-yard dash, which perhaps appropriately enough was one hundredth of a second behind Watson’s best time.
Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes II and California’s Davis Webb also fared well in the afternoon quarterback session. Like Watson, Mahomes and Webb were each surprisingly smooth in their drops despite playing their entire careers in Air-Raid spread offenses. Mahomes has an absolute rocket for an arm and showed good trajectory on the deep ball and post-corner. He does have a three-quarters delivery that will be a concern for some, especially given that he measured in at “only” 6-foot-2.
Webb created buzz at the Senior Bowl and built upon that momentum Saturday. He was especially impressive on the deep dig routes, hitting receivers in stride on the throw some feel is the toughest quarterbacks are asked to complete in Indianapolis because it requires timing with receivers they’ve just met.
While Trubisky, Mahomes and Webb flashed, the day belonged to Watson, who was easily the most consistent passer to throw at this year’s combine.
From the deep balls and gauntlet drills early (that scouts use more to evaluate receivers than the quarterbacks) to the slants, speed outs, digs, post-corners later in the workout, Watson consistently hit his receivers in stride, an impressive feat given that he had likely only thrown to two of them (former teammates Artavis Scott and Mike Williams) prior to his combine preparation.
Appropriately enough, it was Williams who was the receiver on the Watson’s final toss of the day.
The two lifted their hands in salute to each other before Williams took off, hauling in a post-corner, the final of three consecutive drop-in-the-bucket throws delivered by Watson.
