Cam NewtonMatt Ryan, Matthew Stafford and Sam Bradford were clear-cut choices as the first quarterbacks taken in the past three NFL drafts, but it’s wide open this year after Andrew Luck elected to return to Stanford for his redshirt junior season.
Longtime ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper considers Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert, Auburn’s Cam Newton, Ryan Mallett of Arkansas and Jake Locker of Washington as first-round probabilities or possibilities, but he has numerous questions about each. And please don’t suggest to Kiper that they will excel right away.
“You’re going to have some woeful performances by some of these rookie quarterbacks,” Kiper said. “People act like rookie quarterbacks should be six- or seven-year veterans. If one of those four plays well as a rookie, then you’ve got a scoop, because I don’t see any of those rookies looking good if they’re forced to play.”
Gabbert, Newton, Mallett and Locker head a list of 18 quarterbacks who received invitations to the NFL combine in Indianapolis, which runs Feb. 23 to March 1. Also making the list were Alabama’s Greg McElroy, TCU’s Andy Dalton, Florida State’s Christian Ponder and Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor.
This year’s draft will be held April 28-30.