An early look at WVU’s 2019 NFL Draft prospects: Will Grier
The 2019 NFL Draft is months away, but West Virginia has numerous players on its roster this season who have a chance of playing at the next level.
WVSports.com catches up with CBS Sports NFL Draft Writer, Chris Trapasso, to ask him his opinions on the early draft stocks of these players.
Today, we begin our series with a Q&A with Trapasso regarding the draft stock of West Virginia quarterback, Will Grier.
1. What stands out the most to you about Grier?
"I think on paper or just from the highlights it would be easy to say he throws a great deep ball. While I think that's one of his strengths, I think that his presence in the pocket, I think that comes from the fair amount of experience he has and he is bringing into this next season, I still think that is one of the two or three of the most important attributes that a eventual NFL quarterback needs to have: to maneuver inside the pocket when there is pressure from any different angle, area, from outside/inside pressure and beyond just moving away from the pressure, also keeping his eyes up and seeming relatively calm while that's all happening. That's one thing that I think is very clear between the bad quarterbacks, the good quarterbacks and the elite quarterbacks in the NFL is how well they handle the pressure while remaining a quarterback and a passer. I think beyond all the highlights of his downfield strikes last year, watching him live and then rewatching again just for draft prep already for next year I was just even more impressed when I rewatched him than when I was when I wasn't sure if he was going to enter the 2018 draft and I was watching him live and kind of going back even in December and January, so I think that to me right now really stands out and I think he is one of the best quarterbacks at alluding pressure in the pocket and still being able to throw the ball accurately to potentially his second and third reads."
2. How does Grier’s skill set fit in at the next level and where does he currently rank among the rest of the 2019 quarterback class?
"He is what I would call the 'new age' style quarterback. There are still some fundamental things you have to do well, obviously beyond just throwing it accurately, reading coverages well, you have to be able to move well in the pocket which I think he is very good at doing, but then he also has kind of the new age stuff of understanding the run-pass options, who to read, sucking in the linebackers and throwing it over them so I think because of that he's getting the best of the real traditional style of offense and what we're kind of seeing the NFL, and college game, trending toward. Right now, maybe just because of the arm although like I said I don't put that much of an ownice on it, he's somewhere between my fourth or fifth best quarterback and that's before this entire season. Obviously there's been a ton of players at a ton of different positions that can rise and fall considerably.”
3. What do you believe his strengths and weaknesses are?
Strengths: "Other strengths: I mentioned his ability to really give his wide receivers a chance down the field. I'm a big believer that a quarterback's downfield accuracy has a little bit more to do than we think in general on the wide receiver. Wide receivers that are bigger like David Sills or just guys who can track the ball really well I think that can kind of help the quarterback's downfield accuracy, but I think that he puts a lot of air under the passes, just not throw too many underthrown passes down the field but I think most importantly for how the NFL is going is that he's very accurate in the short to intermediate levels. Obviously in Dana Holgorsen's offense there's a lot of bubble screens, a lot of quick slants, a lot of quick passing that I think you need to be someone that can catch that shotgun snap, get your hands where they need to be, and throw the football not only on target, but get rid of it quickly and it's kind of the opposite of those downfield strikes. There is so much on his film that just shows him almost like a shortstop just getting the ball and getting it out quickly. It might seem super easy and it's not something that you'd really want to concentrate on when you're watching film, but I did notice that as something that might be a little more difficult than it seems.”
Weaknesses: “In terms of his weaknesses, he doesn't have the strongest arm. I don't think that's a huge problem though. Some of the passes from the far half, kind of the traditional NFL style throw, that again is kind of going by the wayside with most NFL offensive coordinators, but some of those passes are kind of slowing down when they get to the target or kind of skip or are at the wide receiver's feet. So really that was the biggest thing to me that seemed like a weakness. I guess maybe that, I wouldn't call this a weakness, but just with how much production he had down the field last year. I think it's easy to say he's this immaculate down field thrower. Again, I think some of that was on his wide receiver's last year, so I don't know if that's a huge strength of his. So really his arm strength is the only main weakness, I think he needs to and certainly could improve if he just gets a little stronger heading into the season."
4. Where do you him being selected in the 2019 NFL Draft?
“So anywhere from the second to fourth round at this point and certainly with another big season and if he does gain a little more arm strength, I think he could ultimately be one of the first couple quarterbacks picked in next year's draft."
5. Which NFL teams would he fit best with?
"It's kind of hard to say just because there's going to be new offensive coordinators, but really I think, and what's so fun about this, is that we see in the Big 12 is that there's games that seemingly don't feature too much defense, but I don't think that's because of lack of talent of defense in the conference, but I think more-so that there's so many smart, innovative, young offensive coordinators that have really pushed this run-pass option that has yet to be really figured out by defenses and I think we're going to continue to see that become more of a popular trend in the NFL, so if he lands with a coordinator that wants to put him under center, wants to run a lot of zone and have him bootleg off that -- he's pretty good at throwing off the run, but I think having him in a pretty similar or familiar to the one he's been running at West Virginia that does feature a lot of run-pass option, that would probably be the best for him. But like I said, the way he is very reliable with his accuracy in the short to intermediate ranges, he could be in a classic West Coast offense -- get the ball out quickly, a lot of slants, a lot of drag routes, so I really wouldn't pigeon hole him into anything specific at this point. Maybe someone like Norv Turner with the Carolina Panthers that is kind of an old school guy that wants to push it down the field a lot. Just based on what I've seen from him thus far, I don’t know if that would be the best fit, but really there's getting to be more and more teams that I think he would fit with which obviously goes well for him as an NFL prospect."
6. How can Grier improve or hurt his draft stock?
"When you hear the term improve, you're kind of expecting someone to change something about their game. I just want to see him continue to be very poised and not just instantly take off and scramble when he's under pressure. I think if he maintains what he's showed and maybe builds on it a little bit, that would be really big for his draft stock. I think we're getting to the point where every draft there's talented throwers, but a lot of times these guys are taking off too quickly and it's not even a matter of these guys are going to instantly get hurt at the next level doing that, just obviously more efficient if you can stand like Tom Brady does and wait and wait and still throw the football down the field, so doing that and having a little better arm strength, velocity on some of those longer throws across the field or even downfield, I think that would really help him go from somewhere in the second to fourth round range to somewhere in the first round."
7. Who do you compare him to?
“I have him compared to Brian Hoyer at this point and he might not be someone a lot of West Virginia fans would be that excited about but Brian Hoyer has had a very long career, he's been a capable starter at times, rhythm passer, not a huge arm, understands where he has to go with the football, not a lot of interceptions where he's throwing it right to a linebacker or cornerback. I do think Grier has a bit of a higher ceiling and I'm really excited to see him this year because of that down field passing that Brian Hoyer was never really able to develop in the NFL.”
8. Had Grier declared for the 2018 NFL Draft, where do you think he would've been selected?
"There was a fair amount of time where I thought he was going to declare, I was doing work on him like he was going to be a 2018 prospect, I think where Kyle Lauletta from Richmond got drafted in the third round -- somewhere in that range third to fifth round just because he was coming off a very productive year and like I said, was just great in the pocket and beyond that and I think this is really important to quarterbacks and runs counter to every other position -- think if you're a defensive end, running back, wide receiver, you're young, you're 19-20, you've played for a year or two as a starter and you just dominate. I think you should go to the NFL and get your money and that's more impressive to me than somewhat under experienced quarterback that only started one year maybe 13 games and comes out. I just think you need to develop at the collegiate level for as long as you can and hold off as long as you can to ultimately be the best quarterback you can possibly be and that's why I think with Grier and how much experience he's going to have, he's going to be an older prospect next year that will help him. We saw Baker Mayfield who potentially could've come out two years ago and decides to come back was obviously the first pick, but I think a lot of that was he grew every year as a passer. He saw more coverages, saw more pressures, and I think that is really important and I think that is something that will be in Grier's corner is that he is going to be an older and very experienced quarterback next year."
