Ask Farrell: What to make of crowded QB field in NFL Draft?

Let the quarterback debates begin for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Things are taking more shape as Tua Tagovailoa and Jake Fromm both announced this week that they will be leaving Alabama and Georgia, respectively, to enter the upcoming draft. Their decisions add further intrigue as to how NFL teams will view this QB draft.

After an historic season at LSU, the feeling is that Joe Burrow will be the first quarterback off the board and he could go No. 1 overall.

Tagovailoa’s pre-draft process will be prodded since he’s coming off a hip injury. He’s had a history of other injuries and he’s a lefty quarterback, which over time has not been a huge benefit to playing in the NFL. Still, Tagovailoa had a phenomenal career at Alabama, he has Nick Saban’s blessing and he might be too talented to pass up early in the first round.

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For all the criticism of Fromm – that he’s a game manager and his play declined this season – the former five-star still had the most passing yards in his career and he finished with more passing yards than Tagovailoa and more passing TDs than Burrow.

There was talk of Oregon’s Justin Herbert going No. 1 overall if he had left school after last season. Strangely, after posting the best numbers of his career this year while leading the Ducks to a Rose Bowl win, the talk on Herbert going so high seems to have died down instead of picked up.

Utah State’s Jordan Love had a breakout sophomore season with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions, but had a bad junior campaign with 20 TDs and 17 picks. Yet there is still some chatter he could go in the first round.

And then there is Washington’s Jacob Eason, a transfer from Georgia, who went to the Huskies and in one season threw for 3,132 yards with 23 touchdowns and eight picks. He might have the best arm talent of any quarterback on this list.

We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell to give his take on this NFL Draft quarterback class heading into the pre-draft process.

“In the overvalued department I’m certainly going with Tagovailoa, who has serious durability questions and I feel has an average arm. He’s more of a touch passer and I don’t feel that will work well in the NFL. Maybe he’s a good third- or fourth-round pick, but his first-round label feels way too high.

"I was a big fan of Fromm prior to this season, but you don’t want a quarterback who has regressed in his most recent season, so wherever he lands could be too high.

"As far as undervalued, I look at Eason, who could be a version of Drew Lock this year with a stronger arm. He doesn’t have a ton of film and didn’t dominate as expected at Washington, but I have a feeling we are just scratching the surface with him.”