Take Two: Should Josh Allen go No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft?

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

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Quarterback Josh Allen did not have particularly fantastic stats this past season, but ESPN Draft Analyst Mel Kiper Jr. still has the Wyoming quarterback as the No. 1 pick in his first mock draft.

He explains.

“I went with Allen because he finished strong, he had the big game against Central Michigan and he has the physical capability to hang, to do the job in the weather conditions like Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Wentz, quarterbacks he’s going to be compared to with the size and the physicality and the arm strength and the mobility and the toughness and the competitiveness for playing in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore every year,” Kiper said.

“That’s why Allen with the big-time arm and the big body was the reason I gave him that slight edge over (Josh) Rosen and (Sam) Darnold.”

Allen is huge at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds and there’s no doubt he has a big-time arm. But at Wyoming this season, the JUCO transfer completed about 56 percent of his passes for 1,812 yards with 16 touchdowns and six picks. He also led the team with five rushing scores. Not exactly eye-popping numbers.

But Kiper said “stats are for losers in a lot of ways,” in a further attempt to defend Allen, who did not have many offensive weapons at Wyoming this season.

But is Allen the next Roethlisberger or Wentz, a big-bodied, big-armed quarterback who went to an under-the-radar program and could shine as an NFL quarterback? Or is Allen just another big-armed, big-bodied quarterback who doesn’t have what it takes to lead an NFL franchise to the playoffs and possibly beyond?

It’s clear in such a quarterback-heavy draft that Allen going first would bring hearty debate especially with Rosen, Darnold, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and others available.

"Josh Allen's natural abilities as the prototypical NFL quarterback with his top-level arm strength, size, good mobility for his size, and competitive qualities, makes him a No. 1 NFL Draft pick candidate. He is probably more raw than Darnold and Rosen, and needs more development, though I hear the NFL believes he has the higher ceiling and why NFL GMs would choose him first. It's what the particular pro team values or wants in a quarterback.”

“The Browns could take him if they’re infatuated with his arm. He’s a lesser version of Ryan Mallett. He’s a huge kid with a big arm. At least Mallett had some success at Arkansas in the Power Five. This kid hasn’t had any success against Power Five teams.

“It’s infatuation with his size and his mobility and his arm strength. I don’t care about cold weather. None of that matters. Aaron Rodgers has been successful in Green Bay and he played his entire career in California, so that’s all bunk. I could see the Browns making a mistake and taking Allen because they seem to make a mistake with everything they do. It makes sense in that respect. If they’re targeting him, that would be a very Browns thing to do.”