Joe Theismann Explains Why He Would Draft Zach Wilson Before Trevor Lawrence
Zach Wilson (1) scrambles in the Boca Raton Bowl against UCF.
Following a historical season at quarterback, Zach Wilson declared for the NFL Draft. WIlson will be the first quarterback drafted out of BYU since John Beck, and the first BYU quarterback drafted in the traditional first round since Jim McMahon. For the first time, Zach Wilson was a consensus top-10 pick among all the most recent and relevant mock drafts. In fact, every draft had Wilson in the top five with the exception of NBS Sports.
In a recent interview with CBS Sports, NFL legend Joe Theismann explained why he would take Zach Wilson with the no. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft over Clemson's Trevor Lawrence. You can watch a clip of that interview in the video above.
"I love the way he throws the football. It's hard to teach," Theismann explained. "We've seen people learn to perfect it a little bit, but he's got all the natural skills. He has a live arm, he has a strong arm. He can put touch on it, he can gun it. He's 6'3, he's not a small guy. He moves around with great athleticism. Watching him play quarterback, he looks really ready."
Theismann says the gap between the two is "real close", but Wilson would be his choice:
"Trevor Lawrence is certainly a big kid that can run well, surrounded by terrific talent at Clemson. It's a little bit like Mac Jones at Alabama...sometimes you look at that talent and say, 'did that help the [quarterback] position a lot?'
I just think that coming into this particular draft, Zach checks all the choices for me. He's my choice, he's my guy. It looks like the Jets may be the ones that wind up taking him at number two."