2023 NFL Draft: Ranking The Top 15 Quarterbacks in the Class
The 2023 NFL Draft is just around the corner and there has been plenty of talk about the depth of this class and the amount of future long-term starters, in addition to reliable backups, that it presents.Bryce Young of Alabama and CJ Stroud out of Ohio State serve as the obvious headliners, but there are a handful of exciting wild cards and boom-or-bust prospects with high ceilings also set to come off the board.
Here's a look at how the top-15 prospects at the position stack up as they look to take the next step in their careers:
1. Bryce Young, Alabama
Young remained steady and impressive throughout his college career with the Crimson Tide when the team itself was shakier than we've ever seen it in recent years -- wide receiving corps very much included in that.
He hardly failed to come in the clutch in situations where Alabama desperately needed it with an uncanny playmaking ability and arguably the most polished mechanics among all college football quarterbacks in 2022.
The 5-foot-10, 204-pounder is far from the biggest standout where physical traits are concerned, but surpasses many from the mental perspective of playing the game with his processing time and ability, rarely putting the ball in harm's way, unaffected by pressure.
Young finished out the 2022 season with a 64.5% completion percentage, 3,328 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns on 49 attempts.
2. CJ Stroud, Ohio State.
Described as potentially the most naturally accurate passer in the 2023 crop, Stroud looks to make a smooth transition to the NFL as a player who has proven himself several times over as a prospect who plays at a high level consistently against the toughest of competition.
The 6-foot-3, 214-pounder led the FBS in pass efficiency (177.7) and plays with a healthy aggression, unafraid to attack the field and take some risks, but does it in a responsible way taking care of the football, as his touchdown-to-interception ratio reflects.
The Buckeyes product is consistent through the air and hits his receivers in stride and on time with the ability to reset his feet when forced off of his spot to deliver an accurate ball, also effective when he has to use his legs to evade pressure.
Stroud ended out the final season of his college career with a 66.3% completion rate, passing for 3,688 yards with 41 touchdowns and six interceptions.
3. Hendon Hooker, Kentucky.
Hooker was expected ahead of the season to be one of the quarterbacks in the conversation for the first five picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, but an ACL injury during the season changed all of that. But what he brings to an NFL team could make him a major steal, granted that all goes well with recovery.
Hooker rarely made mistakes with the football at Tennessee, as reflected by the fact he has the second-best and the fourth-best touchdown to interception ratios since 2018. The 6-foot-3, 217-pounder has some of the most consistent footwork in this year's draft class, has been largely free of error in the face of pressure and has shown to be equally reliable as a passer and a runner as a true dual-threat quarterback, a term that's thrown around too frequently.
Hooker finished out 2022 with a 69.6% completion rate, 3,135 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and two interceptions on 329 attempts. He also carried the ball 104 times for 430 yards and five scores.
4. Will Levis, Kentucky.
Originally projected several times over to be one of the top three picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, Levis has fallen down the draft boards of many. The former Penn State quarterback who played the Taysom Hill-type of role as "The Lion" while with the team slid into a more traditional role at Kentucky and was mostly up-and-down with inconsistent lower-body mechanics and questionable decision-making at times among his most major flaws.
When I spoke with Levis ahead of the 2022 season, he noted what he wanted to clean up as a true quarterback.
“I think I have the capability to be a really good quarterback with my ability to make all the throws, to be decisive and be able to make plays with my legs as well,” Levis said. “I think for me, the biggest thing is just decision-making and making sure when I’m on the field that there is the utmost confidence in me. That I’m going to be taking the shots when they need to be taken but not necessarily forcing the ball... One thing on the stat sheet that is glaring that I want to address this year is the interceptions. I want to lower the interceptions by not taking the shots every time, taking my medicine and checking it down when need be.”
Despite this, Levis brings all of the physical tools to be desired at 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds with plenty of arm strength, a solid release and the ability to make off-platform throws and get things done with his legs.
Much like Malik Willis was in last year's draft, he's still developmental in several ways and it's going to take correcting some mistakes that may or may not prove possible to correct, but the ceiling is sky-high. At the same token, if he doesn't move along the way many are hoping for, he'll hardly be a viable backup.
In Levis' final season as a Wildcat, he completed 65.4% of his passing attempts for 2,406 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
5. Anthony Richardson, Florida.
Richardson is one of the more polarizing quarterback prospects in this class, and that comes down to the fact he has an incredibly high ceiling but it also raw in several areas without a plethora of in-game experience at the college level.
The 6-foot-4, 244-pounder turned heads at the Manning Passing Academy with the physical traits and arm talent he brings as a prospect, and in his solid performances on the field, impressed with his toughness and ability to stand tall in the face of pressure, pocket awareness and overall explosiveness both on the pass and the run.
At the same time, his lack of accuracy, touch, ball placement problems and accuracy issues are big minuses that must improve for him to have any amount of success in the pros.
Richardson ended out his final season at Florida with a 53.8% completion rate, passing for 2,549 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 17:9. He also ran for 654 yards and nine scores on 103 carries.
If he reaches his full potential, Richardson could quickly become one of the NFL's most dynamic quarterbacks when he slides into a starting position, but he has an equally low floor.
6. Jake Haener, Fresno State.
There's a stigma that unfairly surrounds quarterbacks in smaller conferences because of the level of competition narrative, and it's exactly why Haener has never gotten the full amount of credit and recognition he deserves.
But Haener pushes those notions and the concerns surrounding his age and 6-foot, 207-pound frame aside, bringing a great deal of confidence and maturity to the table.
“Stetson (Bennett is) about two years older than I am,” Haener said. “I’m still 23 and there’s a lot of quarterbacks out there about 23, 24 at this point so age I don’t think is a big deal. And height, it is what it is. I can’t control that and there’s probably a lot of people saying that if I was one or two inches taller that I’d probably be going a lot higher than I’ll go but I can’t control that. I play bigger than I am and do everything that I can in my power to get guys fired up and play at a high level that I’m capable of.”
Haener has caught attention for the grit he plays with, very much on display when he played through injury in the UCLA game in the 2021 season and was no stranger to toughing through injury. He's also done a good job of showcasing his Football IQ, ability to throw with anticipation into seemingly impossible tight windows down the sideline and has found success at all levels of the field as a passer with the ability to still get the job done when the pocket collapses.
Haener completed 72% of his passes for 2,896 yards with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions in 2022.
7. Stetson Bennett IV, Georgia.
Despite the fact he led his team to a pair of back-to-back national championship victories, Bennett remains a polarizing prospect who has largely found himself projected in the fourth round at the highest. According to multiple NFL sources, it seems most likely that Bennett will go late Day 2 or early Day 3.
Ahead of the 2022 season, UGA head coach Kirby Smart said that he thought getting additional reps before the season got underway would help the former walk-on to develop and had plenty of positives he noticed in Bennett but that one of the keys was for the signal-caller to stop making "boneheaded mistakes" that were an issue at times in the team's 2021 postseason run.
When I spoke with Bennett over the summer, he noted his shortcomings and where he wanted to improve -- something he very much did in 2022.
“My footwork in the pocket is my big focus,” Bennett said. “My consistency in my drops. And then just the timing with the wideouts on timing routes is another thing I’ve really put a lot of work into.”
The 5-foot-11, 192-pounder has a high floor despite a lot of question marks surrounding his ceiling, projecting at least as a reliable backup with a Brock Purdy type of potential as a quarterback who doesn't take unnecessary hits, throws with great anticipation, never gets locked on one read and goes through his progressions well with a level of athleticism that is far from Lamar Jackson-esque, but is still underrated.
Bennett finished out the 2022 season with a completion rate of 68.3%, 4,127 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
8. Tanner McKee, Stanford.
McKee flew under-the-radar for the better part of his college career but but has garnered some more attention during the past couple of seasons. Expected to be taken in sixth or seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the 6-foot-6, 231-pounder checks the box where size is concerned with a strong arm and the ability to make NFL throws at all levels of the field.
Though he has been knocked for his lack of agility and struggles doing things out of structure, intangibles and what he feels he's gained from playing in Stanford's intricate West Coast offense are things McKee greatly prides himself on.
“I think first off for me is that I’m a leader. Somebody who will rally the troops,” McKee told me in an interview last offseason. “I feel like that’s one of the most important jobs. Being a quarterback, being a facilitator, having guys trust you. Having a guy back there that people will follow. I think that’s one thing I really take to heart and I think that’s one of the most important things at the quarterback position.”
“I really love the offense we’re in here. You kind of get the best of both worlds,” McKee said. “We throw the ball a lot, we take shots, but we also will get under center and run power on people and we’ll bring in the big guys and try to run the ball between the guards. You get an overall well-rounded quarterback instead of a guy who has only run in a spread system or has only been under center running, maybe a triple-option or handing the ball off 50 times a game.”
McKee finished out the 2023 season with a 62% completion rate, passing for 2,947 yards with 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
9. Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA.
Formerly ranked as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country out of Bishop Gorman High School, Thompson-Robinson has been ace on designed quarterback runs with plenty of scrambling ability and willingness to improvise when the protection crumbles.
But there are some things to be desired with his arm strength, anticipation, release and, at time, questionable decision-making.
Thompson-Robinson finished out the 2022 season with a 69.6% completion rate, passing for 3,154 yards with 27 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also ran for 646 yards with 12 scores on the ground.
10. Clayton Tune, Houston.
Tune received a lot of attention ahead of the 2022 season, expected by some to potentially be an early-round quarterback who could lead Houston to a conference championship.
That didn't exactly happen as the Tulane Green Wave spoiled the party, and Tune is now projected to be a later-round quarterback with the season in the books.
Tune can be best-described as a game-manager who has proven he can effectively execute a game plan and has risen to the occasion in the face of adversity multiple times, but he lacks "it" factor and needs to both clean up his footwork in the pocket and speed up his processing time after the snap.
When I spoke with Tune at the Reese's Senior Bowl this offseason, he addressed some of this and said that the Air Raid/Run-N-Shoot stigma wasn't something he was concerned with and that he was confident in what he brings to the table as a prospect.
"I'm sure there is (a widespread stigma), but I don't really see it that way," Tune said. "I know there are people out there that may say, 'oh, they're a system quarterback' or this and that, but I don't look at it that way. Not at all... "I think first and foremost (what I am) is a tough player. I've played through a lot of adversity in my career. Played through injury in 2021 for basically the whole season and came from behind a lot. Playing tough and pulling through in the clutch when it matters the most and being an accurate decision-maker are things I pride myself on."
Tune finished out the 2022 season with a 67.3% completion rate, passing for 4,074 yards with 40 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He rushed for 546 yards with five scores on 128 carries.
11. Jaren Hall, BYU.
12. Aidan O'Connell, Purdue.
13. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd.
14. Max Duggan, TCU.
15. Malik Cunningham, Louisville.
