Scouting Report: Could Patriots Pounce on QB Kyle Trask on Day 2?
Measurables:
Height: 6-foot-5 (1.95m)
Weight: 239 lbs (108.4kg)
Age: 22
Strengths:
- Great footwork through his dropbacks. Rarely do his heels ever click
- A good, decisive processor, and someone who is strong at reading through his progressions and different reads
- Showed ability on multiple occasions to manipulate defenders and move them in space to create wider passing windows
- Will deliver with strong accuracy on short and intermediate passes
- When he can get his feet set with a clean pocket, he can throw a really pretty ball downfield. He has the potential to clean some things up, become more polished, and really deliver on some great throws
- Seems to have a good sense of where the ball should be placed, despite not always connecting. He's a quarterback who could throw to spots that could draw lots of defensive pass interference penalties (if that excites you at all)
- Definitely had some great moments that made him a Heisman candidate in his last season. Put up great stats and served as a good leader for the Florida Gators.
Weaknesses:
- The footwork on his drops are solid, yet, his footwork throughout his throwing motion can be one of his biggest killers. Lifting his back foot off the ground, changes the whole trajectory of the ball and causes major accuracy concerns. His mechanics in general are cause for concern, making 15+ yard passes sometimes not a given
- Very inconsistent player, who one play can sail a ball out of bounds, and then deliver a strike the next. Hard to know what to make of him. A lot of his inconsistencies stem from mechanics
- Question his poise in the pocket. Decision-making, vision, and mechanics can also start to fall off a cliff with pressure closing in on him
- Along those lines, he needs a lot more polish, and needs to specifically get coached on that poise, that ability to throw under pressure. He might just get absolutely mauled at the next level by the blitz. Gets himself into ugly sacks too many times, in big games in 2020
- Even his vision in a clean pocket can be a little spotty at times. While he is a quick processor, and good at going through reads and progressions, there are too many times where he misses out on a big play, leaving spectators to question what he is seeing on the field
Summary and Archetype:
I certainly struggle at times with Florida's Kyle Trask. A quarterback that has a lot of promising tools, yet, he will be a project wherever he lands. Trask will require much polish and bench-warming before he becomes any team even considers making him a QB1. While his in-game intelligence can be a path to success in the NFL, so many question marks remain as to whether he might be too limited to in the end to put everything together.
After a Heisman candidacy this season, tossing for 43 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards, there will certainly be some intrigue as too where he will land. While he was receiving first-round buzz not long ago, that quickly died after some spotty performances this year. In a big game against Alabama in the SEC Championship, Trask's first half of football featured some real ugly moments on tape, when his offense was supposed to be a high-power, well-oiled machine. After some investigation, look for Trask to flirt with the second and third rounds of the draft, and be a potential valuable pick for whoever decides to take on his development.
Fit with the Patriots:
Trask, much like Alabama's Mac Jones, fits the traditional New England offensive mold. Yet, much like Jones in some respects, he likely wouldn't excite, or do anything out of the ordinary at the next level. Drafting a Trask would in all likelihood suffice as a short-term solution to a position that really needs a long-term answer. Trask in a traditional Patriots' offense (that being much like the Tom Brady-style offense of old) would allow for him to feed off his strengths by distributing the ball in the short/intermediate range, and do so decisively, fitting the ball into some tight windows, manipulating linebackers with his eyes. With that, he would also have the arm and opportunity to stretch downfield on occasion, and hit one deep. The very definition of the New England traditional style of play.
With that being said, it's unclear how much Trask would differ from the play we have seen from Jarrett Stidham. Stidham, who appears to have a slim chance to start this upcoming season, has been waiting under the wing of two separate quarterbacks for the first two years of his career. Unfortunately, Trask could likely have the same fate as Stidham, as he will require polish and time to learn before even thinking of stepping on the Gillette Stadium turf. With this, either the Patriots would have to give up on the Stidham experiment and ship him off (which doesn't seem to make much sense right now), or hold both quarterbacks, likely making one obsolete.
In the meantime, these two quarterbacks would also likely be sitting on the bench together, as neither of them would be ready to steer the ship. After watching Bill Belichick consistently favor a struggling Cam Newton over Stidham, it's very clear that Stidham has not earned enough of the organization's support to play as a starter in the NFL yet. Which would likely lead to New England carrying three quarterbacks in 2021, with a bridge quarterback (someone like Jacoby Brissett or Marcus Mariota, or even a return of Newton). Nothing about this situation is appealing.
Trask and Stidham would likely be in a battle to prove superiority, which could benefit both players. However, when analyzing their play, it just doesn't appear like these two are anything but two sides of the same coin through the analysis. While Trask would theoretically fit the offensive scheme and potentially provide the Patriots' organization with several years of solid quarterback play, he might just be a victim of bad timing. Drafting Trask in the second round would be the move if New England missed out on acquiring a starting caliber veteran, and/or a quarterback in the first round of the draft.
While Trask could succeed here with time, he is likely one of the last resort options if the Patriots swing and miss on a slew of other candidates ahead of him. This selection would go against claims and reports of increased aggressiveness by Belichick, and likely result in either a combo of Trask and Stidham, or a three-headed quarterback room that would, in all likelihood, be among the worst in the league in 2021.
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