ESPN’s McShay really likes Brock Osweiler

Many eyebrows were raised a couple of weeks ago when
Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler announced he was
passing up his senior season with the Sun Devils to enter
the NFL Draft.

Osweiler did become the first quarterback in ASU history
to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a single season, but
the Devils lost five straight games to finish the year a
disappointing 6-7 and the junior from Kalispell, Montana
only has 15 career starts on his résumé.

There seems to be some uncertainty as to where Osweiler
could fall in the draft, but one of the foremost experts
in the business, Todd McShay of ESPN and Scouts,
Inc., thinks the ASU product could rise into the late
first round come April.

McShay and Mel Kiper discussed on ESPN’s Sportscenter
Thursday morning which quarterbacks could follow Andrew
Luck of Stanford and Robert Griffin III of Baylor in the
pecking order of this year’s first round.

“Brock Osweiler, the more tape I watch out of him coming
out of Arizona State, the more impressed I am with him,”
McShay said. “He’s got a unique delivery and he’s not
very fundamentally sound yet, but he’s got unbelievable
physical tools and he’s a very good leader. I think he
could move into that first round.”

McShay also mentioned Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M and
Arizona’s Nick Foles as candidates to improve their stock
enough to hear their names called in the first round, but
Kiper disagreed.

“I’d say right now, I can’t see any of those quarterbacks
going in the late first, based on grade. We thought Andy
Dalton was going to be a first round pick and he didn’t go
until the early second round,” he said. “If Andy Dalton’s
not a first round pick, I can’t see Osweiler, Foles or
Tannehill, and Tannehill’s got an injury right now, I
can’t see how any of those guys goes in the first round if
Dalton’s not a one, because these guys are not in the
league in terms of grade where with what Dalton had going
into this draft.”

The NFL Draft begins April 26th.

Osweiler/QB discussion begins at 4:17 mark of video

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