If you absolutely had to make a guess right now, most people would say that Penn State's Christian Hackenberg, Michigan State's Connor Cook and Ohio State's Cardale Jones (nice year for state schools) are the most interesting quarterback prospects as we look ahead to the 2016 NFL Draft. Each one of them has a distinctive attribute.
Hackenberg is coming off a tough sophomore season but has all the arm talent in the world. Cook has a compact delivery and the swagger you look for in a QB. Jones is a physical freak and has drawn favorable comparisons to Ben Roethlisberger.
But neither of those players are the top quarterback in ESPN NFL Draft Insider Mel Kiper Jr.'s 2016 Big Board. No, that honor belongs to Cal's Jared Goff.
"The system at Cal is going to produce numbers, but Goff's 35 touchdown passes against seven interceptions are good anywhere," Kiper wrote. "The big sell here is a big-time arm. Goff can drill the ball down the field and into tight windows with ease, and he has strong movement skills and anticipation for a player with good length who seems to see the whole field. Goff's totals are going to be significant, so the question of whether the skills translate quickly will be the key question."
In addition to the touchdowns, Goff threw for 3,973 yards while completing 62.1 percent of his passes last year. But is he really a better prospect than the other three QBs mentioned? Goff was not listed in the first round mock draft from either ESPN's Todd McShay or WalterFootball.com while the other three signal-callers were. Is Kiper alone in this opinion?
Let's revisit this once the 2015 season has played out and we have a better understanding of who these players are on the field.
