Stetson Bennett is a gamer, and he strikes me as the kind of talent/personality that could have a fifteen-year career in the NFL as a backup. His running ability, and feel for the big moment, make him the kind of player a team with a running quarterback should target at the end of this draft. They won’t regret it.
From Lance Zierlein at NFL.com:
Overview
Bennett will turn 26 years old during his rookie season and he’s small in stature relative to today’s game. Those two things will work against him, but his history of elevating his play in spotlight games against the best competition should be a factor for some teams. He doesn’t have a plus arm and his accuracy and placement can vary from drive to drive, but he throws with anticipation and has shown an ability to get through progressions as a pro-style passer. He’s rarely sacked and has the mobility to do damage outside of the pocket. Bennett has backup potential for a timing-based passing attack that includes concepts often seen in the Shanahan offense.
Strengths
- Confidence and focus appear to elevate in the biggest games.
- Posted 308.8 passing yards per game with a completion rate of 67.7 percent and TD-INT ratio of 19:3 while going 5-1 over last six postseason games.
- Able to scan progressions across the entire field.
- Moves his feet with his eyes for throw readiness.
- No trouble coming off of primary read if it isn’t there.
- Pump fakes to freeze cornerback on high/low concepts.
- Makes throws with excellent anticipation from the pocket.
- Sacked just 24 times over the past two seasons, per PFF.
Weaknesses
- Very small and slight for the position by NFL standards.
- Game to game consistency has been an issue at times.
- Needs to navigate the pocket for cleaner launch points.
- Lacks drive velocity to fit throws into a tight window.
- Will fall off of some throws unnecessarily.
- Release timing for play-action and rollouts is uneven.
- Runs targets into collisions on zone throws between hashes.
- Struggles with placement, touch and distance on many deep throws.
