FAB 3. Second-Round QB Options For The Bucs

Just five years removed from Tampa Bay using the first overall draft pick on quarterback Jameis Winston, the last thing the Bucs or their fans want to see is the team use another first-round pick on another quarterback so soon. Especially with pressing needs in the secondary and at offensive tackle where 34-year old right tackle Demar Dotson is fading and left tackle Donovan Smith just isn’t an elite player and reliable blind side pass protector.

Yet even if the Bucs place the franchise tag on Winston in the offseason, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Tampa Bay to spend its first- or second-round pick on another QB.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

If that’s what it takes to push Winston towards living up to his vast potential and becoming the team’s franchise quarterback in 2021 and beyond then so be it. And if Winston falters, the Bucs would already have his successor on the roster, learning Bruce Arians’ offense.

Good backup quarterbacks are paid in excess of $5 million, which is what a first-round rookie QB would make in 2020, and if Winston becomes the long-term signal caller in Tampa Bay, the Bucs can trade their backup away as the Cardinals did this past year with Josh Rosen. Arizona wanted to use the first overall pick in 2019 for quarterback Kyler Murray despite drafting Rosen with the 10th overall pick the year before. Rosen netted the Cardinals a second- and a fifth-round pick from Miami.

But outside of a shot at LSU’s Joe Burrow, the likely first overall pick next April, most Bucs fans would prefer to see the team spend its first-round pick on anything other than another quarterback. But the second round? That might be a different story.

After Burrow, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Georgia’s Jake Fromm, there is a second tier of quarterbacks that could intrigue the Bucs on Day 2 of the draft. That starts with Washington’s Jacob Eason, a 6-foot-6, 227-pound passer with a big arm.

Washington QB Jacob Eason – Photo by: Getty Images

Eason began his career at Georgia where he was a starter as a freshman in 2016, leading the Bulldogs to an 8-5 record before Fromm, a local high school star, beat him out for the starting job in 2017. After backing up Fromm, Eason transferred back home to the state of Washington where he became the Huskies’ starter in 2019.

After completing 55.1 percent of his passes for 2,430 yards with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions as a freshman for the Bulldogs, Eason’s game has really taken off during his junior year at Washington.

EASON’S GEORGIA PASSING STATS
2016: 55.1 percent passing for 2,430 yards with 16 TDs and 8 INTs
2017: 57.1 percent passing for 28 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs

EASON’S WASHINGTON PASSING STATS
2019: 63.7 percent passing for 2,470 yards with 20 TDs and 7 INTs

Eason is a classic pocket passer with incredible arm strength and good touch. He would be an ideal fit in a vertical passing offense like Arians’ in Tampa Bay. With a 6-4 record, Eason hasn’t shown the ability to carry a team on his back. He has just two 300-yard passing games this season and could really use another year as a starter at the college level to take his game to new heights.

Eason is more of potential prospect than a polished player at this time, and lost head-to-head match-ups against Herbert and Stanford’s A.J. Costello earlier this year. Still, he might enter the draft this year if he gets a second-round grade, especially if he believes Tagovailoa’s hip injury could cause the Alabama star to slide out of the first round.

Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts – Photo by: Getty Images

Another intriguing prospect is Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, who transferred from Alabama after Tagovailoa beat him out for the starting job in 2017. Hurts’ biggest weakness earlier in his college days was his inability to properly read defenses, which often times forced him to tuck the ball down and run.

Hurts has thrived as a dual threat quarterback, rushing for 1,991 yards and 23 touchdowns in his two seasons as a starter from 2016-17, including a few games in 2018 where he subbed in for the injured Tagovailoa. At Oklahoma, Hurts has followed in the footsteps of the last two Heisman Trophy winners, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, and thrived in Lincoln Riley’s offense, tossing 28 touchdowns and only five interceptions, while averaging 6.6 yards per carry in rushing for 983 yards and 15 touchdowns.

HURTS’ ALABAMA PASSING STATS
2016: 62.8 percent passing for 2,780 yards with 23 TDs and 9 INTs
2017: 60.4 percent passing for 2,081 yards with 17 TDs and 1 INT
2018: 72.9 percent passing for 765 yards with 8 TDs and 2 INTs

HURTS’ OKLAHOMA PASSING STATS
2019: 73.0 percent passing for 3,039 yards with 28 TDs and 5 INTs

Bucs tight end O.J. Howard played with Hurts while the two were in Alabama, and has marveled at how much he has improved as a passer during his senior season at Oklahoma.

“He has, and I think that’s a part of Jalen’s game that he knew he could improve on and he did it,” Howard said. “He took pride in it this off-season to get better at it, as you can see, and he’s put up numbers that we thought people wouldn’t get a chance to touch again. And he’s touching them with Baker, and he won the Heisman, so that tells you where he’s heading. He’s done a great job of handling everything, the adversity that’s come his way, and he’s been a great leader for that team.”

Hurts’ accuracy has improved from 62.8 percent and 60 percent as a starter at Alabama in 2016 and 2017, respectively, to 73 percent this season for the Sooners. The fact that mobile quarterbacks like Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray are having success in the league only helps the NFL prospects a dual threat QB like Hurts.

Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts and HC Lincoln Riley – Photo by: Getty Images

Even if Hurts, who will likely be a Day 2 quarterback drafted in the second or third round, doesn’t make it as a starting-caliber player, he could find a different role on offense.

“At the end of the day, if Jalen goes first round or not, whatever people think about him, he’s a player,” Howard said. “He’s a guy that’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. Jalen may not want me to say this, but I could see him being a guy like a Taysom Hill. That’s a great position to be in. Taysom Hill is a player. He’s one of the Saints’ top weapons. I can definitely see Jalen doing that in the NFL, but obviously he wants to play quarterback and that’s what he’s going to do first. Teams will give him a chance to play quarterback first, but if they came in and said, ‘Hey, we already have a good quarterback – a veteran guy – but we still want you to be a play-maker for us, let’s get out there and put you on the field,’ he can be a Taysom Hill-type guy. I can see Jalen being that type of player.”

At this stage, I haven’t heard much buzz about Hurts from the Bucs, but it’s still early. It might be best for Hurts to get drafted by a team that had no expectation of starting him as a rookie, and letting him develop behind an established veteran quarterback.

“For him, I think that would be a good bet,” Howard said. “Just for him to keep improving his game as a passer and learning the system of the NFL and keep becoming a better player and a student of the game. Then he’ll eventually get his opportunity. He’s been in the situation before where he’s had to sit and wait and learn. He did it at Alabama last year, so it wouldn’t be foreign for him. He’d be able to handle it well and improve from it.”

Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts – Photo by: Getty Images

Hurts’ lone loss this year came at Kansas State, but he just engineered a 34-31 victory over previously undefeated Baylor despite trailing 28-3 in the first half. Having a dual threat quarterback like Hurts, who has a 36-3 record as a starter and helped win the National Championship during his sophomore season at Alabama, would be exciting in Tampa Bay.

Utah State’s Jordan Love had NFL scouts, including some in Tampa Bay, buzzing over a tremendous sophomore season in which he completed 64 percent of his passes for 3,567 yards with 32 TDs and 6 INTs. But Love has taken a big step back during his junior season where he has thrown only 13 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. He would be better off staying for his senior season.

There are other quarterbacks that will likely be drafted in the middle rounds that the Bucs will consider, including Costello, Iowa’s Nate Stanley and Texas’ Sam Ehlinger among others. We’ll explore those names in the offseason as we track how Winston fares over Tampa Bay’s final six games.