The NFL draft is essentially here, with just one day away. Penn State's Drew Allar has shown everything that he possibly can up to this point, as there's nothing much that he can do any longer.
If a team wants Allar, they're going to take him, and if another team doesn't like what they saw from him at Penn State, there isn't anything else that's to be shown at this point.
However, it’s very interesting to hear some of what the executives have had to say regarding his play over the past few years. As we've touched on before, he's one of the more polarizing players in this entire draft, and recent comments from executives show exactly that, per PennLive.
NFC executive: “I feel like I’ve been watching this guy for three years thinking he’s going to be a dude. It’s tough now to be a straight pocket quarterback and be instant offense. He’s another guy that’s going to have to go and wait and develop and master whatever system he goes to before he’s ready to play.”
AFC QB coach: “Just in terms of traits, the ability to throw the ball, size, he’s really smart too. But it doesn’t always click quite as fast on the field, and then there were some accuracy inconsistencies that need to improve. I wouldn’t say a ton was asked of him in terms of what was on his plate in the passing game in college. So, you’re kind of projecting what he will look like in an NFL offense.”
Another AFC executive: “If you’re going to take a [expletive] shot in the middle rounds, he’s got arm talent, he’s big, he played better in the past. But the processing, mental quickness – that’s what I was concerned with. ... There’s the one roll pass against Northwestern – it’s like goddamn, how’d he miss that ball? I don’t think the scheme afforded him a good solution all the time, so I don’t put it all on him. But at the same time, at some point you’ve got to rise above and make a [expletive] play."
There's a lot to take away here, and a lot of fair points at the end of the day. There were times when Allar looked like the guy who could be a franchise quarterback in the NFL.
There were other times when he was very below average against some rough conference opponents, and there's something to be said about that as a player who wants to go in the first round of the NFL draft. Unfortunately, Allar hasn't put himself in a position to be drafted in the first round any longer, so he'll have to make his name in a more difficult way.