Washington Football Team: Five best QB prospects available in the 2021 NFL Draft
Zach Wilson, the much more polished and more athletic version of Drew Lock, has an NFL ready cannon and was as effective as can be this season. Wilson has been one of the fastest-growing stars of his class, with a junior season for the ages at BYU.
Throwing for 3,694 yards, 32 touchdowns to just three interceptions, Wilson put on a show just at the right time. He’s been productive since his freshman season, but his junior season is where he officially had his coming out party and played fantastic football.
Posting some of the best numbers against the blitz, Wilson completed nearly 70 percent of his throws against the blitz. Rising nearly nine percent, Wilson made teams pay when he had time, as he completed 78 percent of his throws from a clean pocket, boasting a 13.5-2 touchdown to interception ratio when clean.
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Wilson was an elite deep-ball thrower this season, throwing for an adjusted NFL passer rating of 132.2 on all deep throws. He threw for 10 touchdowns to just two interceptions on his deep balls, seemingly becoming more accurate when slinging darts.
His arm talent and competent mobility in and out of the pocket make him a sure-fire top-10 pick with significant upside. He’s capable of making any and all big-time throws, as he finished top 10 in that category while also having a turnover-worthy play rate of just 1.2 percent.
Wilson’s ability to make NFL caliber throws on and off-platform while also keeping the ball in his own teams’ hands should translate to the next level and should help his development remain steady. There’s a lot to like when it comes to his game. He plays well under just about any situation, he has significant arm talent and can be a game-breaker with his arm at any point.
But there are question marks. Most notably, his significant drop off when facing pressure that doesn’t come via a blitz. He completes only 48.4 percent of his throws when facing pressure and has a sack rate of 7.9 percent when he faced pressure in 2020.
In addition to that, he’s only had one season of sustained success of this magnitude while playing mediocre competition throughout the year. Against the only top-20 team they faced this past season, Coastal Carolina, Wilson and Co. we’re shut down and held to just 17 points.
Wilson isn’t the best athlete; he isn’t the fastest processor of defenses and reads; but he’s more than capable enough to scramble and find his way in and out of the pocket and has a foundation for success. He’s not great at anything, but he’s decent to good at just about everything. He’s a real NFL talent and would be a good pick for Washington.