Nevada
2022 NFL Draft Profile: Nevada QB Carson Strong
The Wolf Pack quarterback discovered loads of success working Nevada’s Air Raid, however what traits are NFL groups most excited by?
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An enormous arm however huge questions, as properly.
Maybe no participant within the Mountain West generated extra pleasure over the previous few years, and thus makes for a extra fascinating NFL Draft prospect, than Nevada quarterback Carson Robust.
A local of Vacaville, California, Robust’s scholarship provide from the Wolf Pack was the one one he acquired from a FBS program. After redshirting his first 12 months with the staff, he received the beginning quarterback battle in 2019 however didn’t actually take off till 2020. Whereas working Jay Norvell’s Air Raid offense, Robust etched his identify into many components of this system’s file ebook and leaves Reno as a part of the dialog as the perfect signal-caller in its historical past, incomes the Mountain West’s nod as Offensive Participant of the 12 months in every of the final two years.
He appears to be like the a part of an NFL quarterback and has lots of the apparent traits that groups covet in a passer-friendly league, however he carries simply as a lot threat as another participant at his place on this 12 months’s draft class.
Measurables (taken from Mockdraftable)
Highlights
Strengths
Let’s begin with the arm.
Not solely does Robust have the arrogance to make the entire needed NFL throws, he has the cannon to take action when given sufficient time to function. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler notes that Robust “has a pure really feel for downfield contact” whereas Draft Wire’s Natalie Miller recognized an “understanding of contact and accuracy” within the brief and intermediate recreation amongst his property. It takes all types of throws, in any case, to have accomplished 70% of passes whereas averaging at the very least eight yards per try over the past two seasons, a feat of which no different quarterback on this class can boast.
Whereas he isn’t probably the most cellular prospect on this 12 months’s quarterback class, Robust additionally has the toughness and bodily profile to hold in and attempt to give himself the time to make these throws, as properly. He additionally doesn’t sometimes make many errors in that course of, both, with an interception fee of simply 1.5% in his Nevada profession.
Weaknesses
Not like each different quarterback prospect on this 12 months’s class, one factor units Robust aside… and never in a great way. He performed the whole lot of the 2021 season with a knee harm that left him at lower than 100%, a joint upon which he’s now had two surgical procedures. Whereas he doesn’t have another long-standing medical considerations to talk of, that one may power some conflict rooms to shrink back from deciding on him as a result of, relative to each different quarterback on this 12 months’s class, he’s that a lot much less cellular.
That may put strain on his capacity to make applicable pre-snap reads, a wrinkle about which NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein has considerations, after which manipulate defenders to get the ball out shortly when going through strain. In his profession at Nevada, that wasn’t one thing Robust at all times did constantly: Final 12 months, the Wolf Pack absorbed a 6.9% sack fee that ranked 74th amongst FBS offenses; in 2020, it was 5.1%.
There’s additionally some disagreement about how efficient Robust has been about shifting defenders along with his eyes as he reads the sector. Drae Harris of The Draft Community counts that among the many issues he does properly whereas Miller and Professional Soccer Community’s Ian Cummings specific reservations. If nothing else, that is likely to be some extent of emphasis for whichever quarterbacks coach he finally ends up working with.
NFL Comparability
Kirk Cousins
Draft Prediction
Robust clearly has the arm energy to compete on the NFL degree, however his “excessive threat, excessive reward” profile is a bit completely different from the norm due to the lingering well being considerations and the broader actuality that many offenses demand a much less statuesque signal-caller lately. Because of this, he received’t be among the many first handful of quarterbacks chosen within the draft, however the league-wide want on the place ought to make him a mid-round decide, within the third or fourth spherical.
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