FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the
New England Patriots and NFL:
1. One of the most compelling storylines of the Patriots' offseason will be if they can find
Jimmy Garoppolo 2.0, another promising quarterback with unique traits to develop behind
Tom Brady. Such a prospect would likely come from the group of signal-callers in the 2018 draft that come after the top tier, which projects to include UCLA's Josh Rosen, USC's Sam Darnold, Wyoming's Josh Allen and Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield.
With this in mind, I reached out to Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage for his thoughts on four quarterbacks who might fit the Patriots' bill, with Savage detailing their Senior Bowl week.
Luke Falk (Washington State): "Luke is an interesting case. He is obviously the Pac-12's all-time leading passer in somewhat of a 'pass-happy offense,' the Mike Leach system. Of course, the Patriots have had some background with a quarterback coming from that scheme, with Kliff Kingsbury [in 2003 out of Texas Tech]. Luke is a natural passer of the football. He's not blessed with super athletic ability, he doesn't have a huge arm. But he is accurate, he's got some anticipation, there are leadership traits about him. He is a guy that I do think will be able to gain some weight and fill out and get stronger in the pocket. It's hard to tag a guy as developmental when he's been a three-year starter-plus, and thrown for a zillion yards, but he is a prospect that probably will fill out further and there is probably room to grow as a player. There's an overcoming element to him as a former walk-on that I think the Patriots would like, a resilience there with him. I thought he had a good week of practice, and of course, he did not play in the game because of the death of his quarterback friend Tyler Hilinski, so he went back for the funeral and missed the game day. Luke is an interesting prospect; some of the scouts out West were real high on him, while others were not. It's sort of a mixed bag."
2018 NFL DRAFT
When: April 26-28
Where: Arlington, Texas
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Kyle Lauletta (Richmond): "I'd known about Kyle throughout the season and went to U of R in November. I just liked the way he played. He's had four different coordinators in four years. A couple different head coaches. He was coming off an ACL suffered at the end of the last year, against William & Mary, and he made it all the way back and never missed any time this year. He was in an offense that sort of has some variety to it -- he threw short, intermediate, deep, on the run, from the pocket, play-action passes. You get a chance to see him do a lot in that offense; he's not in a system where only three or four elements are required. He doesn't have a huge arm, but I thought he was accurate with the ball, he has really strong intangibles, his dad played at the Naval Academy as a quarterback, he has other family members who were college athletes. Speaking of overcoming things, he was sick as a dog on Monday, he didn't even get out of bed Sunday night, all day Monday. He hit the meetings and practice Tuesday, and I thought he was OK in the practices, did a nice job overall, and then in the game he got in in the third quarter and lit it up; 198 yards, three touchdowns, and just seemed to pull it all together when the lights came on. He's an intriguing candidate. Again, despite the fact he's played a good amount of football, there's a developmental upside to him because he's going to continue to get bigger and fill out and get stronger, especially coming from an FCS [school]."
Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State): "Mason signed up with us before the season began, and unfortunately he suffered a foot injury at the bowl game and wasn't 100 percent healthy. The only thing he did here was the weigh-in and a couple days of interviews. But I have to say, just personality-wise and the way he handled his business -- letting us know in advance he wouldn't be able to participate but following it through with all the interviews -- I think he really made a great first impression on people with the way he conducted himself, with the media and the teams."
Mike White (Western Kentucky): "I saw Mike a couple weeks before Lauletta, at the beginning of November. This is another classic case of a guy being a one-year starter in high school, all the main schools had gone in a different direction at quarterback. He goes to South Florida, ultimately they change systems, he leaves there, and Willie Taggart actually recommended him to Western Kentucky, which was his previous school because Jeff Brohm was still there as the coach. So he goes there for two years, Brohm leaves after one season, and the new coach Mike Sanford comes in. So he's played in two different systems, but he threw for over 8,000 yards, with 66 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, which showed how he really valued the ball. He can really spin the football, and I think that's really going to be attractive to people. He's a natural thrower of the ball. He really has a good arm. He's not particularly mobile. He needs to be more quick, more sudden in terms of manipulating the pocket. He's another player that has a thin résumé when you consider that he only played one year of quarterback in high school, and then he's a transfer who played some at USF and then a two-year starter at Western Kentucky. He had a steady week of practice but in the game he got off to a really fast start. He had a hot hand in the first quarter."
When I asked Savage which quarterback might draw the closest comparison to Garoppolo, he paused for a moment and ultimately picked Lauletta. He also noted that Nebraska's Tanner Lee was at the Senior Bowl and is "as gifted of a thrower of the ball as anyone in the draft," and could be in the discussion for teams seeking a developmental prospect.
