The thing that makes it really hard to judge Bailey Zappe is the strength of his competition. I mean he was going against the likes of Army, Old Dominion, UTSA, etc. Not exactly powerful football programs. In his final year, Zappe started the season 1-5 before going on a 7 game win streak to close out the season 8-5.
They then lose to UTSA in the conference finals game 41-49. But win the Boca Raton Bowl game against Appalachian State 59-38 where Zappe throws for 6 TDs and 577 yards.
In terms of total production, I haven't seen such high numbers from a Div2 Qb since the likes of Steve Mcnair. Mcnair looked a lot more athletic than Zappe though.
Mcnair put up [1994]: 4,863 yards passing, 936 yards rushing for an NCAA record 5,799 yards in total offense. QB rating: 155.4. TD passes: 44.
Zappe put up in the air [2021]:
5967 yards | 8.7 y/a | 9.8 ay/a | 62 tds | 11 ints | 168.9 passer rating |
On the ground though only 3 rushes for 0 yards...
What does this tell us about Zappe? Well he's pretty much only going to be a pocket passer for us. Don't expect to see him escape the pocket and make a lot of plays in the running game.
Was the reason he was able to pass for so many yards due to his competition being of such a low ability level, or was his processing of the game what takes him up to a 'special' level? I don't see elite athleticism unlike with Mcnair, so I'm not sure what the Patriots love about Zappe's game to be taking him with a 4th round pick.
He projects to be a backup quarterback, a guy you don't want to see on the field if Mac Jones is even 80% healthy. Maybe someone sees something more to Zappe's game that you could share with the rest of us.
Now a word from Bailey Zappe. He seems very appreciative of his team and his coaches, a nice kid. But can he adapt his game to the pro level?