After a bad quarterback draft class 3 years ago, the last couple years have brought us such gems as Blake Bortles and Derek Carr from 2 years ago to go with Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota last year. If you looked at this year’s class you might not get too excited if you’re looking for your next franchise quarterback. However, there have been a few guys that have been mentioned at the top of the draft and you never know who is going to come out of nowhere.
Franchise quarterbacks don’t have to be taken in the 1st round only, but with the lack of consistency from some, it’s always the position that is reached on the most. Unfortunately, when you do that, you end up with players like Geno Smith and Johnny Manziel getting picked more out of need rather than out of their actual ability. This year will be no different. Guys that I have as 2nd and 3rd round grades may be picked in the 1st, and for all we know, they could be picked by the Cleveland Browns who have the #2 pick overall.
The 3 guys getting all the publicity are California’s Jared Goff, Memphis’ Paxton Lynch, and the newly crowned favorite of the group, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. Any or all of the 3 could go as high as the 2nd pick. Goff is the most known. He was hyped most of the year. His knocked are his size at only 215 lbs and weirdly, people are saying he has small hands. As a point of reference, Johnny Manziel had close to the largest hands of all the QBs at the combine 2 years ago, that hasn’t work out so well.
Lynch is the biggest of the 3. He has the prototype big NFL frame that you want as your starting QB. But he doesn’t play the greatest of competition and people wonder if he reads a defense well enough to be successful on the next level. It’s one of those unknown factors where he has everything you want physically, but you don’t know if he has it mentally. This is something that will be investigated in his private workout and team interviews.
The late, and biggest, riser of all the QBs is definitely Carson Wentz. Guys such as Mel Kiper and Mike Mayock have compared him to QBs such as Andrew Luck, who at the time was compared to Peyton Manning. I don’t agree with the comparisons and have Carson as a 2nd round pick. However, the hype is growing rapidly and it currently looks like Cleveland has narrowed it down to either Wentz or Goff to lead their franchise.
Below is a list of all the heights, weights, arm lengths, and hand lengths of all the Quarterbacks who are at the 2016 NFL Combine.
| Player | School | Height | Weight | Hand |
| Vernon Adams | Oregon | 5-2 | 200 | 9 1/8 |
| Brandon Allen | Arkansas | 6-1 | 217 | 8 7/8 |
| Trevone Boykin | TCU | 6-0 | 212 | 9 3/8 |
| Jacoby Brissett | N. C. State | 6-4 | 231 | 9 3/4 |
| Connor Cook | Michigan State | 6-4 | 217 | 9 3/4 |
| Brandon Doughty | Western Kentucky | 6-3 | 213 | 9 1/8 |
| Jeff Driskel | Louisiana Tech | 6-4 | 234 | 9 3/4 |
| Jared Goff | California | 6-4 | 215 | 9 |
| Christian Hackenberg | Penn State | 6-4 | 223 | 9 |
| Kevin Hogan | Stanford | 6-3 | 218 | 10 1/4 |
| Cardale Jones | Ohio State | 6-5 | 253 | 9 3/4 |
| Cody Kessler | USC | 6-1 | 220 | 10 7/8 |
| Paxton Lynch | Memphis | 6-7 | 244 | 10 1/4 |
| Dak Prescott | Mississippi State | 6-2 | 226 | 10 7/8 |
| Joel Stave | Wisconsin | 6-5 | 236 | 10 3/4 |
| Nate Sudfeld | Indiana | 6-6 | 234 | 9 7/8 |
| Carson Wentz | North Dakota State | 6-5 | 232 | 10 |
| Josh Woodrum | Liberty | 6-3 | 231 | 9 1/4 |