To say Lamar Jackson had an illustrious college football career is an understatement. He is a 2-time First Team All ACC player, two-time ACC Player of the Year, two-time ACC Offensive Player of the Year, Heisman Trophy winner, Maxwell Award winner, and a unanimous First Team All-American. He took over the starting quarterback position at Louisville as a freshman and has not looked back since.
Over his career, he threw for over 9,000 yards, 69 touchdowns, and posted a career quarterback rating of 142.9. He did all this while also rushing for another 4,132 yards and 50 touchdowns. In spite of all of this, there are still some that question whether or not Lamar Jackson can be a quarterback at the NFL level.
Wide receiver?
Former Bills GM, Colts Vice President, and current ESPN analyst Bill Polian said that Lamar Jackson would have to convert to wide receiver in the NFL, stating that Jackson does not have the accuracy or the frame to be a successful quarterback in the league. This is the sentiment shared by many of Jackson's detractors.
They claim that his accuracy and mechanics are too unpolished to succeed outside of a college spread offense. Jackson doubters almost always say that he should move to the wide receiver position in the NFL despite the fact that Jackson has not taken a single snap at the receiver position. In fact, forget not playing receiver, Jackson has not caught a single pass in his playing career. Yet many suggest that his transition to wide receiver in the NFL would be more natural than playing the position he has played his whole life.
How NFL insiders see Jackson
While what people outside the league say can ultimately be taken with a grain of salt, (Mel Kiper once said that he would retire if Jimmy Clausen wasn't a successful NFL quarterback), the opinion of actual NFL front offices cannot be ignored.
NFL Networks' Ian Rapoport reported that despite Jackson's accolades, multiple teams requested for him to work out as a receiver at the NFL Combine. This seemed to be a big blow to Jackson's hopes of being an NFL quarterback, however, other sources with knowledge of NFL front offices say it may be a little more complicated than it appears at first glance.
Walterfootball.com's Charlie Campbell reported that Jackson is one of the more polarizing prospects available in the draft. Also, many teams are not fans of Jackson, and he got the least amount of praise out of the top quarterbacks for his performance at the Combine. However, Jackson also had the most fervent supporters when compared to the other quarterbacks at the combine.
Campbell reported that one scout from a team that liked Jackson went on to say that while "Lamar has no idea how to throw with his core and legs," and that "he's all arm and wrist action right now," they felt that "When he [Jackson] gets some serious coaching on driving his body into throws, he could be insane."
The scout went on further to say that "It's amazing he [Jackson] threw it as well as he did considering the state that his mechanics are in." The scout also, however, feels that Jackson showed a tremendous amount of arm talent and that Jackson's footwork was a very fixable issue, stating that Jackson is a "blank canvas" and that Jackson will be great if he gets to work with a good quarterback coach.
The scout stated that there wasn't a single good quarterback coach that went away from that workout without thinking they could turn Jackson into an NFL star. Jackson also interviewed well and the scout finished by saying you could fix the footwork of a prospect but not his arm strength or mental toughness. While Jackson may have his fair share of doubters in the league there also seems to be enough support for him from scouts to not only allow him to play quarterback in the NFL but also go in the first round.