About Justin

Coming out of high school, Justin Herbert was just a 3 star quarterback with only 1 FBS football team looking to sign him. Luckily for Justin it happened to be his hometown favorite team, the Oregon Ducks, where he would just to steal the spotlight on campus and start as a true freshman. In his first two seasons with the Ducks, Herbert has racked up 34 passing touchdowns to just 9 interceptions and completing just over 65% of his pass attempts. On the ground he also managed to slide in 7 more on the ground, and had a 5 game span in 2017 with a rushing TD.

Matching his solid stats is his new-era quarterback, 6’6 231 Lb, frame with above average ball carrier vision for the position. He has gained roughly 6 pounds since his sophomore season with the Ducks according to his Oregon Ducks Roster profile.

This season Herbert was able to launch the Ducks as high as 6th overall in the CFB Playoff rankings. Though a tough loss to USC crushed their playoff hopes, they did smash Utah to take home the Pac-12 title and get a Rose Bowl bid. As long as he keeps adding to his frame, and improving on his passing (59% in 2018 -> 67% 2019) there should be plenty to love about this young quarterback.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Throughout his career we have seen Herbert grow as a quarterback, and it has shined this season on the field. He looks through his reads, avoids pressure in the pocket, and has a rocket arm. He showed all of those traits and more multiple times during his game against California as a sophomore.

Scouts will love his pocket presence and ability to stay calm when pressured. To mix with that Herbert has shown scouts he can be mobile when needed to be. He only can he throw on the run, he has the ability to break off yardage too with his long stride.

Weaknesses

The thing that will drive you crazy about Herbert will be his decision making early on, and not just as a thrower but just simply as an athlete. His sophomore season at Oregon was full of inconsistent play and even seriously injured himself trying to do too much in the heat of the moment.

NFL Draft Projection/NFL Player Comp

NFL Draft Projection

Now with the injury to Tua, Justin Herbert is next in line behind Joe Burrow. Of course there will be plenty of teams trying to trade up and snag nim early, but nearly 70% of the teams in the Top 10 could select Herbert already. I currently have him going 12th overall to the Detroit Lions, and become the Lamar Jackson for their Joe Flacco.

Physically Herbert will bring what a young Matthew Stafford brought to them so many years ago, and will hopefully give this offense a little bit of a lift in change. We’ve seen it work in Baltimore, the Giants, and even in Arizona with a bunch of rookies all across the field.

NFL Player Comp

Ryan Tannehill was a big question mark coming into the NFL, and I believe Herbert will find himself along that category as well. They both had little sample size against big opponents, and hadn’t been “great” at anything in particular. Tannehill was a converted wide receiver that stood 6’4 and can run a 4.64 40 yard dash. Herbert himself stands 6’6 and can catch you off guard with his legs as well, but does seem to have more polish to his throws than Tannehill did coming out of Texas A&M.

Herbert will surprise many with his athletic ability at the combine. While he isn’t going to have break away speed from defenders; he is big enough to run at the next level. Both have a very long stride that can help them extend plays and avoid the negative plays on offense. I think Herbert will show us what Ryan Tannehill could have been if he came to A&M as a QB.