2019 NFL Draft Prospects: Quarterbacks - Tyree Jackson, Buffalo
Despite finishing top five in Michigan high school history in passing yards and touchdowns as well as being a first-team all-state selection as a senior, Jackson’s only scholarship offer from a Division I team came from Buffalo. After a redshirt year, he started nine of ten games for the Bulls the following season.
Jackson missed four games due to knee injury in 2017, but put up pretty good numbers in those eight contests he started – completing 60.2 percent of his passes for over 2000 yards with 16 total touchdowns compared to just three interceptions. Last season he started all 14 games and threw for 3131 yards with 28 touchdowns compared to 12 INTs, while adding another seven scores on the ground, as the MAC’s Offensive Player of the Year. Instead of transferring, he decided to go pro a year early and has been rising in this pre-draft process.
This kid has a massive frame at 6’7”, 245 pounds – both FBS-high marks for quarterbacks in 2018. Jackson never had a private quarterback coach growing up, but instead watched some drills on Youtube. I thought his throwing motion and delivery were shortened after the season ended, which I think will not only quicken his release but also improve the accuracy.
Jackson has an absolute howitzer of an arm to fit the ball into pin-sized windows and stretch the field with balls that cover more than half the field in the air. He can zip in throws in the voids that occur between the linebackers and the safety along the seams. Every once in a while, in-between drilling receivers with bullets, you see him show some touch with passes over the head of a linebacker as well.
Jackson displays the ability to move defenders one way to open up space behind them along with that. He was let down by plenty of his receivers dropping the ball on simple slant and hitch routes, which resulted in a few of his interceptions. Jackson recorded a passer rating of 109.2 on pass attempts of 20+ yards and his average depth of target was at a crazy 14.3 yards.
Jackson has a rare ability to make plays off script by delivering passes downfield with his big arm. You see him complete some passes off the wrong foot or off platform with no business of even attempting it. He had an absolutely ridiculous throw versus Rutgers last season, where he was scrambling to the right and launched a ball from his own 35 to the opposite 10-yard line almost perfectly in stride for Anthony Johnson. At the same time he shows the ability to slide around, quickly re-set and fire from within the pocket.
When Jackson decides to take off, he has the contact balance and lower body power to have tacklers bounce off his legs. He eats up yardage quickly with his long strides as a runner and looks Cam Newton-ish in the open field. That speed was verified at the combine, where he ran a 4.59 in the 40 at 248 pounds and he smiled throughout the duration of the workout. He also showed off his big arm and wheels during the Senior Bowl game, even if the result were kind of a mixed bag.
This is a special physical talent, but Jackson’s footwork still needs a lot of refinement. He sets his feet too early when he wants to get the ball out, which enables savvy defensive backs to break on passes and locks in on his primary read a lot, which he got away with so far for the most part because of the bullets he throws.
Jackson’s upper and lower body aren’t always connected, leading to plenty of flat-footed throws and inaccuracies. He needs to narrow his base a little and recruit more of his body instead of jerking his hip forward. To go with that, he makes some absolutely stupid decisions, throwing the ball across the field with a safety right there and asking his receivers to go up as if they were 6’7” as well.
Jackson still has to learn that he doesn’t always have to throw the ball as hard as possible, especially on underneath routes. Overall he needs to play the position with more of a plan, manipulating defenders and showing some game-management qualities with situational awareness. He had a horrible day versus Ohio and threw two bad interceptions into the hands of Temple’s Rock Ya-Sin, with one of them almost leading to two points the other way after a Buffalo touchdown.
Jackson has to understand when it’s time to just throw the ball away. As a runner, he needs to be more careful with the ball in his hands, tucking it tight to his body and he can’t let his elbow swing wide as he is changing directions.
Man, this kid drove me nuts when I watched his tape. He is so reckless with the ball in his hands and his maturity as a decision-maker is far from where it needs to be to even see the field at all in the NFL. But then again, he probably was never held accountable appropriately, didn’t have a QB coach like a lot of the other guys and he obviously has all the physical tools you could ever want.
If you think you can reign him in and have your quarterback coach clean up some of his mechanical flaws, Jackson definitely has the potential to be an exciting starter at the next level – but he is far away from that right now.
Grade: Fourth Round