Justin Fields

Justin Fields Scouting Report

  • Watched: Alabama, Penn State, Indiana, Nebraska
  • Pros:
    • Great arm strength.
    • Great ball placement.
    • Very fast, though doesn’t have much wiggle; think RG3/Mariota rather than Lamar.
    • Willing to slide on his runs.
    • Can generally make the first pass rusher miss assuming he sees him.
  • Cons:
    • Misses a lot of open WRs.
    • Hesitant to let it rip.
    • Lets his WRs sit down or run open before he’ll throw it.
    • Mostly limited to half-field reads, slow to work beyond his second receiver.
  • General:
    • A lot of high-low progressions; I can see where some might think he’s just throwing to his first read every play, but really he’s reading one defender and seeing which WR he follows.
    • Not a heavily featured part of their offense, but he took some snaps under center, particularly using it for play-action shot passes.
    • Looks to the sideline to make adjustments at the line.
  • Overall Take:
    • Pro-readiness: 4th (out of 8)
    • Potential: 2nd
    • Overall: 2nd
    • Number Grade (out of 100): 87
    • I’m fascinated to see how Justin Fields fares in the NFL. From a physical standpoint, he has it all. Great arm strength, great ball placement, great speed; he’s going to wow teams when they see him up close. Having said that, there’s still a lot of work to do on the mental aspect of the game. The “he doesn’t get past his first read” crowd is wrong, but his game/Ohio State’s offense does consist of a lot two-man progressions where he’s just focusing on one defender, seeing which WR that defender follows, and then throwing it to the other guy. He is definitely slow to get beyond those reads and very rarely works past reading half the field. Additionally, he’s hesitant to let it rip when there are big plays to potentially be made. I’m not sure if he’s just not seeing his open WRs, if he just doesn’t trust his arm to get it to them, or if he’s just playing too cautiously, but he left a lot of potential TDs on the field (and that’s saying something because they still scored over 40 points per game this year). He also generally waits for his WR to sit down on their route or for them to come open rather than throwing with anticipation. And in too many cases, this led to setting his WRs up for big hits as he just got the ball out too late. As a runner, he’s not the most elusive, but he’s very fast and I think he can definitely be used in more read option than he showed at Ohio State. At the end of the day, a smart coach will be able to turn him into a solid starting QB even if the mental aspects never quite click for him, but if he does develop that part of his game, he has top 10 QB potential.
  • NFL Comparisons:
    • Most Likely Comp:  Bigger Tyrod Taylor
    • Peak Comp: Dak Prescott