Michael Pratt Scouting Report
- Watched: Kansas State (2022), UCF (2022), USC (2022) *Unfortunately couldn’t locate any All-22 footage from this season.
- Pros:
- Four-year starter at Tulane, good overall stats every year.
- Able to layer balls around coverage with nice touch.
- Calls protections/audibles at the LOS.
- Uses his eyes, pump fakes, etc. to manipulate defense.
- Cons:
- When he breaks the pocket, tends to drop his eyes and miss open targets. Similar to Jayden Daniels in this one minus the athleticism/coordination.
- Mediocre arm and mobility.
- Misses behind on a lot of horizontal routes (crossers, ins, outs, etc.).
- Often gets stuck in his progressions and fails to get to the backside target until it’s too late.
- Puts the ball in harm’s way far too often; sometimes trying to thread the needle but lacking the arm to do it but sometimes just randomly throwing the ball up for grabs instead of throwing it away.
- Overly reliant on his running ability and I don’t believe that will translate to the NFL.
- Struggles adjusting arm angle.
- Struggles throwing with pressure around him.
- Once pressure moves him off his spot, he’s likely to take off running rather than resetting to make a pass.
- Often hesitates to let it rip and doesn’t have the quickest throwing motion to begin with; causes some issues where passing windows close too quickly for him to take advantage.
- General:
- Will turn 23 early in his rookie season.
- A lot more designed runs than I would have expected.
- Doesn’t make a lot of perfect throws but doesn’t throw a lot of uncatchable balls either; he gets it in the right zip code but often forces receivers to adjust.
- Overall Take:
- Pro-readiness: 7th (out of 9)
- Potential: 8th
- Overall: 8th
- Number Grade (out of 100): 70
- When it comes to drafting QBs, I generally want to see a QB that is pro-ready and or has impressive physical tools and reasons to believe in their potential to make the most of those tools. I had watched a few of Pratt’s games previously, so I knew before I began scouting him that he was not a physical tools guy. I am disappointed to say I don’t believe he’s a pro-ready guy either. Pratt will be turning 23 early in his rookie season (though this isn’t as rare as it used to be), throws with mediocre velocity, and just isn’t a natural thrower of the ball. He can’t adjust his arm angle to account for pressure the way a lot of modern QBs do; having a solid base and space around him is very important for his game, and while I want someone that can take advantage of clean pockets, I really need my modern day QB to be able to make plays when the pocket is murky. To that end, Pratt generally does not sidestep a pass rusher and reset in the pocket; he bails out, drops his eyes, and looks to scramble for whatever yards he can muster. When he does scramble, he looks like every step may be the one that trips him up, and let me tell you, he scrambles a LOT. Moving beyond the pass rush/mobility issues, he’s also just not a naturally accurate passer. I would say he has zip code accuracy; he doesn’t throw with precision very often but doesn’t totally miss very often either. He forces his receivers to adjust, turn around, leap, etc. very often, particularly on crossers and out routes. He also puts the ball in harm’s way far too often; of the passes I charted, over 10% of them were interceptable. For comparison’s sake, the 2nd highest in my charting thus far (through 7 QBs) is Drake Maye at just over 6% and then Michael Penix at 4%. Pratt does have a few positives going in his favor; he’s a four year starter and was productive all four of those seasons. He calls his own protections/audibles at the line, which is exceedingly rare in the college game. While part of it is being hesitant with the ball, he has a nice pump fake that often helps to open up passing windows for himself. And lastly, while he doesn’t throw with great velocity, he does at least show an ability to layer throws around coverage. Overall though, he’s a dreaded low floor, low ceiling type in my opinion. While he’s slightly bigger than Matt Barkley, I think a lot of his strengths and weaknesses line up with Barkley’s scouting report coming out of USC and I expect him to follow a similar path as a long-term backup in the NFL.
- NFL Comparisons:
- Most Likely Comp: Matt Barkley
- Peak Comp: Kenny Pickett
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