Spencer Rattler Scouting Report
- Watched: Texas (2021), Clemson (2022), Georgia, Florida
- Pros:
- Flexible arm, can utilize different arm angles to get the ball around traffic.
- Throws with touch to layer throws into windows.
- Strong velocity when his base is set.
- 4 years of starting experience (though he did lose the job in one of those years)
- Can buy time in the pocket while keeping his eyes up.
- A playmaker’s mentality, which comes with both good and bad.
- Cons:
- Overconfidence comes through in multiple areas.
- Wants to scramble around a lot but not athletic enough to turn the corner on pass-rushers; leads to a lot of throws where he’s backpedaling.
- Tries to throw with just his arm too often; leaves a lot of passes hanging in the air despite having the arm talent to throw with velocity.
- Constantly late on reads and gives DBs chances to recover and make plays on the ball.
- Even when he isn’t scrambling around, he throws off his back foot fairly often.
- Struggles to recognize blitzers.
- Tends to get stuck on his primary read.
- General:
- Will turn 24 early in his rookie season.
- Ran some bootlegs and PA deep shots from under center at South Carolina.
- Overall Take:
- Pro-readiness: 8th (out of 9)
- Potential: 5th
- Overall: 7th
- Number Grade (out of 100): 73
- Spencer Rattler is a tough QB to evaluate. At times, he looks like everything you’d want in a QB prospect: elusiveness inside the pocket, can throw with velocity or touch, and has the playmaker trait everyone is chasing nowadays. More often, he scrambles around without the athleticism to really hurt defenses, makes poor decisions, and gives DBs a chance to intercept the ball. The physical tools are there, and at times, the intangibles are too. There’s a world in which someone is able to flush out the bad habits here and turn Rattler into a valuable starting QB. But at nearly 24 years old with plenty of experience, it definitely leaves you worrying if the bad habits are more or less permanent at this point. If he were to step into a starting lineup tomorrow, I think he’d be a turnover waiting to happen, but with a lot of patience and luck, there could be something here. I think the absolute best case scenario here is probably what Baker Mayfield is right now, but a more realistic peak would probably be Ryan Fitzpatrick; a guy who can start for you but the bad plays that came from his overconfidence ultimately outweighed the good.
- NFL Comparisons:
- Most Likely Comp: Zach Wilson
- Peak Comp: Baker Mayfield/Ryan Fitzpatrick
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