Ohio State QB Will Howard's Biggest Weakness Revealed

Will Howard proved a whole lot of doubters wrong this past season, putting together a very strong individual campaign and leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to a national championship.

Heck, Howard set Ohio State's single-season record for completion percentage, making good on 73 percent of his throws.

However, in spite of Howard's performance, he still has many that are questioning him as far as his NFL Draft prospects are concerned.

Some do believe that Howard is the third-best quarterback in this year's draft class, but others think there are some significant drawbacks to his game.

John Kosko of Pro Football Focus recently revealed what he feels is Howard's biggest weakness, and it could ultimately affect him in a significant way on the NFL level: making plays when out of rhythm.

"Quarterbacks generally struggle when forced out of rhythm—whether due to pressure, tight coverage eliminating their first read, or a combination of both," Kosko wrote. "None of the quarterbacks in this class generated a positive EPA per dropback in these situations, and the highest-graded passer, Kyle McCord, managed just a 66.1 grade. Howard, however, had the lowest grade at 36.2 and failed to produce a single big-time throw."

Given that Howard will surely be flushed out of the pocket quite a bit on the NFL level, this is something that can cause the Ohio State product legitimate problems.

Now, Kosko qualifies his statement by saying that the sample size for Howard in these situations was very small, so perhaps it will adjust over more snaps.

But he also notes that Howard "won’t have the same overwhelming talent advantage that the Buckeyes enjoyed in 2024," which could also be an issue for the 23-year-old.