The 2024 NFL Draft is here, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Spencer Rattler.
Rattler will be one of the most intriguing and, perhaps, one of the most polarizing evaluations in the 2024 quarterback draft class. What immediately stood out watching Rattler was that he was a gifted thrower of the football. He has the higher-level arm talent to effortlessly make throws at the intermediate and vertical levels and the easy strength to drive the ball with velocity when demanded.
There were many dropbacks in which Rattler showed the traits that transition well to the next level, including subtle pocket movement to avoid pressure and the ability to effectively work progressions (especially coming back side opposite the primary trips read).
Rattler was habitually late as a passer, too often not throwing with the precise timing demanded, resulting in too many throws left on the field. Another issue with Rattler was his glaring tendency to flinch and fall away from throws in muddied and noisy pockets, which he will face more often in the NFL.
For Rattler to develop into a quality starting quarterback, he would need to go to a team that focuses predominantly on his pocket traits and works to enhance them in all areas to make him a higher-level pocket quarterback. That includes all the elements that go with that: timing, rhythm, progression reading, precise ball placement.
Rattler has the natural throwing ability to be an NFL starter, but it would take some time with the right coaching and understanding of what he is as a player.
Rattler came out of Arizona as a consensus five-star recruit and the nation’s No. 1 QB prospect. He began his college career at Oklahoma, where he had an outstanding redshirt freshman season in 2020. In 2021, Rattler lost his starting job to Caleb Williams midway through the season and then transferred to South Carolina for the 2022 season
In 2022, South Carolina’s passing game was not overly detailed. It was more basic and featured a multiple-screen game. South Carolina’s pass game featured a good percentage of 1-on-1 throws for Rattler, especially on vertical routes.
Rattler looked like a different QB vs. Tennessee (2022), playing with a much better feel for the rhythm and timing of the passing game and a more refined sense of field vision and anticipation. There were strong reps of comfortable pocket movement where he re-set his feet and delivered with balance. Overall, Rattler played at a high level mentally and physically.
The 2023 opener vs. North Carolina showed Rattler’s mental and physical toughness behind a poor performance by the South Carolina OL. His 17-yard TD to Xavier Legette vs. Kentucky was a high-level throw that featured Rattler seeing pressure before the snap and using outstanding pocket movement, leading to an excellent throw with precise ball placement.
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