Former scout: Jake Locker is best QB in draft

Former NFL scout Dave Razzano believes a spotty offensive line and the absence of a reliable tight end at Washington hurt quarterback Jake Locker’s accuracy. (AP)

710Sports.com staff

Former NFL scout Dave Razzano joined Kevin Calabro and Jim Moore earlier this week and shared his thoughts on former Husky Jake Locker, whom Razzano feels is the best quarterback in this year’s draft class.

Here is some of what Razzano had to say about Locker:

On what he likes specifically about Jake Locker: “Well first I like his leadership ability, I like his drive, the head he has on his shoulders, I like his physical tools, obviously, the fact he stayed in school to try to get Washington back on top of the Pac-10 conference. There’s a lot of things you like about a kid like him. He’s a selfless type a guy, again, he has the physical tools. Once he gets in a situation that he’s comfortable with and there’s a lot more talent around him than he had at Washington, I see the guy being really good. It reminded me of Favre coming out of Southern Mississippi, who didn’t have a lot of talent, had a lot of (interceptions), and the same type of physical skill set.”

More on his comparison to Favre: “Brett was a guy that people questioned a lot of things about him. He threw 35 picks, he had a 53 percent completion rate, but a lot of that is a style of play. Jake’s style of play is a low-percentage passing offense; he doesn’t have the short dump-off routes constantly like some of these guys, he doesn’t have a tight end go-to-guy, so he’s a littler hampered by that. And he’s got a line that pretty much he’s on the run quite a bit, which was why he makes a lot of plays outside of the pocket. I just think his game is tailor-made to the NFL and especially when you’re under pressure. Those guys are hard to find — guys who can make plays under duress — and that’s what he can do so well.”

On Locker’s physical similarities to Favre: “I’ll tell you what it is: it’s his physical movements. When he drops back, when he quick-steps and moves around, throws off his back foot, drives his shoulder into his throw — that’s what I mean. Physically, he looks like him. If you were to just watch him play or say who does he remind you of physically, the way he drops back, the way he throws? And now he does have a laser arm, he does have an ability to get the ball in tight places. It’s just his physical … his mechanics, a lot of that is similar to Favre.”

On what he feels is a misconception about Locker’s accuracy: “… When you listen to a lot of people and let your opinions be driven by a lot of other folks, that’s sort of what a lot of people do, not just the media, but our business as well. You start believing what you’re hearing instead of what you’re seeing. His best stuff — if you look at USC, BYU, Syracuse, Oregon State — you look at his best stuff over the years, and it’s pretty darn impressive. I just kinda laugh when people question accuracy. If you wanna question accuracy, you look at (Cam) Newton and (Blaine) Gabbert and that’s the first thing that jumps off to me is their lack of accuracy, but yet you don’t here it with those guys. I guess beauty’s in the eyes of the beholder.”

On whether the Seahawks should take Locker if he’s available: “I think he’d be great for the Seahawks. I happen to think, I don’t think he’s going to get out of the top-15, 16 picks. But if they pass him, again, I don’t know how they feel about him, but he’d be a great pick for the Seahawks and they need a quarterback. He’s definitely a guy you can build a team around.”