Huard: Where Michael Penix is better than other QBs in NFL Draft

The 2024 NFL Draft quarterback class is a star-studded one, and it includes UW Huskies standout Michael Penix Jr.

Why a CFB expert would draft Michael Penix as high as No. 2

Penix is one of the six top-rated quarterbacks in this year’s draft, and those six – which also includes USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Oregon’s Bo Nix – may all go in the first round.

During Thursday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard was asked 10 rapid-fire questions where he was tasked with picking a quarterback prospect for those answers.

Huard, a college football analyst for FOX Sports, chose Penix for one of those questions, and that was when asked who had the best arm.

“It was ole Phil Simms on a podcast with Ross Tucker that talked about Penix maybe being the greatest thrower of a football he has ever seen,” Huard said.

Simms, a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, offered high praise for Penix when talking to Tucker, a former NFL player and current football media member, this week.

“His throwing is unbelievable. He’s one of the best pure throwers that maybe I’ve ever seen,” Simms said. “He played (in high winds) and he’s throwing it like it’s nothing. He played in Oregon State in a night game (and it was) pouring rain and he is throwing missiles everywhere. He’s about as good of a thrower as I’ve seen coming into the NFL Draft in a long time.”

Huard agreed, largely because he’s seen Penix in person a number of times while working for FOX Sports. One of those games was in 2022 when Penix and the Huskies faced Nix and the Oregon Ducks.

It was there that Penix made a throw that Huard still talks about regularly.

“Two years ago, I was on the call in Eugene, Oregon, in a game that the Ducks had really control of. I think we all thought the Ducks were going to win and they were just pounding the football and pounding the football,” Huard said. “And all of a sudden, Michael Penix unleashed this 67-yard dart that had yours truly a little speechless up in that booth.”

That play can be seen in the video below at the 1:11 mark.

Huskies pull off the upset in Eugene! 🐺

No. 25 @UW_Football gets the road win by a score of 37-34.@TicketSmarter | #Pac12FB pic.twitter.com/AnM2LsVLXN

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) November 13, 2022

After the play unfolded, Huard told his partner Jason Benetti: “Jason, there are very few in all the land that make that throw.”

“I said it then and I’ll stand by that now,” Huard said on Thursday. ” … Like how did that happen? How did he throw that from one hash (to the other side of the field)? Remember that with the college field, the hashes are wider. And he threw it from the far hash all the way across the field with the safety sitting right over the top of that. Yeah, he’s he throws it better than anybody in this class and in a lot of classes ahead of him.”

The other questions Huard answered about this draft’s quarterback class:

• If you were a team, which one of these six would you want?
• If you were a player, which team or coach would you want to be drafted by?
• Who is the safest to have the best career of the six?
• Who has the best legs?
• Who is the most accurate?
• Who is the best leader?
• Who has the highest ceiling?
• Who has the highest bust potential?
• Who could have a long career…as a backup?

Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

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