Former Washington quarterback Jacob Eason has caught the attention of several draft analysts since announcing his decision to forego his senior season and declare for the 2020 NFL Draft.
This week ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. released his latest mock draft which featured four signal-callers being taken in the first round in April’s draft. The final QB projected by Kiper to be taken on the first day of the draft was Eason, No. 23 overall to the New England Patriots.
Eason is projected to go after LSU’s Joe Burrow, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert, all three of whom Kiper has going in the first five picks in the first round.
“And then you think about who is the quarterback similar physically to Herbert, in terms of arm strength – without having the mobility – it’s Jacob Eason coming out of Washington, formerly of Georgia,” Kiper said explaining his projection Wednesday on SportsCenter .
“The Washington Huskies had five losses. Four of those five losses were by six points or less. Lost to Oregon by four, Utah by five at home. (If) he was a little sharper in those games when he had leads in the fourth quarter maybe he goes a little higher than 23 to New England.”
Kiper also reiterated that between picks No. 23 and No. 32 overall teams, whether it be the Patriots or another organization, could trade up into the late first round should they feel he won’t be available in the second round.
Eason graded out as the No. 3 QB in the Pac-12 based on Pro Football Focus’ player grades for offense (84.3) slightly ahead of Herbert (82.6).
As Kiper noted in his evaluation on SportsCenter, Eason is not the same runner as Herbert, or Burrow for that matter. But what he does lack in mobility Eason makes up for with his impeccable arm talent.
Eason finished his only season with the Huskies completing 261 of 407 pass attempts (64.1 percent) for 3,143 yards and 23 touchdowns while throwing eight interceptions in 13 games.
Not only is the former UW quarterback gaining attention from respected draft analysts. In the latest installment of Weekend Observations on the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz, Eason received more praise.
“Mel Kiper’s (beep) latest mock (beep) has Jacob Eason (beep) to the Patriots (beep). My latest mock (beep) also has Jacob Eason to the Patriots (beep) and then Canton Ohio (beep) five years (beep) after he’s done (beep),” Stugotz said Tuesday.
Eason came out of Lake Stevens High School (Lake Stevens, Washington) as a five-star QB in the 2016 recruiting class. He was ranked by Rivals as the No. 1 pro-style QB in the country and the No. 7 overall prospect in his class.
