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Mel Kiper Jr. shares what sets Will Levis apart from Bryce Young
By Keith Farner
Published:
Mel Kiper Jr. has sorted out the quarterbacks in this year’s NFL Draft class, and addressed the debate between Bryce Young of Alabama and Will Levis of Kentucky.
Simply put, from an NFL perspective, Kiper said on ESPN’s “First Take” that it comes down to physical traits like Young weighing less than 200 pounds. Will Levis, for example, was listed at 6-3 and 232 pounds last season at Kentucky.
“The one thing that bothers me and it bothers everybody I talk to is you don’t know,” Kiper said. “There’s always outliers, but there’s never been, in the history of the draft, going back 45 years for me, a quarterback 5-10 to 5-11 about 185 to 190 (pounds) going this high in the draft and expecting him to be a franchise quarterback. I hope Bryce Young will be. He doesn’t have the howitzer for an arm, he doesn’t have the 4.5 speed, and he’s undersized. I don’t care about the height, I care about the weight. Holding up and withstanding punishment, staying healthy and durable and being able to finish seasons for Bryce Young will be the issue. I still have him going to the Colts at 4, it’s not like I have him in the fourth round. But in terms of the No. 1 quarterback for me, the guy that looks the part and played like a big-timer when he got some help, was Will Levis from Kentucky.”
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo then raised the point of Levis being able to lead his team down the field on a key drive late in the game under pressure.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
