Take this quarterback class, please.
Oh, there is no doubt come the night of April 26, they will come rolling off the board, early and often, with Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen hearing their names called out in the first handfuls of picks. The Browns will take one. So will the Jets. The Giants? Probably not. Perhaps the Broncos go quarterback at No. 5. The Bills are desperately trying to move up from No. 12 to get one of them.
Are all these guys worth the tumult and shouting? Are any of them?
“I wouldn’t give you a nickel for a couple of those quarterbacks that everybody is slobbering all over themselves about and could go in the top five,” Dan Shonka told The Post. “It makes me ill.’’
Shonka has been at this for a long while, as a former college head coach, scout for National Football Scouting, the Eagles, Redskins and Chiefs and currently as Ourlads’ Scouting Services general manager and national scout. He likes Mayfield best of all the quarterback prospects, followed by Rosen, Darnold, Mason Rudolph, Allen and Lamar Jackson, assigning first-round grades to all of them. It is not as if Shonka believes all these players will be busts, but, other than Mayfield and possibly Rosen, he does not see what all the fuss is about and certainly does not salivate over this class.
“Absolutely not,’’ Shonka said. “Quantity doesn’t make quality. So tired of hearing this is a great quarterback group, like this is the Class of ’83 or something.’’
Shonka thinks the Giants should take running back Saquon Barkley with the No. 2 pick, as Barkley is his highest-graded player, and could also see the logic in taking defensive end Bradley Chubb or even guard Quenton Nelson. The Jets at No. 3 getting Mayfield? Shonka is bullish on that.
“Anybody who doesn’t take Mayfield at the top is making a big mistake,’’ he said. “Mayfield is head and shoulders above any quarterback.’’
Next up on Shonka’s quarterback value board: Rosen.
“I like him a lot,’’ he said. “The ball comes out of his hand very explosively. He’s got a different personality, he’s a millennial kid, he wants to know why and Jim Mora at UCLA didn’t like that. I like smart guys and he’s an intelligent guy. The injuries do bother me. Concussions. If he gets dinged early in preseason he may be out for six, seven games. And he’s already had surgery on his right shoulder. But he is very accurate, he does make good decisions and he’s a taller guy, which some teams like. I like playmakers, and Mayfield makes more plays.’’
If every NFL general manager was polled, the majority would rate USC’s Darnold as the top quarterback in this class. To that, Shonka’s rebuttal is this: Have you watched him play?
“Darnold, he’s like a cow on ice,’’ Shonka said. “His footwork is all over the place. His feet in the pocket are embarrassing. When you turn the ball over [35 times] in 26 games, you’re intellectually dishonest when you’re talking about bringing in Sam Darnold as your next savior. This guy opens his hands over the ball, it just drops out when he’s in the pocket. If you look at his film, they talk about his accuracy. Actually it’s his receivers making great catches for him, laying out for the ball or going high. I’m not saying he’s never going to be a quarterback, but right now he’s a long way away.’’
As for Allen, Wyoming’s strapping, strong-armed quarterback, ask Shonka about him and duck for cover. He does not buy into him, at all.
“Zero,’’ Shonka said. “I saw Allen live this year at Iowa and he looks pretty. If you want a guy on the sidelines warming up, he looks pretty good. At the Senior Bowl, he did not have a good week in practice. He hit a few routes, but there’s nobody really covering. I think Josh Allen is like driving a covered wagon on the Autobahn. When he gets out there with all that speed and all the changing defenses, he can’t see it. He can’t process things fast enough. It doesn’t ever slow down for him. Everything’s so fast. He’s never thrown for a high percentage. If I hear one more time about Josh Allen’s strong arm — he can’t read defenses or make plays.”
The bottom line?
“Everybody pumping these guys up,” Shonka said, “hasn’t studied film or is looking at too many highlight films on YouTube.”