Top 10 quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft

#9 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Kyle Trask (Florida)

6' 5", 240 pounds; RS SR

Kyle Trask

Outside the top-2000 overall recruits in 2016, Kyle Trask was buried on the Florida depth chart early on, until he finally took over the starting spot for the Gators once Feleipe Franks went down with an injury in 2019 four games in and this guy immediately upgraded their play at the position in a major way.

He completed 67% of his passes for 277.5 yards per game as a starter and 25 touchdowns compared to seven INTs, and four more scores on the ground. Last season, he took another major step, increasing his completion percentage by two point (69), for 4283 yards and an FBS-leading 43 touchdowns against eight picks, in 12 games, plus three more rushing TDs. For that, he finished third in the Heisman voting last season.

Trask presents a Ben Roethlisberger-type of massive build. He showed a lot of poise for his young age, when he took over as a starter, and made so many big-time throws as a junior with only 22 pass attempts before then. Coming into 2020, he took another big leap forward and came out smoking hot as the guy who pulls the trigger for Dan Mullen’s offense, setting a new SEC record, by throwing at least four touchdowns in each of the first six games.

What always stood out to me when watching him is how in control of the offense and how competitive he was, while racking up big numbers against SEC defenses. Trask shows good rhythm to his dropbacks, with some bounce back up, to release the ball. He throws a tight spiral and on deep balls, I really the arc as they go up and how nose of the ball dives to the turf.

He routinely wins with recognition of defensive coverages and precise ball-placement, often times to the opposite half side of where a defender is attached to his receiver or just quickly getting rid of the ball, as he sees one of his guys have leverage on their routes. He also excelled at putting the ball on the top shelf for star tight-end Kyle Pitts and other tall pass-catchers.

Trask rips off big gains on seam and slot fade routes on several occasions every game, as he had a passer rating of about 140 on throws of 20+ air yards. You see him methodically work through passing concepts and take care of the ball, with only 2.8 percent of plays turnover-worthy.

Trask shows great maturity in his decision-making and how he handles sub-optimal situations, not panicking if something doesn’t go right. He offers a sturdy base and no fear with rushers around him. He quickly gets to his hot-routes and takes advantage of the middle being open, when the defenses blitzes their inside backers.

He gets a lot of big yards-after-catch pays by his backs, when he realizes they are unaccounted for or the flats are vacated, on wheel routes off mesh concepts for example. Trask does a good job of using subtle movements to operate from within the pocket, sliding and bailing a little bit to buy just that little bit of extra time. He diced up Georgia’s feared defense in their 2020 matchup for over 400 yards and five TDs through three quarters already.

Florida was as close as any team in the country to beating Alabama in the SEC title game, down by only four heading into the fourth quarter, while never giving up, even though Mac Jones and company forced them to answer every single time. Trask is a tank on quarterback sneaks or just going up the gut from shotgun alignment in short-yardage situations. While you certainly won’t describe him as an athletic player, the Gators ran him way more often than you’d think, as he checked into those plays when looking at really soft boxes against dime looks.

Florida’s signal-caller of the last two years certainly didn’t finish his college career on a high note, throwing three interceptions and zero touchdowns in a blowout loss to Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, even though he was without his four leading receivers, and was pretty much slowly benched.

A lot of the offensive success for the Gators was thanks to Dan Mullen’s ability to put defenses in conflict with play-design and spacing. There were so many open shallow crossers, wide receiver screens, pick plays, where get their backs open on wheel routes and slants to 6’6” Kyle Pitts. And the play-calling protected him a lot, to where they were throwing bubbles on third-and-long, which goes down for a five-yard completion, when it’s really worth nothing.

You see a lot of pre-determined throws, where he blindly lets it go because his coach told him so, I feel like. And he is constantly high and soft over the middle, making his targets vulnerable to some big hits. For as much as we have seen guys like Mac Jones get criticized for the weapons they had around him, Trask had the most unstoppable weapon in the country, another first-round receiver in Kadarius Toney and another solid late-rounder.

Most importantly, though, the lack of mobility in the modern NFL is highly concerning, as he seemingly has cinder blocks on his feet. So many times you will see him have a lane to run straight downhill, but he gets caught from behind an instance later, even though the defender has to cover twice as much ground. College football obviously counts sacks as negative rushing yards.

But to have 58 yards on 127 carries these last two years is pretty mind-blowing. Trask doesn’t have the feel or quick-twitch to climb the pocket, with somebody off the edge coming at him, leading to five fumbles in each of the last two years.

After that horrific showing against Oklahoma, Trask had to sit out Senior Bowl week due to an injury, which could have certainly helped him. I was just so uninspired by his tape, because so much of his production is served up on a silver platter and the stats aren’t even close to being justified by what I saw.

That may be lower than most people have Trask on their list, but to me doesn’t have those starter traits. I think he could be a very good backup, who can take over for stretches, but I don’t see him sticking anywhere for multiple seasons. He’s a sturdy pocket passer, who can execute full-field reads and win with ball-placement after spreading the defense out. But he simply can not move, and we haven’t seen him be successful outside of the comfort of Dan Mullen’s plan of attack.