Midseason potential Miami Dolphins draft prospect profile: Justin Herbert

Our continuing series on the top draft-eligible quarterbacks today focuses on the University of Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert.

As we continue our series on “Midseason QB profile”, today we will look at Oregon QB Justin Herbert. The stats provided are as of October 25th.

Justin Herbert, University of Oregon

2019 Stats: 158-232, 68.1% Comp Pct, 1882 yards, 21 TDs, 1 INT

Herbert is a highly debated quarterback prospect; in that most analysts like him and I think he’s overrated.

As a lifelong Oregon Ducks fan, I have watched every game that Herbert has played. At 6’6″ tall and 237 pounds, there is no questioning whether he has the size to play the position. (Although the same superstitions about QBs over 6’6″ that plague Eason also apply to Herbert.)

The first thing that scouts always tout about Herbert is his “arm talent”. Personally, I ‘hate’ this term. It’s true that Herbert has the arm strength to make every throw and has the ability to ‘thread the needle’. However, just because a quarterback has the arm strength to make every throw doesn’t mean he’s a good quarterback. Jamarcus Russell could throw the ball a ‘country mile’ but that didn’t make him a good quarterback.

That brings us to Herbert’s accuracy. While Herbert possesses a 63.9% completion percentage in his career at Oregon, most of those completions are made either behind/at the line of scrimmage or on short throws. If you were to piece together a tape of Herbert’s deep throws, you would find they are often to wide open receivers or show a total lack of ‘touch’.