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Time after time, Tyree Jackson was sitting watching the highlights of YouTube on the big quarterbacks at his home in Norton Shores, Michigan. Tom Brady was a favorite. Jackson would watch the way he moved. The angle of his arm. How he grabbed the ball. He would memorize every detail. He then went to the back yard where he had a tire hanging by a rope from a tree, then threw and threw and threw and turned into a quarter.
That's how he built the arm that led to one of the greatest careers in Michigan high school history, starting his four years at Mona Shores High and placing fourth in state history in yards and third in touchdowns. The arm that made him recruit at the University of Buffalo, where he debuted as a red rookie and won the MAC Offensive Player of the Year award for his 2018 junior season. This arm is potentially the biggest surprise of the 2019 NFL preliminaries.
But it is also the source of the greatest concern about Jackson as a prospect – the reason he would be perceived as a surprise and not a lock despite the strength of his arm, his determination, his size (6 & 39). 7 ", 249 lb) and his combined results, which drove NFL coaches and scouts.
Darron Cummings / Associated Press
Most elite prospects work with private coaches from an early age to perfect their instinct and technique. Jackson? "The first time that he was on the field with a private QB coach, it was last July at the age of 20," said former NFL quarterback Jordan. Palmer, the private coach who is now working with Jackson.
Will all those years spent going out on its own lead to debilitating problems at the professional level?
Palmer thinks it could be the opposite. "Tyree had a very limited development story, so he was able to make big gains in a short time," he says. "He's incredibly complete, hungry and athletic, so he can progress very quickly."
My last draft of model to Jackson as third round. He could be the type of player for whom a team pays too much and eventually fired a scouting staff member. Or, if Palmer is right, it could be the project's flight so late.
"Incredible where he could go with that," says Palmer.
The 2019 Senior Bowl Alignment has been defined. Executive Director Jim Nagy had already made an impressive eight-quarter list – the maximum of previous seasons – that would come to Mobile, Alabama, to train for scouts and coaches of the NFL teams.
Then Jackson decided to participate in the repechage following his junior season redshirt.
"He was too talented not to do it with Mobile," says Nagy. "In terms of pure tools, he is one of the most intriguing actors, regardless of his position, in this year's project."
So, Nagy broke the eight-quarter rule and in late January, Jackson took Mobile by storm.
Jackson's game seemed to improve day by day, even though he was standing in front of unknown receivers and was playing in bad weather. And he's also impressed on a personal level. "After spending a week with him at Mobile, I can tell you that he has a lot of energy for him … a type of guy able to communicate with different types of people, which is essential for QB's post, "said Nagy.
His stock inventory has started to climb.
Then at the end of February, when the NFL took Indianapolis for the scouting hunt, people really realized its incredible potential.
A shift coach approached me in a crowded bar the night before QB training, just to get close to me and say, "Raise Tyree on your board, he's going to dominate here."
And he did it.
Jackson ran a 4.59 second 40-yard run – the same number posted by Cam Newton at the 2011 combine. And Jackson is even bigger than Newton, who measured 6 "5", 248 pounds in "11.
By the NFL database at MockDraftable.com, Jackson's 40-yard performance puts him in the 91st percentile of quarterbacks having evolved within the combine. In fact, he was in the 90th percentile or more for his height, weight, wingspan, arm length, hand size, 40 and jump in width:
"Everyone thinks Josh Allen was this great athlete last year," said a coach at B / R after Jackson's staggering performance at Indianapolis, "but let me tell you that Jackson is better."
Allen is a common comparison for Jackson, given his size, his athleticism, his small school background and the strength of his arms, which scouts describe as the strongest they've ever seen. Patrick Mahomes and Newton are the only other NFL quarterbacks to have the same strength. And it's not only Jackson's ability to throw a deep ball, but also his speed and accuracy in the shots below that set him apart.
In combined practice sessions, Steve Smith Sr., an NFL Network Analyst and former All-Pro receiver, even contacted Jackson to tell him that he was throwing too loudly – a thing that no one would say. had seen again during field training sessions in Indianapolis.
By for Jackson's course.
"I've worked with the brightest NFL QB kids, and Tyree's potential is unprecedented," Palmer said. "His size, his arm talent and his instincts have put him on a trajectory that I have not seen since Patrick Mahomes was a sophist at Texas Tech."
Nagy adds, "He's fat, athletic, and he has a hose for an arm."
It's simple? Of course not.
The traits are important and Jackson's mix of size, speed, arm strength and personality is appealing enough to excite riders who see elite-level athleticism and arm talent. But forgetting the weaknesses of his game when your work is at stake is another story.
All these traits will not mean anything if there is no accuracy to go with them. And that's where the NFL scouts worry about Jackson.
"[Jackson] is scary because you've seen it against these little school guys, and he still could not hit 60 [percent] "Yes, he has a big arm, but he's not ready for the NFL, and precision is something you can not train."
Throwing does not pose a problem with Jackson's arm strength, but placing the ball in the appropriate zone code has actually been a problem. Its end-of-career percentage of 55.8% is well below the threshold desired by the league (60%). And even during his junior escape season, his 28 touchdowns and 3,131 yards went on 225 of his 407 pass attempts (55.3%).
Butch Dill / Associated Press
That's why NFL teams must be ready to make sure their accuracy does not improve. That's why an elite athlete with an arm that will immediately rank among the top five in the NFL is considered a Day 2 or 3 candidate.
This is also why phrases such as "boom" or "collapse" often come up when the evaluators talk about Jackson.
"Traits" is a dirty word when you talk to some coaches.
The quarterback coach of the AFC team said: "The traits make you fired, dude.You can talk about traits in the media, but we want guys who have shown that They could do the throws. "
Yet, betting on a player with obvious features but also areas of less certainty has worked before.
Most evaluators felt that Mahomes was a second-round pick before the chiefs were traded for it was no longer ranked 10th. Cam Newton was drafted first general based on his sporting wonders and belief in his potential as an athlete and smuggler after only a year in Auburn. Russell Wilson fell in the third round because he lacked ideal height at 5 "11", but the Seahawks have seen his leadership qualities and IQ football, plus a world-class arm to go to the speed of the elite, and let it start as a rookie.
Is Jackson the next?
"There is some brutality that will put him in the development category of most teams," said Nagy. "But he has personality and intelligence, so some teams will want to invest time in him."
The difference between one of those bets that pay and that does not relate may depend on the work ethic of the player in question, his desire to improve in the areas of need.
The young man who trained as a quarterback with YouTube, a rope and a tire was found in Buffalo – bypassed by all state colleges and Power Five schools in his recruitment process .
And if his lack of traditional QB makes him more of an interrogation point than an answer for the teams, that is also the reason he does not doubt his ability to s & # 39; improve. He will always have the reader.
Like Jackson told Brooke Cersosimo of NFL.com, of the NFL, said: "I will always have a chip on my shoulder, being from a small school."
Don Juan Moore / Getty Images
Palmer sees it too. "The chip on Tyree's shoulder is huge," he says. "No one has recruited him, everyone has doubted him and he continues to take what is given to him and creates opportunities in what is not given."
As for the rough draft, it's more or less the same thing. Jackson's arm is better than Drew Lock, Missouri, who has similar concerns about precision. He is bigger and faster than Daniel Jones of Duke. And yet, these QBs, respectively from SEC and ACC, are first round locks. Jackson is not.
He does not need to go out alone anymore. He has Palmer and, soon, an entire organization will commit to help him succeed.
Amazing where he could go with that.
Matt Miller covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @nfldraftscout.
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