NFL Draft Analyst Todd McShay Breaks Down Drew Mestemaker’s Game

I missed this last month, but NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay, formerly of ESPN and now at The Ringer, did a podcast episode breaking down Drew Mestemaker’s game.

It was part of The McShay Show’s “Building the Board” exercise where McShay and cohost Steve Muench breakdown a pair of NFL Draft quarterback prospects. You can, and should, listen to the full episode here (Spotify), as it’s incredibly insightful stuff to get to know Oklahoma State’s quarterback entering the 2026 season, but I wanted to hit a few of the highlights.

What stood out about Mestemaker to both analysts is something that’s hard to notice to the untrained eye: a firm grasp of Eric Morris’ offense. McShay lauded Mestemaker’s ability to breakdown a defense pre-snap, seeing the whole field, making the right decision and being accurate with his passes.

Both noted this was extra impressive given the 2025 season was Mestemaker’s first as a full-time starter even going back through high school.

“I really thought this kid showed a great grasp of the offense and was more developed as a quarterback and understanding concepts and how to attack coverage than I expected,” Muench said. “Now look, the inexperience still shows at times. There’s certain rotations he didn’t read well. He threw into coverage a couple times. I’m not saying it was perfect, but he could get to his backside read. He knew where he wanted to go with the ball. There were times it certainly looked like to me he was setting protections and making changes at the line.

“This guy’s brain is pretty developed, I think, for a first-year starter. If I wanted to be obvious, I could talk about the arm strength. I think he’s got a live arm, but I think to me what stood out that I wasn’t really expecting was how smart he is.”

They both also noted that Mestemaker was more athletic than they initially anticipated. McShay said he had to go back and keep updating his notes the more he watched of him.

Mestemaker technically had 89 rushing yards last season to go with five rushing touchdowns, but college quarterback rushing numbers can be a little misleading because of sacks. He actually gained 233 yards on the ground but lost 144 thanks to sacks.

PFF tabbed Mestemaker with nine rushes of 10-plus yards and 13 runs for first downs in 2025.

If you listen to The Reload podcasts, we’ve often compared Mestemaker’s running ability to that of Taylor Cornelius. Cornelius didn’t scream dual-threat, but when he needed to run, he was capable. He finished that 2018 season at OSU with 406 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. McShay compared Mestemaker to another Drew.

“Taller, pocket passer — not a statue,” McShay said of Mestemaker. “Not a statue. Competitive mobility. Think about all the things we said about Drew Allar and his mobility. Not the fastest, not the twitchiest, all those things, but there were times where you need a first down, and he kind of felt it and he’s got good coordination and balance. I think (Mestemaker) has a little bit more juice than Allar. I mean, I know it.”

With Mestemaker’s ability to move, though, came one of the weaknesses McShay and Muench discussed about his game, saying his accuracy starts to drop as he has to move his feet. Muench also compared Mestemaker to a power pitcher who needs to develop a little more finesse on certain throws.

It’s important to remember that this podcast is more tailored to what type of NFL prospect Mestemaker is rather than what kind of year he’ll have at OSU. I say that that to preface this quote:

“He doesn’t have an elite arm,” McShay said. “It’s a two. One is exceptional on our grading scale. Five is marginal. Three is right in the middle. It’s a two. It’s good. And I like it, and I like the way he can kind of sometimes a defender is hanging on him or he doesn’t have his feet properly, he can kind of just flick it and get the ball there.

“So, those things are all good. I’m really excited to see him in a similar system, new weapons, but also new level of competition. We’re not saying Big Ten or SEC, but definitely a step up.”

Based on watching his games at North Texas last season, I can somewhat confidently say that Mestemaker has the best arm of any OSU quarterback in some time. Saying he “doesn’t have an elite arm” sounds like an insult, but again, this is in comparison to the best ball throwers walking the planet based off film where Mestemaker was a redshirt freshman.

Lastly, the guys talked about what kind of steps can be made this season. There’s been a good amount of discourse in Stillwater as to just how long the Cowboys will have Mestemaker. These two draft analyst (in the summer before the season, at least) think OSU fans will get to see No. 17 slinging the pill again in 2027.

“If he’s gonna be this guy, I gotta see a big step,” McShay said. “I wanna remind people, he’s just a redshirt (sophomore). My guess is he’s got two years at Oklahoma State, and I think that that will be best for him. …

“I say all that because if he’s gonna be this guy, which he is, I want to see the advancement. Because now he’s going into his second year as a starter, didn’t play a lot of ball in the past but now is time for the ole rinse, refine, repeat. He’s so good at making reads and so good at controlling the offense and doing those things. Now he’s gotta take it to a graduate level.”