What Todd McShay Wants To See from Mason Rudolph

As we’ve talked about numerous times on this site, the prospects for Mason Rudolph’s NFL career are all over the board. I’ve seen him as high as a top-five pick to as low as a third-day pick, and pretty much everything in between.

ESPN NFL Draft expert Todd McShay is the sideline guy for the OSU-TCU game on ESPN this weekend, and he spoke with the Tulsa World about a guy he does not see going on the first day of the Draft (and maybe not even on the second).

The whole interview is interesting, and you should read it, but here is the part that stuck out to me.

“So the system is clearly a big part of the production. But I think Mason, in my opinion, would fit really any system in the country. He does not have the biggest arm, but he’s accurate. I think the things that stand out to me are, he’s on time with a high percentage of his throws, he can throw to spots. He understands touch, take a little bit off the fastball, lead receivers. He throws a really catchable ball. I think he’s got a chance to be potentially a Day 2 pick. At worst, somewhere early on Day 3.” [Tulsa World]

That’s interesting. I guess the biggest thing for me is that I’m not sure how you watch Sam Darnold (the No. 1 guy for McShay and Mel Kiper) and Mason Rudolph and turn around and say, “well, Darnold is just a lot better.” I watched Darnold against Texas. He was fine. He made some awful throws and decisions, and did some stuff well. Rudolph isn’t perfect, and I know this is more about projecting to the NFL, but man, Day 3?

Also, Josh Allen, ladies and gentlemen!

Josh Allen's final stat line:

9/24, 64 Yards, 1 INT, 1 Fumble & 1 Rushing TD ?

— Jaden Adams (@J_Adams22) September 17, 2017

Anyway, back to Todd.

(TCU brings) different pressures and this is probably going to be one of the two or three most challenging games in terms of the defense and the different looks that he’ll have all season long — at least during the regular season, the schedule that we know at this point.

Is there consistency there? Can they make adjustments in-game? If he makes a mistake early or they get behind, how does he handle it? And typically in the past he’s handled it very well. I think I’ve read that eight times they’ve trailed in the second half and he’s led them back to win. (He’s) 25-6 as a starter so he’s obviously had a lot of success. He’s handled tough moments well. [Tulsa World]

I would say 51 TDs to 7 INTs in his last 23 games has answered a lot of these questions. I don’t know if people are going to be surprised when OSU torches some really good teams this year, but they shouldn’t be.

McShay has Rudolph ranked No. 5 on his QB big board.

1. Sam Darnold
2. Josh Allen
3. Josh Rosen
4. Luke Falk
5. Mason Rudolph

His colleague Kiper also has Rudolph ranked No. 5.

1. Sam Darnold
2. Josh Rosen
3. Josh Allen
4. Lamar Jackson
5. Mason Rudolph

I’ll be interested to hear if McShay’s opinion changes after seeing No. 2 in person carve up that Gary Patterson defense this weekend in front of a sold-out BPS. You should go read the entire interview. It is excellent.