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Brett Hundley and the 2014 NFL Draft: Reasons for One More Year in Westwood

Part 2 of a 4 part series of posts discussing whether Brett Hundley should go to the NFL draft after his red-shirt sophomore season (2013) at UCLA.

US PRESSWIRE

So let's pick up where we left of after setting up the discussion on whether Hundley should stay or go. On one had we have Bellerophon laying out detailed arguments for why Brett should stick around for one more season. Let's go over them.

Dual threat QB factor: The transition from college to pros isn't always so smooth. For every Collin Kaepernick (and he is not exactly having a stellar year to date), there's a RGIII or EJ Manuel suffering through mediocre to ugly seasons with bad football teams. Just look at the pounding RGIII has taken so far this season.

Chance to cement legacy as greatest UCLA QB ever: If he sticks around for 2014, that team could be VERY SPECIAL, as in serious threat to win the whole thing special (at least on paper, when you look at the talent that would be on that team). If he takes UCLA to the conference crown and wins the Rose Bowl or even better, he will likely be a serious candidate for the Heisman, and will go down as UCLA's greatest QB ever: better than Cade, Aikman, Beban, etc. because people will remember he is the QB that not only won UCLA a big one (be it the Rose Bowl or better), but also brought UCLA back to where we used to be when Cade left.

The draft will be better for him in 2015 than in 2014: in 2014, other QBs on the board will be:

  • Keith Price - Washington
  • Logan Thomas - Virginia Tech
  • Aaron Murray - Georgia
  • Tajh Boyd - Clemson
  • Teddy Bridgewater - Louisville (Can't see him staying for his senior year since he's widely projected to be the #1 QB in the 2014 draft)
  • Zach Mettenberger - LSU
  • A.J. McCarron - Alabama
  • Stephen Morris - Miami
  • Braxton Miller (maybe) - Ohio State
  • Johnny Manziel - TAMU (obviously, he could stay, but since he seems to be a bit of a ...uh ... ‘head-case' he may think he's ready to go pro, some NFL executive will be dumb enough to draft him, and NFL defensive ends will have a good ole him driving him into the turf)

Whereas, in 2015, assuming Braxton, Miller, and Bridgewater all go pro, Hundley will be competing with guys like:

It seems pretty safe to conclude the 2014 QB class is far deeper. He could go in the first round, but with the other guys on the board, he could slip in the draft. We have read so called NFL experts compare Manziel to Drew Brees. So it's more of a crapshoot for Brett this year, whereas 2015, he'll have three years of starting experience and in all likelihood, will be the undisputed top QB in CFB, but in the top 5 at the bare minimum.

Mechanics/Decision making not fully developed yet: There is the issue of mechanics. Watching Brett through 17 games seems to us that he still has some mechanics issue wrt to through deep ball accurately. He seems to loft it instead of throwing it in straight line. Plus as the Sportsline.com piece pointed out in my yesterday's post even against Nebraska Hundley took sacks because he held on the ball too long, showing he still has some developing to do in the area of being more decisive with the ball.

So there you have it. What do you guys think?

In my next post, I will lay out the arguments for why it maybe too risky for Brett to return for another year in Westwood.

GO BRUINS.