NFL Draft 2013: Mike Glennon prospect profile

The Jacksonville Jaguars will likely be looking for a quarterback in the 2013 NFL Draft, whether it be in the first round or one of the later rounds. I am going to go through a process of breaking down some of the quarterback prospects and use my own charting system to grade them.

To begin, I'll be charting N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon, who's projected to go anywhere from the first round to the third round depending on who you read or talk to.

Mike Glennon Profile

• Height: 6'7"
• Weight: 225 lbs.
• LCF Projection: -379
• NFL Comp: Ryan Mallett
• Proj. Round: 1st-3rd

Glennon is a tall pocket passer, albeit it a bit skinny for his height, with a strong arm and a relatively compact release. Mechanically, Glennon seems like he doesn't have very many flaws that you will need to work with out of the gate, such as release point and his footwork. He has experience in both the shotgun and under center.

Glennon does seem to have heavy feet in the pocket however and will struggle rolling out or buying time getting away from defenders. His awareness in the pocket is spotty, especially when pressure comes up the middle, which will force him to retreat backwards and throw off his back foot rather than simply sliding in the pocket or stepping up to avoid the pressure.

While Glennon has a big arm, he doesn't seem to utilize it like you think one would. When he has a perfect pocket and his throwing platform is uninterrupted, he can spin the ball cleanly downfield, but more often than not a quarterback won't have that advantage, and that's really where Glennon's struggles come in. Ironically enough, the longer Glennon seems to have the ball in his hands the worse his decision making gets. He seems to operate more efficiently working the short game and quick hitter throws rather than attacking the seam and utilizing his arm strength.

I decided to try my hand at charting, modifying a couple of systems that I have seen to see how Glennon would grade out. Against Florida State, Glennon attempted 55 passes, which gives him a possible score of +55 for 100 percent efficiency in my charting system. A player is awarded +1 for a completed pass and no points for an incompletion. If the incompletion is a catchable pass but is dropped, the quarterback is awarded a half point. If the incompletion stems from a bad throw (i.e. low, overthrown, behind, under thrown) the quarterback is penalized a half point and then interceptions are a full point docked. For the sake of this, all throws are created equal and yardage or touchdowns do not matter.

Against Florida State, Glennon came away with a 39 percent efficiency rating out of his possible 55 points. I have no idea what this means yet or how it compares to other players, because I don't have another comparison yet to really work out the kinks of the point system, but from the chart above you can see where Glennon did his damage.

His game against Florida State is one that a lot of people point to as a good game for him, but after watching it a few times and charting it, I felt he played rather average and just took what the defense gave him, which wound up being predominantly short crossing patterns over the middle. They didn't appeared to be "designed" short throws either, but Glennon actively choosing to take the shorter route.

Glennon handled pressure well against the FSU pass rush, only retreating backwards and making a poor throw a few times, but even when he had time in the pocket he opted to check the ball down to a back or receiving running a short crossing pattern in front of the Seminoles linebackers. He didn't really seem to read the field all that well or come off what appeared to be his primary reads often, which left a lot of yardage on the field. One play in particular on fourth down late, Glennon opted for the shorter easy out route rather than the post coming open in the middle of the field which would have easily been a first down and possibly a touchdown.

Personally, for me, I wouldn't take Glennon until the third round or so because right now he needs everything around him to be perfect to really attack down the field. Once his throwing platform is interrupted, everything seems to go haywire. He's not bad under pressure and will stand in to take the shot, but if he has to move to throw his accuracy seems to go out the window.

While I'm still working the kinks out of this charting system, after charting Glennon against Miami he came away with a higher efficiency than he did against Florida State. Watching both games however, I thought Glennon was much worse against the Hurricanes than he was against the Seminoles.

Against FSU, Glennon took what the defense gave him and checked down, almost to a fault. Against the Hurricanes however, Glennon continuously forced passes down the field, and it was correct. While Glennon had the right idea to challenge Miami deep, he was often forced to move his throwing platform and he struggled to hit targets down the field and even give his receiver a catchable ball. He retreated backwards quite a bit in this game as well, nearly throwing another interception or two doing so and blindly throwing the ball away.