The overall consensus as the NFL draft approaches has been that West Virginia's Geno Smith is the top quarterback prospect. There's plenty of debate on how high he should be drafted, but he's thought of as the No. 1 signal-caller.
NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell, however, disagrees.
"My No. 1 quarterback based on the film study I've done is (Syracuse's) Ryan Nassib. I like him overall more than Geno Smith," Cosell said Thursday on NFL Network's "Path to the Draft." "I think he's a much more precise intermediate thrower. I think the ball comes out with a little bit better velocity at the intermediate level. And I think he's a little more accurate. And I like his footwork a little bit better.
"No one here is at the (Andrew) Luck, RG3 level. Maybe not even the (Ryan) Tannehill level. At the end of the day, Nassib, at this point, would be the guy I like the most."
Cosell questioned Smith's anticipation -- saying he has "slow eyes."
"When throws are there that are clearly defined and the ball needs to come out on time with anticipation, he has a tendency to be late with those throws," Cosell said. "In the NFL ... you have to be an anticipation thrower."
Cosell also was unimpressed with Smith's accuracy on intermediate and deep throws.
"He shows a little bit of ball location issues," he said.
Cosell believes more than three quarterbacks will be selected in the first round. Smith, Florida State's EJ Manuel and Southern California's Matt Barkley are NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock's top three. This is a crop of players that inspires a lot of disagreement, and not a lot of consistency.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
