How good is Wyoming QB Josh Allen?
Good enough that NFL.com analyst Daniel Jeremiah likes him over the No. 10 pick of this year's draft, Patrick Mahomes.
At 6-foot-5, 222 pounds, Allen is drawing plenty of attention as a draft prospect after passing for 3,203 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Cowboys last season. He'll be a junior this fall, so he could potentially return to Wyoming in 2018, although he gave serious consideration to entering the 2017 draft as a third-year sophomore.
"Just based off what I saw last year, I think Allen is more talented than Mahomes. I would take him over Patrick Mahomes. I think he's got better feet, quicker feet, he's more natural," Jeremiah said during the latest Move The Sticks Podcast. "He's under center, so in some of those things, he's ahead of Mahomes, but they have the same strengths and the same weaknesses."
Jeremiah wasn't necessarily as big a fan of Mahomes as were the Kansas City Chiefs, who traded up to make the former Texas Tech star the draft's No. 10 pick. In fact, Mahomes wasn't on Jeremiah's final pre-draft list of the top 50 prospects. Analyst Bucky Brooks sees Allen as less of a developmental project than Mahomes, as well.
"To me, Allen would probably be able to get on the field sooner than Mahomes," Brooks said. "If both guys had to play right now, I think you could probably win more games with Allen, because I think Mahomes is going to have more turnovers."
Jeremiah and Brooks featured evaluations of three potential 2018 QB prospects on the podcast: Allen, UCLA's Josh Rosen and USC's Sam Darnold. In Rosen, Jeremiah sees similarities to New York Giants QB Eli Manning. He likened Allen to another Super Bowl champion -- the Baltimore Ravens' Joe Flacco.
"The ball just jumps out of his hand. He does see some ghosts in the pocket; he'll bail out of clean pockets, but he'll make some incredible 'wow' throws on the move much like we saw last year from Mahomes. He's a rare arm talent," Jeremiah said. "He'll make some ridiculous plays. For a comparison, and he's got to become more consistent, but in terms of how he throws, and how he looks, I wrote down (that he's) a more athletic Joe Flacco. Flacco has a huge arm, and this kid has a huge arm."
The 2017 season will go a long way toward determining Allen's ultimate draft value, but with only one season as a starter under him, he's off to quite a start.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
