D’Eriq King has received a lot of hype throughout college, but the hype has diminished recently. The Miami product will probably be a Day Three pick if he gets drafted at all, and support has fallen for the former young star. The former three-star recruit has been solid when healthy and has displayed tremendous mobility. The question is: if he gets picked up, what value can he bring to an NFL team?
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Player Bio
Name: D’Eriq King
Jersey: No. 1
Position: Quarterback
School: Miami
Class: Redshirt Senior
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 195 lbs
Games Watched: Clemson (2020), North Carolina (2020), Alabama (2021),
Major Injury History: ACL (2018), Shoulder (2021)
Player Breakdown
Arm Talent (4/15)
King’s arm strength is nothing special. He does not have the elite arm strength to consistently push the ball outside the numbers or down the field. On off-platform throws, his arm is decent, but he does not always have the velocity to complete passes. Sometimes his passes hit the ground shortly before reaching his target, creating questions about his arm talent. King also is undersized and does not step into some throws, so his lack of arm strength is more concerning.
Accuracy (8/15)
King’s accuracy is decent in intermediate to short passes. He will hit strides during games where he makes a few completions with great precision but is inconsistent. Sometimes King’s deep passes can fall short or be thrown inaccurately. When they are deep, he does not put the ball in front of his receivers to give them a more accessible play and potentially room to run.
Decision Making (6/15)
Although King does not have a great arm, he sometimes tries to lean on it to find success which is problematic. When pushed outside of the pocket, he tries to make tight-window throws, but his lack of arm strength causes a throw into heavy traffic and usually an incompletion. King fails to read some coverages, which can also lead to costly mistakes.
Progressions (7.5/10)
One area King has been successful in is reading his progressions. Although he tends to hold the ball too long, he does a decent job spreading the ball around the field. King will move on from his initial read and on to the next most of the time. However, sometimes when he does not notice an overhang defender can make mistakes. When he is flushed out of the pocket he should also look to throw the ball away more rather than make a tough throw since he lacks elite arm strength; he threw it away sometimes, but not always.
Pocket Awareness (6.5/10)
King’s pocket awareness is not terrible, but it is not great either. In the second quarter against Alabama, he failed to pick up pressure off the edge, which led to a hit on his blind side and a fumble. However, sometimes King flashes terrific pocket awareness. One moment he will be looking in one direction, and as a blitz comes, it seems like he will be sacked, then suddenly he makes a move to keep the play alive.
Anticipation/Touch (4/10)
King’s touch is not great. He lacks the necessary placement skills and touches to succeed in the NFL. King fails to place the ball in front of his receiver or in their hands sometimes, which leads to incompletions. His anticipation is not great either. King sometimes fails to notice defense pieces and tries to make a dangerous throw into traffic.
Out of Structure (8/10)
Out of structure is a pretty good trait for King. He can extend plays when he notices pressure and jukes them out in open space. When King is forced to throw on the run, he does not have many problems on throws where he has the arm strength to get the ball to his receiver. His biggest flaw is attempting a heroic play relying on his arm when he is flushed out of the pocket rather than a safe one.
Mobility (9/10)
Mobility is King’s best trait. While he does not possess excellent arm strength or accuracy, his mobility could be helpful to some NFL teams in practice. King is fantastic at scrambling to pick up extra yards when forced to leave the pocket. He can also make defenders miss in open space with a series of elusive moves, which adds to his impressiveness as a runner.
Mechanics (2.5/5)
Kings mechanics are just average. He does not do an excellent job of stepping into throws or getting his weight forward. While King does not have great arm strength, it is limited even more with his inability to put his weight into throws. Sometimes he leans on his throws, but King has a quick release which is intriguing. King has not shown the capability to throw from multiple arm angles, which is concerning because of his lack of height.
Player Summary
King will probably not get drafted, and if he does, it will likely be in one of the late rounds. He does not have great arm strength or anticipation skills, which may hurt him at the next level. However, King is a mobile quarterback with good juke moves and can make out of structure throws. He does not project to start in the NFL but could be helpful for some teams in practice to emulate other mobile quarterbacks.
Rookie Projections: Practice Squad
Third Year Projections: Out of the NFL
Final Grade (55.5/100): UDFA
Player Comp: Ian Book
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
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