Pro Days: Quarterbacks Drew Lock of Missouri, Will Grier of West Virginia get their chance

Pro Day updates

The Giants, it seems, have shown quite a bit of interest in Lock, with OC Mike Shula seen having several chats with him, as well as a long (reportedly, at least 30 minute) conversation with Missouri’s head coach.

Meanwhile, in West Virginia, Pat Shurmur has been scouting Will Grier, and the Giants will have a meeting with him at some point Thursday.

The New York Giants have pulled out the stops in doing their due diligence on the 2019 quarterback class.

Chris Mara and Pat Shurmur were both in attendance for Oklahoma’s Pro Day, and the Giants sent just about everyone to Ohio State’s Pro Day.

Thursday morning sees another pair of Pro Days with two more top quarterback prospects in Missouri’s Drew Lock and West Virginia’s Will Grier.

Given the Giants’ heavy interest in Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins, the possibility of the team selecting one of them at sixth overall (or perhaps trading up to secure “their guy”) is still on the table. But the Giants have an abundance of needs and a general manager who is dogmatic in sticking to his draft board. So it is, perhaps, more likely that the Giants will select whichever player is at the top of their board at sixth, and then hope for a quarterback at 17th or 37th overall. If so, one of these two quarterbacks could be in play.

Big Blue View contributor and QB expert Mark Schofield was at the Senior Bowl back in January and got to watch both of these quarterbacks live in practice.

At the time, this was what he had to say about them.

Drew Lock

In addition to Jones, the Missouri product entered Senior Bowl week with high expectations. While Jones largely underwhelmed, Lock lived up to the hype for the most part, both on-the-field and off. Reports out of Mobile are that Lock was phenomenal during his meetings with teams, and during the game he displayed some of his ability to adjust arm angles - an ability that drew some comparisons to Patrick Mahomes in the lead-up to the Senior Bowl - when he threw an underhanded pass while rolling out to his right.

During the practice week what stood out was his arm talent. Watching Lock on tape you could tell that arm strength and velocity might be his calling cards in the NFL, and that carried over to the week of practice. He seems like a perfect fit for a vertical-based passing offense, but I wanted to see more evidence of his ability to make throws attacking the middle of the field. This was a task he accomplished during practices, such as a seam route he threw up the hashmark on Day 3 with perfect velocity and placement, or a variety of crossing routes or over routes he threw during the week. In addition, Lock’s footwork seemed to be improving, and gone from Mobile were the various back foot or fadeaway throws that littered his 2018 game tape. All the buzz around Lock right now is that his floor in the draft is the Denver Broncos at 10, and his week in Mobile might push that floor a bit higher.

Will Grier

The quarterback that I had as the best of the bunch heading into Mobile leaves Alabama as anything but, and perhaps trending down. We can start with the positives. All quarterbacks are confident, but in the post-practice scrum on Tuesday Grier was supremely so, declaring himself the best quarterback in the class and glowing about his arm strength. That prompted a follow-up question about throwing at the Combine and his one word response of “absolutely” spoke to his self-belief. Grier is also a rhythm passer, and when he is feeling it you can see the results on the field.

Now the negatives. His decisions were slower than they should be, his mechanics are a bit of a work in progress when it comes to the upper body, and when he is not in rhythm, his ball placement can be scattered at best. Inconsistency might be the best word to describe his week. During a red zone seven-on-seven session Thursday he started by making a late throw on a checkdown that could have been intercepted. Then he missed Moreau on an open post route. Then he threw a perfect fade route to Tyre Brady, the wide receiver from Marshall University. Slow, a miss, and then a perfect throw. During the game, his biggest splash play was a route he threw downfield that was hauled in by Hunter Renfrow, when Grier was rolling to his left, and it’s unclear whether Renfrow was even the intended target.

If he can put in a consistent performance in Indianapolis, he might strengthening his hold on a Day Two spot, but he leaves Mobile trending towards Day Three of the draft.

The Giants will surely be watching and evaluating as both of these young men perform, so stay with Big Blue View as we bring you more as the day unfolds.