The 2024 NFL Draft QB class has a lot of top-end talent, but the depth of the group is very uncertain. Could Louisville QB Jack Plummer help fill the gaps with his 2024 NFL Draft scouting report? Let’s take a closer look at his tape.
Jack Plummer Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’5″
- Weight: 215 pounds
- Position: Quarterback
- School: Louisville
- Current Year: Redshirt Senior
Plummer’s collegiate career started back in 2018 when he joined the Purdue Boilermakers as a prized member of the team’s 2018 recruiting class under then-head coach Jeff Brohm.
Plummer was a highly regarded recruit with some three and four-star recognition, and after redshirting his true freshman season, he was the team’s leading passer in 2019, surpassing future fourth-round pick and Las Vegas Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell.
O’Connell carried the starting job into 2020, but when he went down with an injury midway through the truncated season, Plummer took the reins. In his brief starting sample, he threw for 938 yards, eight touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Plummer played well enough in 2020 to earn the starting job at the start of the 2021 campaign.
But after a hot start to the year, he stalled out in conference play, and O’Connell leapfrogged him on the depth chart again. O’Connell went on to become one of the school’s most productive passers, while Plummer transferred to California in 2022.
MORE: 2024 NFL Draft Top Quarterback Prospects
At California, Plummer completed a respectable 282 of 451 attempts for 3,119 yards, 21 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Then, in 2023, he rejoined Brohm at Louisville and helped the Cardinals hit double-digit wins for the first time in a decade.
Now out of eligibility, Plummer is off to the professional stage, and he’ll have a chance to show off his skills at the East-West Shrine Bowl. But as a prospect, does Plummer have the necessary traits to be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft?
Plummer’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Experienced QB with starting reps at three schools as far back as 2019.
- With above-average arm strength, can fit the ball into intermediate boundary windows.
- Has enough functional arm elasticity to generate solid velocity on designed rollouts.
- Has decent speed and evasive ability for his size and drifts away from pressure threats.
- Establishes a good base width when in phase and can maintain base on realignment.
- Able to rotate off his back foot at the top of his drop and generate torque on release.
- Has shown he can go through progressions and land on his checkdown efficiently.
- Able to sense looping pressure threats and flow into the flats while keeping eyes up.
- Able to keep his eyes forward on his dropback and hold safeties, opening the boundary.
- Knows how to use his eyes to mislead defenders and open space on short RAC throws.
- Can use hitches and pump fakes to drag linebackers out of RAC lanes ahead of throws.
- Shows glimpses of anticipation up the seam and can throw WRs open over the middle.
- Times out routes well and can throw to a spot and let his WRs run under the ball.
- Willing to give WRs chances 1-on-1 in the deep third after identifying opportunities.
- Flashes good accuracy in the short range and can lead WRs away from DBs for RAC.
Weaknesses
- Arm strength is only above average at best and velocity maxes out in the deep range.
- Visibly lacks great creation capacity and change of direction past linear modes.
- Sometimes puts too much arm on deep throws to compensate, overthrowing targets.
- Doesn’t always maintain base width when stepping up in the pocket, eroding synergy.
- Sometimes exhibits a heel click, pointing his toes outward and locking his hip rotation.
- Aberrations in base width on release can cause precipitous upper-body fluctuations.
- Release can be long and winding at times, causing slight delays in response time.
- Sometimes fails to adequately lead WRs on in-breaking routes, forcing adjustments.
- Overall situational precision has considerable room for improvement.
- Lacks corrective quickness with his mechanics which can delay his reads off PA.
- Tall mechanics and lack of base drive can tug throws downward and sap away at drive.
- Can be late to get his eyes upfield on boot actions and can miss middle-of-field targets.
- Sometimes lacks checkdown awareness when blitzed, and will hold onto the football.
- At times, fails to adapt mechanically when passing windows are obstructed.
- Sometimes zeroes in on initial reads and forces ill-advised throws into coverage.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Jack Plummer grades out as an undrafted free agent QB prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. Other prospects may be more worth capital investment on Day 3, but Plummer could field PFA interest from teams with his experience and baseline passing ability.
Plummer logged starting reps at Purdue, California, and Louisville, and in the process, he produced quite a bit at the collegiate level. That experience, and that proven ability to shift from offense to offense and stay productive, should only help Plummer in the eyes of evaluators.
That said, a combined lack of elite talent and operational consistency has plagued Plummer — who turns 25 years old in October — since his early playing days, and that same combination could preclude him from the NFL Draft field.
Physically, while Plummer fits the prototypical mold, his arm talent is close to average, and mechanical issues sometimes prevent him from channeling maximum velocity and maintaining accuracy.
Operationally, although Plummer appears to have a baseline understanding of short-range manipulation and anticipation, he’s not a consistent layered processor, he’s not overly evasive against pressure, and his decision-making can be very inconsistent.
Plummer has enough in his arm to earn a spot as a camp QB for an NFL team. From there, he could earn a longer-lasting role. However, his average talent and lack of overall dependability on a down-to-down basis could severely dilute his interest.
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