If you play in a two quarteback league, you need to keep a watchful eye on Zach Mettenberger this offseason. I remember about midway through the 2013 college season he was starting to get a lot of hype. Then, disaster struck as Zach Mettenberger tore his ACL prematurely ending his collegiate football career. On January 2nd, 2014 Mettenberger underwent surgery on his ACL. Just under four and a half months later, he participated in LSU’s proday and was a self proclaimed 85% healthy. To me, that means he’s a 100% sleeper. Especially in two quarterback leagues.
Zach Mettenberger’s Pro Day
Although Mettenberger did not participate in individual drills, he did throw over 120 passes and showcased a huge arm that had people talking about him in the late first round range before his ACL tear. Another encouraging sign is that he was able to throw on the run. In fact he was able to break hard to his right and fire passes to both Odell Beckham Jr and Jarvis Landry. He did say that his legs felt weak, but that is to be expected considering he probably hasn’t been moving around too much since January. You’re probably wondering why he waited so long to have his surgery considering he tore his ACL on November 29th. Unfortunately, he also sprained his MCL and his doctors wanted that injury to be completely healed before they surgically repaired his ACL.
Zach Mettenberger’s Measurables/Tangibles
Since he didn’t participate in any drill at his pro day, lets just take a look at him from a size prospective.
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 224 LBS
Arm Length: 32 2/8″
Hand Size: 9 3/4″
When I watch Mettenberger play football I usually end up smiling from ear to ear everytime. There is a lot to like about his game. I think he has the potential to be a better version of Nick Foles.
Having a true understanding of pocket awareness is one of the hardest transitions for college players to make upom entering the NFL. From the tape I’ve watched so far, I think Mettenberger is the most NFL ready in this category. It looks like this part of the game comes very naturally for him as he is easily able to side step away from a lot of talented pass rushers in the SEC. It’s almost Tom Brady-esque. He also looks very comfortable stepping up in the pocket and delivers the ball with pin-point accuracy when doing so. He also has underrated athleticism and has the ability to break free from the pocket and pick up first downs.
He also has one of the best arms in this class and is able to throw the ball downfield 50 yards or more with relative ease. Simply put, he has the arm strength to make NFL throws on a consistent basis. Quarterback guru Ron Jaworski currently has Mettenberger ranked as his number two quarterback in this draft class. I do not take that lightly.
The one knock I have on Mettenberger to this point is he has a tendency to make quite a few erratic throws, forcing his receivers to adjust to the ball. He often under or overthrows the ball on deep targets as well. I do think these flaws can be coached out of him though.
Overall Zach Mettenberger is currently my number four quarterback of this draft class. Barring health and situation, I could easily see him as my number two.
I’ve been hearing the Minnesota Vikings are quite enamored with him. If in fact he were to end up in Minnesota, I could easily see myself spending as much as rookie pick 2.03 on him in two quarterback leagues.
Make sure you put this guy on your watch lists
