With lateral anterior methodology having advanced significantly over the past few months, it’s time to take one last pre-preseason look at the lateral oriented anterior quarterbacks from the 2021 draft.
Trevor Lawrence has seen the biggest shift in his evaluation with the continued maturation of lateral anterior methodology. While it was noted earlier that Lawrence’s throwing motion involved constant forearm action on even routine throws, a higher-resolution view of these actions shows clear play-related purpose and subtlety. The prior assumption that this constant forearm action was by default (and indicative of ‘stuck’ or constantly engaging fascia via underdevelopment), has shown itself to be almost certainly false. Much like how Peyton Manning’s forearms engaging on even routine throws didn’t at all mean he lacked underlying full thoracic efficiency, Lawrence’s constant forearm action (now seen/ studied in much greater detail) does not indicate a lack of full development/ efficiency. It has become apparent that Lawrence does indeed show one full area of thoracic efficiency (lateral anterior), and is using subtle gradients of forearm engagement with nuance and purpose.
Unlike Trevor Lawrence, Mac Jones’s profile has seen little change with the introduction of new detail. Jones still shows close to full efficiency in lateral anterior areas, and still profiles most like Jared Goff (albeit in a different orientation) of any studied QB. As such, it appears likely that Jones will play to a similar level as Goff– very well when kept clean, but susceptible to pressure interrupting his accuracy/ delivery (and to injuries sapping his performance over the course of entire seasons). By this methodology, Jones looks likely to fall just short of franchise QB status over time.
*Trey Lance is the only quarterback on this list to still require an asterisk denoting further methodological maturation needed for full evaluation. Lance’s profile is based around an area (the lateral-most anterior area) that has not advanced significantly enough in methods over the past few months. However, with updated methodology, it is again questionable whether Lance shows full thoracic efficiency.
Both Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones now have complete enough profiles/ methodology that asterisks are no longer needed.
Below is the final pre-preseason (using only college/ pro-day tape) 2021-drafted QB thoracic efficiency ratings. These rankings reflect only thoracic efficiency, not lumbar or cervical (or overall chances of success given how lumbar-oriented are QBs such as Fields and Lance):
Zach Wilson (medial centric posterior dominant)– 2 areas of full thoracic efficiency
Trevor Lawrence (lateral oriented anterior dominant)– 1 area of full thoracic efficiency
Kyle Trask (medial centric anterior dominant)– 1 area of full thoracic efficiency
Davis Mills (lateral oriented posterior dominant)– ~1 area of full thoracic efficiency
Mac Jones (lateral oriented anterior dominant)– 0 areas of full thoracic efficiency
Justin Fields (lateral oriented posterior dominant)– 0 areas of full thoracic efficiency
*Trey Lance (lateral oriented anterior dominant)– 0 areas of full thoracic efficiency
Kellen Mond (medial centric posterior dominant)– 0 areas of full thoracic efficiency