UCF's Blake Bortles might be the top quarterback on some teams' draft boards, but NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock says he has a big issue with one aspect of Bortles' game.
Appearing on NFL Network's "NFL AM" on Monday, Mayock said Bortles, who is his No. 3-ranked quarterback in the draft, might have a flaw that safeties in the NFL will look to take advantage of early in his career.
"I would like to play safety against Bortles because he stares everything down," Mayock said. "A lot of big-armed quarterbacks do that when they're young, and he's going to have to learn to transition from that."
Bortles' pro day is Wednesday, and in the wake of Teddy Bridgewater's rather lackluster performance at Louisville's pro day Monday, it might have taken on even more significance.
Bortles measured 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds at last month's NFL Scouting Combine, and he was the only one of the top four quarterbacks -- Bridgewater, Fresno State's Derek Carr and Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel are the others -- who chose to throw at the combine. He ran a slower-than-expected time in the 40 (4.93 seconds) and seems likely to run the 40 again Wednesday. But how he throws, especially given Bridgewater's pro day, is going to be interesting.
Bortles is in play to be the No. 1 pick, and his frame and style of play seem to match up the best with the type of quarterback preferred by new Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien. In addition, O'Brien worked for eight seasons under UCF coach George O'Leary when O'Leary was the coach at Georgia Tech. Who better to provide an unvarnished scouting report for O'Brien on Bortles than one of his mentors?
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
