The college football schedule is loaded with quality matchups this weekend. There are 7 games between teams ranked in the College Football Playoff Top 25. The best of the bunch will take place in Oklahoma as the Sooners travel to take on the Cowboys in this year's installment of Bedlam.
The game will feature two of the top quarterbacks in college football -- Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma) and Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State). Both QBs will be fascinating evaluations for the NFL scouting community in the months leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft. There's still time for opinions to change, but I wanted to get a sense of how these two compared to one another at this point in the process. I reached out to five NFL executives and asked them which of these two signal-callers will be the better pro. Here are their answers.
Executive 1: Mayfield
"This is an easy one. I'd go with Mayfield. He has a better arm, he's more accurate and I love his leadership traits. Rudolph has better size, but when your turn on the tape, it's not close."
Executive 2: Mayfield
"(Mayfield) has excellent command and he sees the field so much better (than Rudolph)."
Executive 3: Rudolph
"I love Mayfield. He's fun to watch and he's a winner, but I think Rudolph will be the better pro. He has good size, plenty of arm and he's a better athlete than people think."
Executive 4: Rudolph
"Mayfield is an incredible competitor, but his size, lack of accuracy down the field and decision making worry me. Rudolph has some issues, too, but he takes better care of the ball, he's more accurate down the field and he has a better arm. He does need to go through his progressions quicker and be better in the red zone, but I'd still take him over Mayfield."
Executive 5: Mayfield
"Mayfield is a better athlete, has more arm strength, he's more accurate and he is a much better playmaker."
Summary: That's three votes for Mayfield and two for Rudolph.
Conclusion: As you can see, opinions are all over the place when it comes to these two quarterbacks. I haven't seen either player live in person, but based off the tape from this fall, I think Mayfield has a little more arm strength than Rudolph. Some of the executives above disagreed with me. I have a higher grade on Mayfield at the moment, but I'm looking forward to seeing both in person before making my final decision on which will be the better pro. This game will be a great opportunity for scouts to compare their skill sets on the same field, and evaluators love to see who rises to the moment in situations like this one.
Follow Daniel Jeremiah on Twitter @MoveTheSticks.
