Baylor Pro Day Highlights Bryce Petty's Enormous Boom-or-Bust Potential

In the NFL draft community, there is a difference between a quarterback considered a natural passer versus a thrower. 

The New England Patriots' Tom Brady is arguably the best natural passer in the NFL. He exhibits tremendous touch, ball placement, an ability to vary speeds and a history of making every throw asked of him. 

On the other hand, the Chicago Bears' Jay Cutler is more of a gifted thrower. His arm strength and natural velocity cannot be questioned. His ability to vary arm slots is a natural gift. He is the type of quarterback who can throw a football through a brick wall, yet he lacks in areas that require a more subtle touch. 

Baylor's Bryce Petty is considered a thrower. 

But Petty's big arm may be enough to get him selected higher than expected in a draft class that is absolutely desperate for a quarterback to step up and claim the third spot behind Florida State's Jameis Winston and Oregon's Marcus Mariota. 

As the Baylor product continues to build his case to become an early-round selection, the former Bear dazzled during his pro day. 

The quarterback whisperer, George Whitfield, raved about Petty's performance, via ESPN-Central Texas' David Smoak: 

Whitfield orchestrated some of the most well-known pro-day performances over the last few years, including Andrew Luck's and Johnny Manziel's. 

Manziel's pro day was especially over the top with music blaring, a quarterback throwing in pads and even a former President of the United States in attendance. 

Petty couldn't top Manziel purely on showmanship, but he was able to orchestrate a workout that, on the surface level, answered the primary questions about his overall game. 

This particular quarterback is the simply the latest trying to graduate from an "Air Raid" offense into a pro-style scheme. It's not an easy process. Just ask Tim Couch, Graham Harrell, Robert Griffin III, Brandon Weeden and Manziel. 

Due to Baylor's offensive system, Petty's rudimentary knowledge of proper NFL footwork, throws and verbiage are major holes within his skill set that must be offset by his natural tools and perceptible growth in each of these areas during a very short amount of time. 

Whitfield's workout was designed to highlight those perceived deficiencies in order to make Petty appear to be a complete prospect. 

The transformation began at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, when Petty admitted play calls were a new adventure for him, per ESPN.com's Nick Wagoner: 

Petty's learning curve was on display during his pro-day performance. 

DraftInsider.net's Tony Pauline noted that the quarterback was given full control of the workout in order to display his growing comfort level from the huddle and at the line of scrimmage: 

Along with calling plays from the huddle, Petty also worked from under center during the entirety of the workout's passing portion. 

During the season, the Baylor quarterback took a snap from under center less than 50 times. He took nearly 80 such snaps Wednesday. 

It was a point of emphasis orchestrated by Petty and Whitfield. The quarterback discussed the importance of doing so with the Houston Chronicle's Brian T. Smith: 

Concerns around Petty's game go behind what he wasn't asked to do in head coach Art Briles' offensive scheme. The quarterback's overall play was suspect as a senior.  

During a four-game stretch against the Iowa State Cyclones, Texas Longhorns, West Virginia Mountaineers and the Kansas Jayhawks, Petty failed to complete at least 60 percent of his passes. His accuracy was particularly awful against the Longhorns and Mountaineers. In those two contests, Petty completed only 39.7 percent of his passes. 

The West Virginia game will continually be mentioned due to the quarterback's poor deep-ball accuracy. 

SI.com's Doug Farrar wasn't very forgiving in his overall assessment of Petty: 

However, the quarterback's overall touch on the deep pass looked much improved in the seven-on-seven environment found at a pro day.

Smith provided an example from Wednesday's workout that displayed how easily Petty throws the ball downfield with a perfectly placed deep pass: 

A surprising aspect of the quarterback's accuracy was also seen during the pro day. 

Petty isn't know for his nimble feet even after running a 4.87-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, but teams might be interested in moving the pocket for the Georgia native. 

The Dallas Morning News' Shehan Jeyarajah noted how well Petty threw on the run: 

The Baylor product won't make anyone forget about Mariota, but his impressive mobility provides more value. It doesn't substitute for a lack of pocket presence; it simply gives teams more options in how they can utilize Petty at the next level. 

Overall, it was a positive pro-day performance for a quarterback scrambling to be the third signal-caller off the board at some point between April 30 to May 2. 

The workout doesn't remove the lingering questions about his game, though. 

NFL Network's Mike Mayock succinctly addressed Petty as a prospect and where he fits in this year's draft class: 

Once Petty's potential is boiled down to its core, he is considered a developmental prospect. 

The Baylor product didn't experience metamorphosis between the end of last season and his pro day to emerge as an elite quarterback prospect. 

A strong pro-day performance, though, helped ease some of the trepidation teams have over Petty's ability to make the transition from a wide-open spread system to pro-style scheme. 

It's only one step, but it's still promising.  

Petty still falls far short of the top two quarterback prospects in this year's draft class, but he can now be considered in the conversation with UCLA's Brett Hundley and Colorado State's Garrett Grayson as the next best. Petty may have even surpassed both at this stage in the process. 

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL draft for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.