Connor Cook NFL Draft 2016: Scouting Report, Grade for Raiders Rookie

POSITIVES

A three-year starter from Hinckley, Ohio, Connor Cook was the Offensive MVP of the Rose Bowl in 2014 and the Big Ten quarterback of the year in 2015. He's accomplished—a winner—with 9,194 yards passing and 71 touchdowns to just 22 interceptions. He's run a pro-style offense. There are many things to like when viewing his tape.

Cook is a solid athlete with the footwork under center and in the pocket to move around and find the best passing windows. He's one of the few quarterbacks in the class with real experience taking snaps under center and executed five- and seven-step drops at Michigan State. He's agile enough to roll out to the left or right and make a throw on the go.

Cook's arm is solid but not great. He has a tight throwing motion with good weight transfer and a crisp follow-through. You won't find wasted motion in his release. He has enough juice to get the ball through tight windows on underneath routes and can change it up and throw a rainbow down the field with good placement and timing. As a decision-maker, Cook trends toward conservative but will put the ball in the air to challenge defenses deep.

On the mental side, Cook was asked to make some reads and audibles at the line of scrimmage, but it wasn't always a strength of his game.

NEGATIVES

Much has been made of the fact that Cook wasn't voted a team captain at Michigan State—and it is worth noting—but the bigger issue is his accuracy. Cook completed just 56.1 percent of his passes in 2015, and in the last three seasons, he never completed 59 percent of his attempts. While statistics can be misleading, this is a concern because it matches the tape.

Cook played through a shoulder injury in late 2015 before shutting his arm down for the Senior Bowl—an event to which he declined an invitation. The shoulder was 100 percent healthy as of Cook's pro day and shouldn't be a concern moving forward.

Cook is too often off-balance and out of rhythm while throwing. His arm motion is super tight, but his lower body motion is often wide open and inconsistent in his hips and feet. Most quarterbacks need their shoulders and feet square when throwing, but Cook doesn't set to this position consistently in the pocket. That leads to poor, and unpredictable, accuracy. Cook will need to be coached to fix the timing of his stride in the pocket.

When under pressure, Cook struggled to step up and make throws. The film shows him wilting when defenders get around his legs. He reads blitzes well and makes quick strikes, but this is more about what he does in a muddy pocket, and it wasn't pretty. When defenses made Cook progress to his second and third reads, he got frazzled and would go to checkdown mode.

COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 217 lbs.

40 Time: 4.79s

Hand Size: 9¾"

3-Cone: 7.21s

PRO COMPARISON: AJ McCarron, Cincinnati Bengals
FINAL GRADE: 6.00/9.00 (Round 3—Future Starter)