Account
Jamie Newman, Ian Book's Top Landing Spots in 2021 NFL Draft
May 1, 2021
Thursday was all about the quarterback position in the 2021 NFL draft, with five signal-callers going in the first round.
While Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, BYU's Zach Wilson, North Dakota State's Trey Lance, Ohio State's Justin Fields and Alabama's Mac Jones stole the show in the opening round, the position took something of a back seat during Friday's second and third rounds.
There were still three taken. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Florida's Kyle Trask (64th), the Minnesota Vikings picked Texas A&M's Kellen Mond (66th) and the Houston Texans took Stanford's Davis Mills (67th). But that came with much less fanfare and intrigue.
Even after Trask, Mond and Mills came off the board, there are still notable quarterbacks available.
Jamie Newman is one of them after he impressed during the 2019 campaign with Wake Forest. He recorded 2,868 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while adding 574 yards and six scores on the ground.
He seemed primed to take over as the starting quarterback for Georgia in 2020 when he transferred and Jake Fromm left for the NFL, but Newman opted out of the 2020 campaign amid the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prepare for the draft.
Without any game tape from last season, Newman checked in as the 10th-best quarterback on the final big board from B/R NFL Scouting Department.
That was still ahead of Notre Dame's Ian Book, who landed at No. 12.
Book is a household name among college football fans after throwing for 3,034 yards and 34 touchdowns to just six interceptions in 2019 and then leading the Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff in 2020. While they lost to Alabama in the semifinal, they still impressed during the regular season and split two matchups with fellow playoff team Clemson.
Book's ceiling may not immediately jump out when it is compared to that of players such as Lawrence and Fields, but he is accustomed to performing under the spotlight and could at least provide depth for quarterback-needy teams.
Book and Newman will not be starters. Instead, they will provide insurance for teams that don't have much depth beyond their starters.
With that in mind, the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Football Team and Carolina Panthers are potential landing spots.
Jalen Hurts is the surefire starter in Philadelphia, but he is a mobile quarterback. If he suffered an injury, the NFC East team would be down to Joe Flacco and would need more depth in such a scenario.
In Washington, Ryan Fitzpatrick is 38 years old and under contract through just this season. The team will need some type of long-term stability, even if Taylor Heinicke builds on his playoff showing from last season.
As for Carolina, there isn't much proven depth behind Sam Darnold after it traded Teddy Bridgewater to the Denver Broncos.
Book or Newman could help address that.