2011 NFL Draft: Can Ryan Mallett Be the Heir To Tom Brady in New England?

In a recent report done by James Walker of ESPN, the New England Patriots will allegedly be holding a two-day visit with top quarterback prospect Ryan Mallett.

Last year, the Patriots raised a few eyebrows when they held former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow for a visit and even took him out to dinner in the north end of Boston. And recently, just a week ago, Washington's Jake Locker was a guest at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA.

Mallett, the three-year quarterback out of Arkansas, is projected to go somewhere from the second round all the way to the fourth round. 

With recent interest in Locker and Mallett, could Bill Belichick and the Patriots be looking for their future successor of Tom Brady? The Patriots do have nine selections, with six of them being in the top 92, and New England could definitely afford to bring in a young developmental quarterback.

If the Patriots were to draft a quarterback, would Mallett be the best choice?

Strengths

At the NFL scouting combine, Mallett stood in at 6'6" while weighing 253 lbs—a very powerful and athletic frame for an NFL quarterback. 

Mallett's biggest strength is his arm—it's an NFL-ready arm and he can make all of the throws needed at the next level. In fact, according to most scouts and experts, Mallett's arm is as strong as former Oakland Raiders' quarterback JaMarcus Russell. 

According to ESPN's Sports Science, Mallett can throw a football 65 MPH and hit a receiver 20 yards away in just under seven-tenths of a second. In a word, unbelievable. 

At the combine, Mallett threw the ball very well. All scouts and coaches who witnessed Mallett workout only had positive things to say about his "huge" arm. 

When Mallett gets drafted later this month, he will have the highest release point of any quarterback at eight feet—that's just incredible. 

During his three years at Arkansas, Mallett put up huge numbers and was very productive. In his last two seasons, Mallett threw for at least 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. Mallett leaves Arkansas with 67 touchdowns and just 23 interceptions.

Weaknesses

The scariest thing around Mallett is that many scouts are comparing him to draft bust Ryan Leaf.

Not only has he been compared to Leaf, Mallett has also played under coach Bobby Petrino, who's had several "big-time" college quarterbacks flop at the next level (Brian Brohm, Chris Redman, Stefen LeFors, Dave Ragone).

Despite being compared to Leaf, Mallett's biggest glaring weakness is his accuracy. His career completion percentage at Arkansas was just 57.8 percent, although his final year he improved it greatly when he finished with 64.7 percent.

And lastly, due to his very strong arm, he tries to force balls into tight windows by throwing it 100 MPH, which sometimes results in the the ball sailing wildly or even being intercepted.

Conclusion

Mallett certainly has all of the intangibles to be a great quarterback in the NFL; it's just a matter of taking his raw talent and turning it into skill. 

If Belichick and company are looking for Brady's successor, Mallett wouldn't be a bad choice after all. The Patriots would find Mallett somewhere in the middle of the draft and he'd take sometime to develop.

In my opinion, Brady has a good, solid five years left, which is the perfect amount of time to get Mallett prepared and groomed to take over for Brady.

If Mallett were to be selected by New England, he'd be put in a similar situation as when the Green Bay Packers had Aaron Rodgers waiting for Brett Favre to retire—hopefully the transition would go just as smoothly as it did in Green Bay.

This article was first seen at PatriotsPlus.net. Be sure to follow Tony Santorsa on Twitter @  TonySantorsa.