Denver Broncos mock draft: Adding to the stellar foundation

Second round: Will Grier, QB, West Virginia

Over the past two seasons, few passers in all of college football have been as productive as Will Grier.

He started his college career out at Florida where in 2015 (just six games) he showed his upside as both a passer and runner, racking up 12 total touchdowns and proving how efficient he can be with the football.

Grier transferred to West Virginia and in 2017 established himself as one of the most dangerous playmakers at the QB position in college football. He threw 34 touchdowns and ran for another pair of scores, generating some NFL Draft hype along the way.

Grier opted to return to West Virginia for another season, and he was even more dominant in 2018. He completed a career-high 67 percent of his passes for 3,864 yards, 37 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.

Of course, the Big 12 lacks significantly in defensive prowess, but Grier has shown traits of an NFL quarterback, including the management of games, accuracy, decision-making, the ability to push the ball deep downfield and to all levels of the field, and the ability to process quickly.

Grier has good enough arm strength to excel at the NFL level, and spreads the ball effectively to his wide variety of playmakers.

The Broncos play against a quarterback twice a year in Patrick Mahomes who was not thought of as highly as he should have been coming out of college partly because he played in the Big 12 and in an offense that was not considered ‘pro style’.

It’s funny how things change, and the college game is infiltrating more an more into the NFL game. Grier’s ability to sit back and pick apart defenses will be extremely valuable moving forward to the NFL, though he does have aspects of his game he can work on.

On the whole, he’s a smart player with the physical tools and accuracy required of an NFL quarterback.