QB Washington State
AVERAGE RATING (GIL BRANDT):
6.0
OVERALL RATING (RON WOLF):
6.4
DELTA:
+0.4
MEANING:
A solid player who could start
JEDI PADAWAN
MAJOR FACTORS:
| Personal/Behavior ★★★★★★★★ 8 | Competitiveness/Toughness ★★★★★★★★ 4 |
| Athletic Ability ★★★★★★★★ 1 | Mental/Learning ★★★★★★★★ 6 |
| Strength/Explosion ★★★★★★★★ 4 | Injury/Durability ★★★★★★★★ 8 |
GAMES STUDIED:
2017: Stanford, Utah, California, Colorado
ABOUT:
Luke Falk is a 3-yr. starting senior for the Washington State Cougars. After finishing his career with the Cougars he was on basically ever meaningful stat in NCAA history. He ranked 2nd in pass completions (1,403), 4th in pass attempts (2,054), 13th in completion percentage (68.3%), 7th in passing yards (14,481), and 10th in passing touchdowns (119) in NCAA history. These stats are amazing and speak to how successful Falk was in his 3 years at WSU.
SCOUTING:
Falk is a very interesting quarterback to evaluate. From merely looking at his stats you can gain a false impression of how good or bad this quarterback really is, so let’s get into his tape.
Falk is an extremely patient quarterback. Every time he drops back (unless it is a designed screen or quick pass) he will stand there for what seems like hours until finding an open receiver. Falk hardly ever quickly finds a receiver, instead stands resolutely inside the pocket looking and looking and looking. When given enough time in the pocket he is very good at finding the open man, often times having to go through 3 or 4 progressions to identify his target. Falk is a fairly accurate quarterback, and when he does have time he delivers a very good ball. The last thing that impressed me about Falk was his football IQ. Not many quarterbacks are willing to stand in the pocket for so long and go through their reads. However, Falk’s ability to find his 3rd and 4th targets was one of his best traits.
Although patience is a great trait for quarterbacks, it also has it’s downsides. Falk held on to the ball too long, often resulting in a sack. This could be attributed to a lack of confidence in his arm which lacked zip and speed to get to wide receivers before DBs could knock the ball down. Regardless of the reason, there were just too many instances where you were screaming for Falk to throw the ball and it never left his hands. Another major concern for Falk is his performance against the blitz. When blitzed Falk was terrible. With not enough men to protect him, he was forced to throw early, and this Falk was unable to take advantage of. He would throw inaccurately or have no clue what to do before ending up on the turf.
CHARACTER:
None
INJURIES:
Head injury in September 2017 vs Colorado.
NFL COMPARSION:
When watching Falk play he reminds me of Drew Bledsoe. Both are very similar in style and they actually attending the same university (Washington State). The first thing that both quarterbacks are identical with, is there patience inside the pocket. Both QBs are not athletic by any stretch of the imagination, and instead calmly sit in the pocket waiting. This got both guys into trouble and their patience was more of a drawback than a positive. However, when they were protected they preformed very well, and forced defensive backs to cover way longer than they were able to resulting in big plays.
SUMMARY:
Falk’s stats suggest he can become an elite quarterback at the next level, and at times his tape reinforces that. However, nice a book with a beautifully designed cover but with poor writing and character development, Falk falls short in the things that matter most. Falk has the football intelligence, accuracy, and patience to survive in the NFL, but his inability to find receivers quickly will be the bane of his career. In the NFL defenses will quickly realize his weakness, and will big 7 or 8 man blitzes routinely to force Falk to make a quick read. In his current state I don’t believe Falk has the ability to counter this and because of that I believe he has the potential to be your average starting QB, but most likely he will be an above average backup for years to come.
PROJECTION:
Falk is a mid grade quarterback in this year’s draft. He is inside the top 10 but his concerns will make NFL evaluators question themselves before selecting him. As always QBs rise in draft boards merely by fogging a mirror, so I believe Falk is a late 2nd or early 3rd round pick in 2018.
