Bruce Feldman evaluates Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson as a pro prospect

Caleb Williams and Drake Maye have already rightfully dominated the conversation regarding the top quarterbacks for next year’s 2024 NFL Draft. But which other quarterbacks could make some noise and raise their draft stock this upcoming season?

College football reporter and insider Bruce Feldman believes that Arkansas KJ Jefferson could be one of those guys, and spoke on the ‘Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah & Bucky Brooks’ about what makes him a unique prospect.

“He’s every bit of 6’3, 250 [pounds], now I think they want to get him down to like the 235-237 range, but he is a really thick dude,” Feldman said. “So he was training with George Whitfield down in San Diego because Kendal Briles, the old OC, is now at TCU and the new offensive coordinator, Dan Enos, is more of a pro-style guy. They’re going to do stuff under center. So he did a ton of work, Whitfield had brought out a couple of centers who are players for San Diego State just so he and the other quarterback Allen Bowman could get the actual reps under center.”

Jefferson has been a scoring machine during his time with the Razorbacks, throwing for 48 touchdowns and rushing for 19 scores. He’s one of the most physically imposing quarterbacks in the country that presents a major threat in the run game for defenses, but he should be able to showcase more of his arm talent in Enos’ new offensive system.

“And this kid is a really good runner, again, my guess is he’s probably a high 4.6 [second 40-yard-dash] guy ,if that, he’s certainly not what Anthony Richardson did. But he’s a very big man and he’s played at a high level. Again, the question I would have is how accurate is he going to be in terms of what the NFL is looking for?” Feldman asked.

Jefferson may not be the most polished passer, but he wouldn’t be the first of his kind to be selected in the NFL Draft. Various quarterbacks in recent history known more for their athletic prowess have developed and thrived at the next level, and Jefferson could be the next in line.

“Because I think you’re seeing this wave of quarterbacks, and you guys can speak to this certainly better than me, but it starts I feel like with what Brian Daboll was able to do with Josh Allen and then there’s elements of it with Daboll what they did with the Giants,” Feldman explained. “You take a quarterback who can run but wasn’t tearing it up coming out of Duke then had some success. We saw certainly what the Eagles, Jalen Hurts, fantastic.”

According to Felman, accuracy will be the key to Jefferson breaking through and climbing up draft boards. And it will surely be interesting to see if he can raise his stock in a new-look offense as one of the most physically gifted offensive players in the competitive SEC.

“And so you get guys who are strong physically who can run and how do you build around them to major in what they do really well. I just don’t know where KJ’s going to fit in terms of like some of those guys got better on the accuracy part it sure seemed like and when you say that’s the only question that’s a real question,” Feldman said. “But there’s definitely some intriguing talent there, that would the guy where he’s a good college quarterback I just don’t know how the NFL’s gonna look at him.”