Where Spencer Rattler’s NFL Draft stock stands

South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler is off to a strong start to the 2023 season. The senior is completing 73 percent of his passes and has thrown for more than 1,400 yards through the first five games of the year.

NFL teams are starting to take notice of Rattler’s play, and he has reportedly moved up some draft boards.

ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller joined the First Draft podcast and shared his thoughts on where Rattler’s draft stock currently stands.

“He closed out the year last year so well and really put a positive trajectory on his draft stock. There was conversation he may have entered last year’s draft because of that, because they closed out the year so strongly,” Miller said. “He is a dynamic playmaker. He creates opportunities. He’s great at extending the pocket. And his arm talent is, I mean it’s as good as any in this class. It’s probably the best in this class, in terms of deep ball ability and the way that he can create that arc.”

ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid also appeared on the podcast and stated that Rattler has moments of greatness but needs to improve his consistency.

“He’s just so hot and cold. I was at two games last year, probably his best and his worst. I was at the Clemson game and also the Georgia game, so I got the full-on Spencer Rattler experience,” Reid said. “But he has all the arm talent that you want. It’s just a matter of him honing in some of those mistakes, and he’s done a better job of taking care of the ball this year.”

CBS Sports has Spencer Rattler being selected in the first round of its latest mock draft. Despite his excellent arm talent, Reid doesn’t see Rattler going that high.

“He’s probably that late Day 2, early Day 3 guy. Third-fourth round range, depending on how he plays in the all-star games,” Reid said. “The interviews are going to be big for him, but everybody I’ve talked to at South Carolina says he’s been great. There were some things that came out about him during his time at Oklahoma from a character standpoint, but just from overall, everything with him, everybody at South Carolina says he’s been great. He’s been a leader ever since he’s gotten there.”

Miller added that some will love what Rattler brings to the quarterback position because of his creativity and willingness to push the ball down the field, while others won’t like that he takes so many chances.

“I think with Spencer you’re always gonna love or hate the ‘YOLO’ ball. There are times my man’s just going to throw that ball up and whatever happens happens. He trusts his receivers. They’ve got a couple of good ones, so I understand that strategy a little bit,” Miller said. “But you’re going to have to live and die with the turnovers, because they’re there on his tape. … But he deserves a ton of credit for what went down at Oklahoma. You get benched in the Red River game. Caleb Williams becomes Caleb Williams and a lot of people, we would never hear from them again. But Spencer’s done a really good job the last two years.”