Mel Kiper explains what separates Bryce Young outside of his size

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper shook up his latest mock draft, and now projects Alabama quarterback Bryce Young to be the No. 1 overall pick of the draft ahead of Ohio State‘s CJ Stroud, who he now projects as the second pick. Size has been the main factor and talking point surrounding Young’s evaluation, but Marcus Spears asked Kiper on ESPN’s ‘First Take’ what separates Young as a player outside of his stature.

“It’s really I think the quick decision making and the fact that he is the ultimate processor,” Kiper said. “Marcus you look at the comparisons, and Todd McShay said it, he said hey Patrick Mahomes and Steph Curry, to see things that nobody else does on the field, he does that.”

Kiper was supposed to keep size out of the discussion, but used it as a frame of reference to show how important of a factor it is when breaking down Young as a prospect.

“And I said if he was bigger it wouldn’t be no question, he’d be a generational talent, he would be up there with the John Elway‘s and the elite of the elite quarterbacks of all time if he were bigger. So if you can reconcile the size, because he’s the ultimate outlier don’t make any mistake about it, he’s the smallest quarterback in the history of the common draft to go in the first round, let alone number one overall,” Kiper said. “So this is new and something we’ve never had happen before, but otherwise he’s great.”

Young was able to perform at an elite level despite his size for the entirety of his career till this point. He was No. 1 rated quarterback of the 2020 class out of high school according to On3’s Industry Rankings and is still regarded by many as the number one quarterback entering this year’s draft class, despite maybe even having less talent to work with this past season.

“And I think when you look at CJ Stroud, he had Marvin Harrison Jr., he had the o-line in front of him, he had Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson two years ago so I think everybody around CJ Stroud was outstanding, that was not the case this year with Bryce Young at Alabama,” Kiper said.

Young was still able to throw for 3,328 yards and 32 touchdowns last season while leading Alabama to 11 wins. Young’s size will continue to be the overarching narrative surrounding him heading into the draft, but Kiper believes in today’s game and with the right franchise that Young still has the potential to thrive.

“So for me I think it gets down to he was two years ago talked about as the number one pick overall guaranteed, he had always been up there. So the only thing that’s going to take him out that spot is the size, so if you feel okay about that and you feel hey, any quarterback can get hurt,” Kiper said. “Josh Allen played hurt this year, Jalen Hurts played hurt, Patrick Mahomes played hurt, Lamar Jackson was out injured, bigger quarterbacks have been hurt so if you feel like hey, we can protect him, we’ll devise a system and a game plan that will protect him as well, we’re good with the size we’re okay moving forward.”