Mel Kiper shares which quarterback received ‘least criticism' among Will Levis, CJ Stroud, Bryce Young

The 2022 college football season is officially over, and it is now the time in the year when experts start to rank prospects making the jump to the next level. One of the best-known names when it comes to NFL mock drafts is ESPN’s Mel Kiper.

During a recent episode of First Draft, Kiper revealed his pick for the Houston Texans, who own the second pick in the draft. All signs point to the Texans taking a quarterback in that spot. But according to Kiper, there’s not a clear favorite prospect at quarterback this year. Out of Will Levis, CJ Stroud, and Bryce Young, the draft expert went with the quarterback who has received the ‘least criticism.’

“Well, my pick would be Will Levis. He is my QB1. Todd has Bryce Young,” said Kiper. “I went with CJ Stroud. Who is the quarterback I saw and heard the least criticism of? It was CJ Stroud.

“In the last two years, a tremendous touchdown to interception ratio. He showed, in the Georgia game, he can move around and use those legs. He doesn’t throw interceptions, (and) he throws with accuracy to all levels. This is a guy who’s a competitor. You think about the talent around him; there was a lot of pitch and catch, not dealing with adversity; I get all of that. But in the Georgia game, he had to deal with all that. I think that game made him, (and) put him in the discussion to be QB1 with some people. So that’s why I did it.”

With no clear-cut top quarterback prospect and the 2023 NFL Draft, Kiper used what he heard negatively about each player to make his decision. Stroud has received some criticism about the level of talent he had the luxury of playing with at Ohio State. Still, his criticism isn’t based on his in-game performances or things out of his control. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Levis and Young.

“Because of Bryce Young’s size and Will Levis with the year he had, for whatever reason, people want to take that and make that the major part of their evaluation. A year when he was beat up, and he had nothing around him. If you want to go that route, fine. That’s your opinion go do it. So that’s why I didn’t feel Levis, because of some of the criticism I heard or negativity, wouldn’t be that guy.”

Levis is coming off a year riddled with injuries, only playing in 11 games for Kentucky. There was a slight dip in his completion percentage; mildly unnoticeable, from 66 to 65.4 percent. He also threw five fewer touchdown passes, dropping from 24 to 19 but also saw a slight dip in interceptions from 13 to 10.

“Young’s size, everybody says that was a major factor in why they could not take him or feel comfortable taking him that high. It’s never happened in the history of the NFL draft. So that’s why Stroud, if you want to say the safest, based on what I heard; that was to logic I used to make him the second pick overall.”

The Alabama signal caller missed one game for the Crimson Tide with a shoulder injury. Young also played fewer games than his 2021 season, thanks to Alabama missing the College Football Playoff this year. Still, the 2021 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback put up ridiculous numbers for a second straight year earning another trip to the Heisman Trophy ceremony at the end of the season. Unfortunately, the issue with him is something out of his control, his height. Listed at 5-foot-11, Young is significantly shorter than the average height for a prototypical NFL quarterback. This has some NFL executives questioning taking the former Alabama star so high in the draft.

There is no clear-cut favorite among the three quarterbacks. Still, each one is talented and gifted enough to lead an NFL franchise and be successful in doing so. Whether the Texans go with Stroud, Young, or Levis remains to be seen. Each one is a good young talented quarterback. But according to Kiper, maybe not the best one.