Prior to the 2013 season, Tajh Boyd was a “sure-fire first round pick”, according to some experts. Well, apparently some of these people were not too familiar with Boyd’s game. Tajh has since played his last season at Clemson, including a historical Orange Bowl win against Ohio State. In Boyd’s final game against Clemson, he totaled just over 500 total yards and scored six touchdowns.

Boyd is a great college quarterback, as his statistics alone will show, with 133 touchdowns in his college career, and he has done wonders for the Clemson football program. But as we have seen for years, the best college quarterbacks do not necessarily translate well to the NFL. If that were the case, Tim Tebow, Jason White, Ty Detmer, and others would all have been great NFL quarterbacks.

In the NFL, a quarterback needs an plethora of traits from football smarts to a strong arm, and everything in between. There has yet to be a prospect with every trait, because frankly, that would be impossible. But for a prospect to translate well, the most important thing in my opinion, is progression.

Tajh Boyd has good mobility, and a good enough arm, but he lacks consistent accuracy on intermediate passes. This is a huge negative for the NFL because in the NFL, everyone can dump the ball off, and most can throw the ball 60 yards, but in between is what separates the good from the rest. Boyd struggles to place the ball where he needs to to compete at a high level as a starting quarterback in the NFL. In the game this season against South Carolina, Boyd completed his first six passes, and looked very strong early, but once the second drive began he was erratic as can be. He missed a short rocket screen to Sammy Watkins, then forced a throw between two defenders on third down. One thing that Boyd does a lot is common among college quarterbacks, and it may be the system he is in. I once read that Boyd was instructed to throw the ball deep every play if his first read is covered (during the DeAndre Hopkins/Sammy Watkins season). But if Boyd’s first read is covered, he immediately drops his eyes and begins to run around. This is an absolute red flag in the NFL.

There is a saying that “old habits die hard”, and if Boyd cannot fix this issue, he will not succeed in the NFL. At the next level, chances are the first read will be covered, so if Boyd drops his eyes every time, he will run into a lot of trouble, and not only get hit a lot, but will be forced into turning the ball over. Some will take into account how a quarterback plays in big games, and Tajh has been known to “fold” under immense pressure. He did not beat rival South Carolina at all in his career, and has four interceptions in three games as a starter in bowl games, despite the 2-1 record.

Despite his limitations, Tajh Boyd does possess a good deep ball, and has had some great targets to use that talent. On his deep balls, he sets his feet well and gives his wide receiver enough room to make the play, which is a good trait to have. In addition, there are not many quarterbacks I would rather have on a fourth down and the team needs inches, or one yard to get into the endzone. He is similar to Tim Tebow in the sense that if you hit him at the two yard line, he will still get into the end zone.

Tajh Boyd will need a lot of work before he is ready to start in the NFL, and at the current time, a fourth round pick is the earliest I would select him. It is tough to compare him to anyone in the NFL today, but one name that comes to my mind is a more mobile Billy Volek.