Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener is getting a perfectly-timed lift as the Kansas City-based NFL Draft arrives.
The Senior Bowl MVP has won recent comparisons to San Francisco 49ers last pick-to-great Brock Purdy as some not-quite-QB-starved franchises look to hit pay dirt on a late selection for a quarterback.
Driving the ball: Haener’s performance during his two-season stint as the starting signal caller won praise from NFL prognosticators, but not nearly enough to win a First Round selection in Mock Drafts.
- Haener strengthened his position, courtesy of a recent leak of S2 Cognition Test results. The test is akin to the Wonderlic, issued during the NFL Combine.
- Per the leak, Haener scored the second highest among QB prospects netting a 96 percent and trailing possible first overall pick Bryce Young of Alabama.
- Likely first rounder CJ Stroud of Ohio State, meanwhile, scored a paltry 18 percent.
What they’re saying: The Haener hype has even led some of the beat writers for the Las Vegas Raiders to think that the duo of general manager Dave Zeigler and head coach Josh McDaniels might draft Haener late in the NFL Draft to serve as a sturdy back-up to new acquisition Jimmy Garoppolo.
- In a column, Vic Tafur of The Athletic addressed the potential for drafting a quarterback in the draft.
- “I think play-processing and accuracy are the big ones, along with the toughness to stand in the pocket and deliver — which they felt Carr was a little lacking in at times. I think Haener, though a little undersized, is a good Round 3 or 4 target, but every team has Brock Purdy fever and Haener has some buzz around him league-wide,” Tafur wrote.
- “I think Haener could be the guy in the third round,” he reiterated later in the column.
