Graham Mertz 2025 NFL Draft Profile

Graham Mertz 2025 NFL Draft Profile

Ok… after doing write-ups on the bums in the QB class, we’re starting to get into the interesting territory now. Post Combine, I actually put Graham Mertz inside my top ten for the quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft. Let’s get to the full draft profile for the Florida quarterback because this one is genuinely a fascinating case study.

NFL Draft Stock Report: Week 3, Week 4, Week 7, Week 12

I think when we really boil this one down, there are two huge questions that we need to talk about with Mertz.

A: How will Mertz bounceback from this gruesome injury? There is no guarantee he comes back the same. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn’t. I am not a doctor, nor do I have the medical information from the Combine. I’ll just leave it at that but it wasn’t just the torn ACL. He had collarbone issues in the past too.

B: There is no question that DJ Lagway was better than him pretty much right away. That part can’t be ignored. There is no shame than not being as good as a five star rated prospect. It’s another thing when you’re 24 and a teenager is stealing your job. Anyone worth anything isn’t relenting snaps to a freshy. It just is what it is.

The crazy part about it is that it’s not like Mertz flat out stinks. If he sucked, Lagway would have just flat out taken the job. Instead, they did this BS thing where they split playing time. Something that never works but Billy Napier isn’t exactly someone who makes sense.

I normally don’t share content from other media analysts but this rant by Josh Pate actually fits this conversation very well about an entirely situation going on at Alabama right now. If you want to watch it, it starts at the 8:30 mark. When you’ve been evaluating players for as long as I have been doing it now, you can see patterns coming and Pate talks about what I’m trying to describe here so I’ll leave the rest to him.

Putting that discussion to the side, Mertz actually had real moments of promise in college. Keep in mind that he’s also been around forever so context needs to be kept in mind. Mertz was a four star and number three overall pocket QB coming out of high school. His first year in college was way back in 2019 and he’s already 24.

The Overland Park, Kansas native played four years at Wisconsin and finished up with two years at Florida. Wisconsin was going through an identity crisis while Mertz was there. They wanted to be more pass happy and Mertz wasn’t good enough to carry them. There’s zero rushing upside here and he was at 59.5% during his Wisconsin career. He also averaged 159 passing yards per game there.

Once he got to Florida, his stock actually went up. Felt like he matured and became something that resembles a real player. The completion percentage skyrocketed well past 70% and his last healthy season he was at a 20-3 TD to INT ratio. If you read the stock notes at the top, you’re well aware of the moments he drives you insane but you can do far worse than Mertz running your team.

Has size at 6-foot-3, 212. Don’t see a ton of big boy throws down the field and the decision making needs work but his pure accuracy is more than capable. It’s not a bad arm and it doesn’t take him forever to get the ball where it needs to be in terms of the release.

I do think Mertz is kinda interesting. I probably wouldn’t draft him but I would make a call after the draft to see if he wanted to be part of my 90-man preseason roster. Then we would take it from there. Given everything that’s happened, I’m sure he won’t be drafted but it won’t be crazy if someone does. It’s not like there is nothing here.

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