It’s not all NFL Drafts that have college quarterbacks in the Power 4 Conference for close to 4,800 yards with a 66% completion rate and 34 touchdowns not getting a first round of bills. But that’s exactly where we’re with Syracuse QB Kyle McCord. He was the Orange force in 2024, leading him to a 10-3 record, a Holiday Bowl victory in Washington State and a 20th spot in the final AP rankings. And the Pittsburgh Steelers brought him on a pre-draft visit on Monday.
But we don’t hear Kyle McCord’s name thrown alongside something like Miami (FL) QB Come Ward, Colorado QB Shedur Sanders, or Ole Miss QB Jackson Dirt. For former NFL head coach Jay Gruden, that’s because McCord doesn’t actually have outstanding physical talent.
“I don’t like the ball coming out of his hands. It feels like he’s shot a little too much,” Gruden said during McCord. I’ll clean up my pockets earlier this month. “I don’t think he’s a very good athlete. He’s a very average arm talent and he’s very average. I don’t feel the ball comes out very well on the field. It’s a great opportunity and he’ll make the most of it.
McCord is almost a paradox when throwing deep balls. When I saw a college quarterback linked to the Steelers, McCord was one of the best quarterbacks in the country in terms of completion and adjusted completion rates. He completed downfield for 20 yards or more with 51.4% of his passes. And when you considered the drop, his completion rate jumped to 54.2%. Both numbers were eighth best in the country at quarterback attempting at least 100 passes in 2024.
However, Tom Mead of Gruden and Steelers’ Depot sees issues regarding the strength of McCord’s arm. It’s not that he’s not powered at all. These completion rates certainly indicate that he can get the ball down onto the field. However, when Mead scouted McCord, he saw an issue of arm strength compared to deep throws outside the numbers. It wasn’t enough to mean that McCord couldn’t complete those passes, but the NFL defender may play more than the college defender. And if offensive coordinator Arthur Smith wants to regularly set deep shots on wide receivers George Pickens and DK Metcalf, who at least on destructive routes, that could be a problem.
Gruden and Mead both question McCord’s athletic ability. Mead saw McCord repeatedly struggle to pass a pass rush as he tried to escape from his pocket. McCord definitely lacks the athleticism of hopeful Alabama QB Jalane Milllow’s draft. If things break, don’t expect McCord to play big on the ground like Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson or Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing I like about Kyle McCord. Why do the Steelers use one of his 30 pre-draft visits on him?
“I knew where I was going in football,” Gruden said of what he liked about McCord. “It was very decisive. That’s important. When he saw it, he could read it and throw it. He was pretty accurate in football.”
McCord hasn’t shown his ability to become a superstar quarterback who can avoid pressure and hit backward deep shots. What he showed was his ability to settle in his pocket and throw the ball accurately and on time. It may be enough for the Steelers to shoot him later in the draft. At the very least, they want to see him up close and personally in Pittsburgh before the draft.
