QB Evaluation: Justin Fields

What can the Ohio State quarterback bring to the NFL?

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields is widely considered one of the top quarterback prospects in this year’s NFL draft. Most draft analysts have him ranked as either the second or third quarterback in the class and he’s been mocked to go anywhere between the Jets at second overall to the 49ers at 12 in various mock drafts. Recently he’s received criticism, with some labeling him as purely a running quarterback while others say he’s unable to work past his first read. So what does Fields have to offer an NFL team? Let’s take a closer look.

Fields has a live arm with the ability to drive the ball down the field into tight windows with great precision. He consistently made stand out throws down the field in every game I watched.

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: This first play came against Alabama in the Championship game. Just outside the red zone, Ohio State aligns near the right hashmark with two receivers to the left. They run a slot fade concept, with the outside receiver running a quick hitch to occupy the outside cornerback while the slot receiver runs a widened fade route into the vacated space behind the outside corner. Fields takes a quick look to his right to try and hold the deep safety in the middle of the field before setting himself to throw to his left. As he begins his throwing motion, he can see the slot corner is still on top of the slot fade, so instead of throwing over the top, he works to the receivers’ back shoulder. The ball is perfectly placed with good velocity from the far hash to get it there swiftly. The receiver makes the adjustment but just bobbles the catch as he steps out of bounds and it’s ruled incomplete, but that shouldn’t take anything away from the precision of the throw.

Second play timestamp: 0:16

Notes: On the second play of the clip, we see Fields and Ohio State run an out-and-up double move. Fields reads the outside cornerback and sells a pump fake to try and get him to jump up on the out route. Although the corner doesn’t necessarily bite on the fake, he plays the route poorly, allowing the receiver to get outside despite playing with outside leverage. As soon as the receiver gets level, Fields pulls the trigger. The ball travelled 50 yards down the field from the far hash and was almost perfectly placed for his receiver to make the catch and fall into the end zone for a touchdown.

Third play timestamp: 0:38

Notes: This play is a great example of Fields being able to manipulate the deep safety. Ohio State runs another slot fade concept to the left with a vertical route to the right. Off the snap, Fields deliberately looks to his right in order to force the deep safety away from the slot fade. The safety takes the bait and opens his hips to that side of the field, which allows Fields to reset to his left and hit his slot receiver for a  47-yard gain.

Fourth play timestamp: 1:00

Notes: The fourth play might have been his most impressive throw of any I saw from Fields. He has his tight end running a route up the seam that splits the two deep safeties. The tight end has a defender that turns to carry him up the seam, sitting on his inside hip as much as he can. Pressure arrives as the pocket collapses around Fields, but he anticipates his tight end breaking open based on the leverage of the defender and delivers the throw just before taking a big hit, but the throw is on the money and he’s rewarded with a big play.

Those throws show the potential Fields has as a passer. He has a good arm and can throw with great accuracy and anticipation down the field to create some explosive plays. He made at least one of those types of throws per game, often more, which is an encouraging sign. But perhaps a more encouraging sign from my perspective is his calmness in the pocket and ability to move around within the pocket to avoid pressure.

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: This first play comes on third and 10 in the championship game against Alabama. Fields wants to work his slot receiver on a crossing route over the middle. However, Alabama dial up a blitz, sending a safety off the right side of the line. The safety gets picked up by the tight end, but the edge defender is left unblocked. Fields feels the pressure and knows he has his running back in protection, so calmly slides to his left before stepping up in the pocket, allowing his running back time to work across and pick up the block. With the unblocked defender now blocked, Fields resets and delivers a throw over the middle for a first down.

Second play timestamp: 0:18

Notes: On this play, Fields looks to work the corner route by his slot receiver to the left. However, as the receiver breaks open, Fields feels pressure coming off his right side. He slides to his left, buying himself just enough time to deliver the throw before the pressure arrives. The throw is another good one, hitting his receiver down the field for another chunk play.

Third play timestamp: 0:38

Notes: I think Fields actually misses a read on this play. He works to his left initially, but doesn’t like the slot fade with the outside corner sinking deep. The safety to that side steps up to take the crosser from the tight end, which is Fields’ next read, but after that he should go to the post route on the back side. Fields, however, skips that read and checks it down to the running back in the flat, who still picks up a big gain. The point of the play though is to show his pocket movement. Clemson brings pressure up the middle with a linebacker rushing in the A gap to the right of the center. The center struggles to keep the block contained, but Fields never looks panicked. He simply slides to his left and steps up into the space in the pocket, allowing the center to run the linebacker by him as he continues to work through his reads.

Fourth play timestamp: 1:03

Notes: This is another third and long situation from the Alabama game. It’s the same concept we saw before, but this time Alabama runs a stunt off the left side of the line. The defensive end crashes inside allowing the defensive tackle to loop around him and work freely to the edge. The defensive tackle is unblocked, but Fields shows great poise to step up in the pocket, making the defender’s path incorrect and buying himself more time to deliver his throw over the middle for another third down conversion.

Calmness and poise in the pocket are excellent traits for a young quarterback and something that will stand Fields in good stead as he enters the NFL. While he has the mobility factor, which I’ll look at soon enough, his preference was always to stay in the pocket whenever possible. Something he will need to improve on from the pocket, however, is his ability to diagnose blitzes and understand when to work hot. 

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: On this play, Indiana send a complex blitz concept at Ohio State. The two edge rushers drop into coverage while the defensive tackles widen outside. Both linebackers rush, but cross over each other to complicate things for the protection scheme. With all of that to sort out up front, the safety then comes right down the middle behind everything else. It’s a good blitz scheme that is hard to block, but also a long-developing one. Fields has more than enough time to drop back, take a hitch and find a receiver, but he also has to know that safety is coming up the middle and that the ball needs to be out quickly. Fields gets to the top of his drop and takes a hitch, which is when the ball needs to be out of his hands, but he holds onto it. He shows off his elusiveness by avoiding the safety, but ends up getting sacked by another rusher off the edge as he tries to step back up in the pocket. 

Second play timestamp: 0:21

Notes: Here we see the same blitz as before, with both linebackers and a safety rushing up the middle. It works again and Fields again fails to read the blitz and understand he needs to get the ball out quickly. To his credit, he does and outstanding job bouncing off two tackle attempts before rolling out to his right ot throw the ball away without being sacked, but all the hard work could have been avoided had he seen the blitz coming and thrown over it to his slot receiver, who spots up wide open over the middle of the field.

Third play timestamp: 0:42

Notes: This time we see Clemson bringing pressure off the right side of the offensive line, sending a safety and slot cornerback while dropping a linebacker into coverage. The sack actually comes from the left side of the line as the defensive tackles run a stunt that doesn’t get picked up, but with the pressure coming off the right side, he needs to know the ball has to come out quickly.

Fourth play timestamp: 0:57

Notes: On the fourth play of the clip, Penn State send two second level rushers off the left side while dropping the edge rusher off the right side into coverage to compensate for it. With Ohio State running out of an empty backfield, Fields has to understand the offensive line is in a “5-0” protection, where the offensive line account for the four down defenders plus a designated linebacker, and the quarterback is responsible for anyone else. He should see the two defenders start their rush just as he snaps the ball, but he should also notice the defensive end peeling off and sinking into coverage off the right side, which is where he looks initially. That should put alarm bells in his head that there’s likely pressure coming off the left side that the offensive line isn’t in a position to pick up and he is responsible for. However, he persists looking to his right with nobody open and takes a huge hit from an unblocked defender.

That last play, and the theme of that clip in general, is something that would concern me if I was drafting Fields. He has to be able to identify blitzes and understand his protection schemes to know when he has to throw hot and when he should be protected. I don’t doubt he’s smart enough to learn that stuff and just hasn’t had it put on his plate before, but it’s something that whatever NFL team drafts him will have to immediately emphasise. He has to learn his protection schemes, understand how many rushers it takes from different sides for him to be hot and then find his hot receiver. Otherwise defensive coordinators will overwhelm him with blitz packages early in his career.

However, while he will need a lot of work with regards to protections, I don’t necessarily believe that means he can’t become a starter in his rookie season. Obviously, if he can’t be trusted to keep himself protected then he won’t play, but thanks to his athleticism I think there’s plenty of ways to use his mobility to negate blitz packages in certain situations and allow him to have success early as he learns the ropes of playing quarterback in the NFL. His running ability makes him a threat as part of the run game, with read-option plays that can be incorporated to the playbook, but before the read-option made it to the NFL, mobile quarterbacks had plenty of success running bootlegs off of play-action fakes. Fields is a natural at this.

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: Here, Ohio State has Fields line up under center and execute an outside zone fake to his left before rolling out to his right on a bootleg. They have a receiver aligned tight to the formation to the left that sifts back across the line and works out to the flat as an easy option for the quarterback. Typically this would be a tight end, but Ohio State aligns one of its best receivers in that spot for a bigger threat after the catch. Fields runs the bootleg and the defense flows to the left on the play-action fake. Fields dumps the ball off quickly in the flat to his receiver, who turns up the field and picks up nearly 20 yards before being forced out of bounds. 

Second play timestamp: 0:23

Notes: This is the exact same play as the first one, but this time the defense anticipates the fake. Defenders peel off to pick up the receiver sifting to the flat while others rush Fields to try and contain him. Fields does well to outrun those defenders and get outside, but his receiver in the flat is covered. However, he spots his tight end crossing from the back side of the formation as his second option and delivers a nice throw on the run, which is unfortunately dropped.

Third play timestamp: 0:42

Notes: When defenses stop biting on the fake and start playing for the bootleg, the offense can counter with one of the best plays in football. The likes of Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan call this concept “Leak”. They execute a typical play-action fake with Fields rolling out to his left, but the tight end fakes like he’s blocking only to leak out to the right side. Fields does well to work out to his left, dragging the defense with him before quickly resetting to throw all the way back to his right. He has his tight end wide open for an easy touchdown.

That’s an easy package of plays for any offense to install for Fields, but particularly teams that like to run lots of outside zone. Mike Shanahan’s offense has evolved through his son and his staff from Washington, which has now spread around the league and it would be a natural fit for Fields. But whatever team drafts him doesn’t have to resort to only bootlegs to use his mobility. Ohio State showed there were plenty of ways to get Fields throwing on the move.

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: This first play comes on third and four. Ohio State calls a designed rollout to the left, with the outside receiver running a hitch. The rollout gets the offensive line moving the pocket, which helps negate any potential blitz package while giving Fields structure to work with. He shows great anticipation, delivering his throw as the receiver breaks and hits him with an accurate pass to convert for a first down. 

Second play timestamp: 0:15

Notes: Similarly, this play is another designed rollout, but to the right this time. The receiver outside runs a shortened squirrel route, which is an out-and-up followed by the receiver breaking off towards the sideline. By moving the pocket and having Fields rollout, the offense has time for the receiver’s route to develop. Fields again shows terrific anticipation and accuracy, making his throw before the receiver makes his final cut and placing it outside towards the sideline, where only the receiver could make a play on the ball and he’s rewarded with a touchdown.

Third play timestamp: 0:32

Notes: Here we see another bootleg concept, but with a slight twist. Ohio State uses a receiver on a jet sweep fake to run a wheel route down the sideline while the running back works out to the flat instead of executing a run fake in the opposite direction. Fields rolls out to his right and spots the wheel route working down the sideline, but also sees a defender in pursuit. So he works to the receiver’s back shoulder, protecting him and the ball from the defender while still picking up a nice gain.

Fourth play timestamp: 0:52

Notes: This play is another designed rollout off of a play-action fake, but it highlights Fields’ desire to be a passer rather than a runner. As he rolls out to his right, the defense adjusts and chases him down. Fields could probably use his speed and look to keep the ball himself and outrun the defender to the edge. Instead, he knows he has an offensive lineman ahead of him, so he pulls up and steps back inside, allowing the offensive lineman to block the defender on the edge while he looks to throw. He finds his receiver on the outside breaking off his route and hits him for a first down. 

These types of bootlegs and rollout plays off of play-action should be the foundation of Fields’ passing offense early in his career as he adjusts to life in the NFL. He has the confidence and ability to play from within the pocket, which makes him an excellent prospect going forward, but his issues with identifying blitzes and understanding protections will need plenty of work and typically take young quarterbacks a few years to fully pick up. So while he has the potential to be an excellent drop back passer, he’ll need time to learn the finer details of protection schemes that will keep him protected in the pocket. In the meantime, any team drafting him can use his mobility to keep him protected through these designed rollouts and bootlegs while still getting good production out of him as he develops.