While two guys have received more than the lion’s share of the pre-draft coverage, there are other QB’s that will have their names called during next month’s NFL draft beyond Winston and Mariota.

Exactly when their names will be called is another question.

Falling below the top two are next-tier guys Brett Hundley (UCLA) and Bryce Petty (Baylor).  Both are 6-foot-3 and between 225 and 230 pounds.  Both played in similar offenses with a lot of the short game and one-read passes dominating, so both had relatively high passing percentages and very good TD to INT ratios.  Hundley is the better, quicker athlete running the football, but like Winston to Mariota, Petty seems to cast the longer shadow.

Petty hurt his back early in the season and no one is quite sure just how much that affected him throughout the entire season.  Bad backs can make good men do uncharacteristic things and despite that, he still led his team to two conference championships and a huge 4^th quarter win against a TCU team that thought it too should have been in the final four.

Hundley was a big buzz following the 2013 season and heading into 2014, but even with the huge career stats and leading UCLA to three 9 wins seasons in a row, he just didn’t create the same stir.  He is rated slightly ahead of Petty on some boards, but his overall negatives are too tall to rate better than the Baylor QB.  Hundley is a better prospect, for my money, than Geno Smith was in 2013 and the Jets are back looking at QB’s early again.

With Winston and Mariota (or the other way around) sure to come off the board early in the evening on the first night of the draft, I expect Bryce Petty to go third and am feeling like there are enough teams in need at the game’s most valuable position that someone will reach beyond his true value to get him in the first round as well.  A few familiar names that went too early for their talent come to mind: Tim Tebow, Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, EJ Manuel and Matt Leinart are but a few of the recent ones.

There are still others destined to hear their names called from the podium this year, but those won’t come on the first day.  They are having their own pro days and individual workouts for clubs that are looking for future signal-callers, not immediate help.