Bengals seventh round pick and rookie quarterback Logan Woodside was an excellent college prospect. He was a three-year starter at Toledo who showed some excellent intangibles and proved to be extremely effective managing the spread Toledo offense. He may not have had the biggest arm in this year’s draft, but he is one of the draft’s most accurate passers.
NDT Scouting’s Benjamin Solak (who also writes for SB Nation’s Eagles blog, Bleeding Green Nation) did a detailed exploration on this year’s quarterback class, which he called “Contextualized Quarterback.” In the piece, Woodside’s accuracy was demonstrated to be comparable to No. 1 overall draft pick and new Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Woodside is one of the most accurate quarterbacks in this year’s draft class. He does not always put the ball in perfect position for a receiver to maximize yardage after the catch, but the majority of his balls are catchable. Woodside has demonstrated this ability regardless of the depth of throw. He ranks among the top three quarterbacks evaluated by Solak in accuracy on passes thrown to receivers behind the line of scrimmage, less than 10 yards, 10 to 20 yards, and more than 20 yards.
Here’s some of Solak’s analysis:
Logan Woodside—or as I like to call him, the Baker Mayfield of the MAC. The parallels are warranted: both are unbelievably accurate, but there’s a big dropoff in the placement numbers. Both have less-than-ideal arm strength, but mitigate those concerns with pure full-body mechanics to generate velocity. Both enjoyed a super-duper spread-y system that regularly reduced their process post-snap and regularly opened up their first read. And both are pretty scrappy—though the Oklahoman likely takes the cake there—with good conversion numbers in the clutch. Woodside’s starting experience and system familiarity led to some exciting numbers under contexts like “Adjusted Platform” and “Pressure,” but he struggles to interpret second-level defenders and his ball dies in the air, especially when he tries to put some extra mustard on it. It’s likely that Woodside’s limitations as a passer will forever keep him out of starting contention, but he has the potential to stick as a backup in the NFL.
Despite the fact that Woodside played in a college system where he frequently threw based on a single read, he remained accurate on passes not thrown based on his primary read. Woodside’s accuracy also ranks top three when under pressure or when his throwing mechanics are impacted by a pass rusher. If he is forced to move or scramble however he become less accurate.
Woodside’s tremendous accuracy makes him an ideal candidate for the backup quarterback position in Cincinnati. With a little time to learn the system, he he is the type of quarterback who could step into the offense and move it efficiently down the field.
In three seasons as a starter at Toledo, Woodside threw for 10,274 yards, 92 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, good for a 162.6 passer rating. Those are some big numbers, though this is the MAC we’re talking about.
Here’s some of the data on Woodside:
Do you think the Bengals got a steal with the team’s seventh round selection of Woodside?