Justin Herbert has disappointing outing that suggests he’s not an elite NFL prospect
It makes sense for the Miami Dolphins to spend a lot of time scrutinizing Justin Herbert because the team wants to draft a quarterback in the 2020 draft and the Oregon quarterback looks like he could be a great NFL passer.
The problem is the more one watches Herbert, the more uncertainty about his NFL promise arises.
That’s definitely how it felt after watching Saturday night’s 31-28 Arizona State upset victory over Oregon. Herbert’s Ducks put on a three-touchdown rally in the fourth quarter to make the game interesting. And that rally spoke to Herbert’s ability to stay engaged until the end.
But over a 60-minute outing, the quarterback put on tape work that might have dropped him from Heisman Trophy consideration and, more importantly to the Miami Dolphins and their fans, might have made drafting him among the top 5 picks of the 2020 NFL draft seem unwise.
Herbert completed 20 of 36 passes for 304 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interception. If you didn’t watch the game you might think that’s not too bad.
But it was indeed bad.
And anyone who saw it understands that.
Herbert completed 7 of his first 11 passes in getting his team out to a 7-0 lead. And then he went cold against, frankly, an unremarkable defense.
He completed only 3 of his next 11 passes as he was outplayed by Arizona State true freshman Jayden Daniels.
Herbert got half a dozen or so completions from Oregon’s seemingly endless assortment of bubble screens. But when he needed to make NFL caliber passes, he shrunk from the task as often as he delivered. Sometimes the ball sailed left or right or merely fell short. Often, Herbert threw without keeping his feet under him or off his back foot.
It was a technical nightmare.
And, remember that fourth-quarter rally from Herbert you just read about? The truth is he opened the fourth quarter with consecutive interceptions that led to ASU scores. He also threw another pass directly into a defender’s chest late in the game and the player simply dropped the would-be interception.
Herbert, a senior, was making his 39th college start but he looked uncertain and even rattled at times. It wasn’t what one would expect from a Top 5 pick and it was in sharp contrast to the work done by Daniels, a true freshman, who completed 22 of 32 passes for 408 yards and four touchdowns.
That’s not to say Herbert didn’t have moments in which he looked like a good NFL prospect. The first play of the game was a magical sprint right, throw left laser that showed off Herbert’s athleticism and electric arm for a 25-yard completion.
But that was as good as it got.
Look, one must respect how Herbert bounced back from those fourth-quarter interceptions to help make the game close. But he was often too erratic and inconsistent for someone who is supposed to be the second-best quarterback prospect in the country.
And one must remember Herbert did this against a team that has lost four consecutive games and hadn’t had a lead a game in over a month. This wasn’t a struggle against Utah or some other dominant defense.
Obviously one game cannot tell the full story. The Dolphins will likely continue evaluating and considering Herbert.
That ongoing scrutiny is merited because Herbert came into this game having thrown 28 touchdowns and only two interceptions while completing 69.6 percent of his passes.
But this night, the future NFL draft pick looked like just another guy rather than an elite prospect.
