Alex McGough joins the quarterback club of the Seahawks
Alex McGough may have been drafted in the seventh round by the Seahawks, but he has more to offer than you’d think, like a surprisingly high rating under pressure.
There aren’t usually a lot of expectations for players drafted in the seventh round. That’s probably a good thing. They don’t have to live up to the pressure of being a high draft pick. At the same time, they can use their low slot as motivation, and still take pride knowing they were considered one of the best 20 or 30 players at their position. 12 quarterbacks were taken before Alex McGough, but I imagine all he cares about is that the Seahawks made him the last one taken.
Alex McGough was basically a four year starter at Florida International, missing just one start as a freshman. While not exactly a running quarterback, he is mobile. As a senior, he ran 78 times for 231 yards and scored five touchdowns on the ground. He wasn’t exactly a slouch through the air, either. He completed 65 percent of his passes for just under 2.800 yards. And he added 17 touchdowns against eight interceptions. That created a passer rating of 142.9. That’s not bad when compared to players like Josh Allen (127.8) and Sam Darnold (148.1).
You may not have realized that McGough is a rare beast among Seahawks. He isn’t just the first Golden Panther the Seahawks have ever drafted. He’s only the second quarterback Pete Carroll and John Schneider called during an NFL draft. Yes, that’s right. Until yesterday, Russell Wilson was the only quarterback ever drafted by the current braintrust in Seattle. So I suppose you could say McGough has some pretty big shoes to fill.
Lets compare McGough to some big names in the draft
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I mentioned a high passer rating earlier. Pro Football Focus calculates NFL passer rating for quarterbacks under pressure. There are some pretty surprising results, to say the least. For instance, I’ll compare Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen, two kids you may have heard about. One of them has a QB rating of 11.6 under pressure; the other posted a score of 69.1. Looks like the Browns may have actually made the right choice for once.
Back to our man McGough. While not in the stratosphere of Mayfield, his rating of 81.9 is pretty good. His rating isn’t just better than Rosen’s; it’s better than Sam Darnold’s (74.8) and Josh Allen’s (58.5) too. Not bad for a seventh round pick, right?
On deep passes, McGough trails most of the class. His quarterback rating of 91.9 sounds good, until you see Mayfield’s 127.9, Rosen’s 102.3, and Darnold’s 98.0. He did grade better than Josh Allen’s 90.7, though. I’m not making the point that he’s as good as the guys taken in the first round. But he isn’t that far off, and in some measures, he’s even better.
We all know that seventh round picks typically don’t make team, Chris Carson notwithstanding. But Alex McGough has more to offer than his stats show at first glance. One thing for sure; it will be fun when he and Jacob Martin have their Gaspirilla Bowl reunion.