Is Mason Rudolph Really a Top 10 Pick?

A draft writer named Eric Galko recently wrote for Sporting News that he thinks Mason Rudolph is a top 10 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

[weeps for 10 minutes]

Here’s what Galko (whose Twitter handle is @OptimumScouting and runs a site with the same name) wrote about Rudolph going to the Arizona Cardinals at No. 9.

Carson Palmer’s steep fall from near Super Bowl-worthy quarterback to borderline bench-able this year has been shocking to see. The Cardinals have put off drafting his heir apparent too long, and now may have to find his successor in the 2017 draft no matter what.

Thankfully, Mason Rudolph is a perfect fit for Bruce Arians’ downfield passing offense, and Rudolph is well on his way to being considered among the top quarterbacks in the country. [Sporting News]

His 1-10 list looked like this.

1. Myles Garrett (DE, Texas A&M)
2. DeShone Kizer (QB, Notre Dame)
3. Leonard Fournette (RB, LSU)
4. Patrick Mahomes (QB, Texas Tech)
5. Jalen Tabor, (CB, Florida)
6. Jamal Adams (S, LSU)
7. Jonathan Allen (DE, Alabama)
8. Derek Barnett (DE, Tennessee)
9. Mason Rudolph (QB, OSU)
10. Dalvin Cook (RB, FSU)

Three QBs in the top 10! Mel Kiper barely has Rudolph in his top 10 QBs for what it’s worth.

I just don’t see it for Rudolph at this point. Not right now. Could he be a top 10 pick after a monstrous senior season? Absolutely. Right now when he’s been bumpy (at best) on the road (and elite at home)? I guess he could be, but I don’t think he would be. If this is even close to accurate, though, he gone. Top 10 money doesn’t grow on trees. Head coach Mike Gundy is with me.

“We haven’t had very many players here I felt like were ready to enter that level of football as juniors,” said Gundy. “That’s including Weeden and Blackmon and Russell Okung. Even though they were great players, I didn’t feel like they were ready for what that level can put out there or put in front of those guys. That’s my opinion.

“Both [Rudolph and James Washington] played as freshmen so they’re still very young. Last night I watched a little bit of the end of that [NFL] game on TV. If you watched that game, that’s a completely different game. It’s not even the same. Those guys are all big, they’re all fast. The windows those quarterbacks have to throw in are so small.

“I think both of those young men have great futures in this game, but in my opinion they need to grow and mature. But that’s a decision they have to make with themselves and their family.”