Here is an article for Shadowlight
. Based off measureables alone Stevens should be drafted.
https://www.indystar.com/story/spor...ce-nfl-teams-hes-next-taysom-hill/5125818002/
Indy's Tommy Stevens trying to convince NFL teams he's this draft's version of Taysom Hill
Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis StarPublished 8:54 a.m. ET April 13, 2020
Tommy Stevens was bored.
That’s the way he remembers this whole thing starting, the beginning of the role he played at Penn State, a role that just might be his ticket to the NFL.
Back in 2016, Stevens was already a month or so into his second season in Happy Valley, and he hadn’t been on the field since his senior season at Decatur Central High School. He’d redshirted his first year at Penn State, then lost a training camp battle for the starting quarterback job to Trace McSorley.
Watching from the sideline was driving him crazy.
“I went up to my offensive coordinator at the time, Joe Moorhead, and I was like, ‘Hey, coach, is there any way I can run down on kickoffs or be a punt gunner, something?’” Stevens remembers saying. “’Can I have a role? I want to contribute.’”
Nov 23, 2019; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs quarterback Tommy Stevens (7) drops back to pass against the Abilene Christian Wildcats during the second quarter at Davis Wade Stadium. (Photo: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports)
The way Moorhead remembers it, the Penn State offensive staff had already been working on a package of plays for Stevens. There was no way he’d let Stevens run down and make a tackle on a kick; the Indianapolis native was his backup quarterback.
Plus, he had bigger plans.
“We were sitting in a staff meeting one day, heading into the season after training camp, after Trace had won the job and talking about how well Tommy had done in camp, how athletic he is, his unique skill set,” Moorhead said. “We said, ‘Hey, we could certainly do something to get them both on the field at the same time.’”
The result — and the subsequent success of Taysom Hill in New Orleans — has NFL teams intrigued by the element Stevens could add to their offenses.
Playing with an idea
Moorhead had been tinkering with the idea long before he arrived at Penn State.
“It doesn’t get much fanfare, but we created that package at Fordham, back there between 2012 and 2015,” Moorhead said. “We didn’t major in it; we kind of minored in it, just because we had a lot of really good skill guys. Couldn’t justify taking a wide receiver or tight end off the field to put a quarterback in.”
He’d never had an athlete like Stevens.
A former safety who didn’t start playing quarterback until his sophomore year at Decatur Central, Stevens is 6-4, 250 pounds and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.49 seconds at the pro day he put together in Tampa last month.
Moorhead took advantage by putting two quarterbacks on the field as often as he could, testing out the package in 2016.
“I played a little bit of running back, I would catch passes out of the backfield, I’d play tight end, come across the ball and leak out into the flat. I’d line up at receiver,” Stevens said. “I would line up at QB and run, direct snap, run power and zone-sucker-reads. We were very creative.”
Penn State fully unleashed Stevens on the Big Ten in 2017. Stevens completed 14-of-27 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for 190 yards and four touchdowns, caught 12 passes and scored two more touchdowns as a receiver. Against Maryland that year, Stevens rushed for 113 yards, caught a pass and completed three more, including a touchdown throw.
That same year, the Saints claimed Hill off of waivers and kept him on the roster as the team’s No. 3 quarterback, taking note of the former BYU star’s tremendous physical gifts. By December, Hill was playing on special teams for New Orleans, and the Saints started getting ideas.
A New Orleans assistant, Joe Brady — the same Joe Brady who revamped LSU’s offense on its way to a national title last year and got hired as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator this offseason — had been a graduate assistant under Moorhead at Penn State for two seasons.
New Orleans unleashed Hill on offense the next year.
For the first time since Kordell Stewart played the "Slash" role in Pittsburgh in the mid-90s, an NFL team regularly used a backup quarterback as a rushing, receiving and throwing weapon, and Hill has become a sensation.
Over the past two seasons, Hill has thrown for 119 yards, rushed for 352 yards and three touchdowns, and caught 22 passes for 238 yards and six touchdowns.
All of a sudden, teams around the NFL want their own version of Hill.
“To see him succeed at the highest possible level, a very similar guy, similar body types, he’s able to make plays,” Stevens said. “And it’s really cool to see him do it, possibly open up the door for other guys that are like me and him.”
'A world of potential'
Foot surgery and the loss of Moorhead, who took the head coaching job at Mississippi State, limited Stevens in 2018, and after the season, he transferred, joining Moorhead in Starkville and winning the starting QB job.
“I think he’s got a world of potential. The people that have called me and asked questions, I just say he lacks experience,” Moorhead said. “Unfortunately, a series of injuries derailed what could have been a very good season.”
Stevens separated his shoulder in the second game of the season, suffered a high ankle sprain three weeks later against Tennessee and got knocked out of the starting lineup for most of October. Back in the lineup in November, Stevens broke a rib and punctured a lung against Abilene Christian, forcing him to miss the Egg Bowl rivalry game against Mississippi.
In and out of the lineup all season, playing hurt most of the time, Stevens completed 60.1% of his passes for 1,155 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions, and he rushed for 381 yards and four more scores — but he’s left to wonder what might have been if he hadn’t been hurt.
“The last two seasons, I’ve had more injuries than I would have liked,” Stevens said.
The NFL was paying attention anyway.
Intrigued by the size, arm strength and athleticism, the East-West Shrine Bowl invited Stevens to its annual showcase in January, a week of practice in front of NFL scouts and talent evaluators.
That week in St. Petersburg, Florida, ended up being critical.
Two months later, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and Mississippi State had to cancel its Pro Day. By virtue of playing in the Shrine Bowl, Stevens is one of the lucky prospects who had extended time with NFL teams before the pandemic grounded scouting visits and workouts.
“I’m pretty sure I met with everybody at least once; some teams, two or three times,” Stevens said. “To be able to experience that and go through interviews there, especially with what has happened now with this virus, at least I was able to have those meetings, so teams have something.”
At least four teams are interested
NFL teams are intrigued by the possibilities Stevens presents.
Four teams — the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and the Saints — have shown interest. New Orleans, already so familiar with the effect a player like Stevens can have on offense, has had a video conference with him, and so has Kansas City, another hub of offensive innovation.
In the time of the pandemic, there are challenges. About a week ago, an NFL team called Stevens’ agents, the Indy-based team of Buddy Baker and Justin Faires, and asked if there was any way they could see him run routes. Faires called Stevens, who has been living with his family in Indianapolis, and he enlisted his brothers to throw the ball and video the workout.
“I try to look at it from a brighter perspective,” Stevens said. “This is the hand I’ve been dealt.”
For Stevens to inhabit the Taysom Hill role, he likely has to convince teams mostly of his potential as a quarterback, as a developmental player who can be the No. 3 passer and save a team a roster spot.
Hill was a highly decorated quarterback at BYU, a Heisman candidate at one point. Stevens hasn’t had those chances, even if he has the tools. But like Hill, he has been adamant about making a push at quarterback during the draft process. Before the shutdown, Stevens carved out time with his private quarterback coach, Will Hewlett of the QB Collective, to work on his throwing ability.
“I would say he has close to elite arm strength; he can rip it pretty hard,” Hewlett said. “There were some things mechanically that we had to tweak that, I think, improved his level of consistency and made it look a little more effortless.”
The leg up that Stevens has on other developmental quarterbacks, the same advantage Hill once had in New Orleans, is that he can help a team in many ways while he develops.
The way Moorhead sees it, saying Stevens could be the next Taysom Hill is a little misleading.
