by Charles McDonald

The annual NFL draft season tends to be stereotypically cyclical. Between comparing every fair-skinned, behemoth defensive tackle to Haloti Ngata; labeling white skill position players as the next Wes Welker or Danny Woodhead; or questioning the intelligence and play style of mobile, black quarterbacks, the same storylines seem to circulate each year. Most of these criticisms and comparisons are unfair, nonsensical, and at times insulting. Former Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson has become this year's target for unjust criticism.

Jackson is not a perfect quarterback prospect by any means. That fact doesn't mean that he should be subjected to the usual criticisms that black quarterback prospects tend to face. Lamar Jackson is not a potential wide receiver prospect. Lamar Jackson is not a gadget player. Lamar Jackson is a quarterback, and a damn good one at that.

One of the main talking points surrounding Jackson, which is incorrectly founded, is that he played in a "simple" offense at Louisville that won't project well to the NFL. With the success that "college" style offenses have recently had in the NFL (hat tip to Doug Pederson), this really shouldn't be a key component of draft analysis anymore. Regardless, Jackson played in an offense that forced him to read all levels of the defense and go through progressions on a routine basis.

Louisville is calling a play that has the tight end on the right side of the formation running a post towards the middle of the field. Florida State breaks the huddle with two high safeties, but rotates into a single-high Cover-3 look at the snap of the ball. Jackson knows if he wants to hit that backside post, he's going to have to clear the single-high safety roaming in the middle of the field. As the safety is rotating to his deep third, Jackson keeps looking him off to the left side of the field before firing a dart to the wide-open tight end.

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That's an impressive play for someone who supposedly is incapable of reading a defense or manipulating defensive backs. Understanding where the ball needs to go post-snap by using pre-snap keys is a key trait for top quarterbacks.

Here's another example from Louisville's game against Florida State.

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Florida State is showing man coverage across the board before the ball is snapped. Each of their defensive backs is directly aligned with the receiver in front of him.

For players in man coverage, the corner route is one of the hardest routes to cover. The vertical stem allows the receiver to get their cornerback bailing before breaking back towards the corner of the end zone; it can be hard for cornerbacks to get back into a position to play the ball without help overtop. Being the smart, capable quarterback that he is, Jackson knew this is where the ball needed to go before the snap of the ball. On top of the awareness to know the receiver was going to be open, Jackson throws an absolute dime where only his receiver can catch the ball. These are the processes and throws you want to see from a potential franchise quarterback prospect.

Where Jackson can get himself into trouble is sporadic accuracy over the middle of the field. Sometimes he'll throw dimes, but he has shown a tendency to throw high or off-target in the middle of the field.

His most impactful interception over the middle of the field sealed Louisville's fate against North Carolina State.

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Throws over the middle of the field are the biggest area of concern with Jackson's game, but he improved in that area in each of his three years at Louisville. Jackson is probably going to struggle in that phase of the game early in his career. Those are growing pains that his future team is going to have to deal with.

Luckily, Jackson has a undeniable tool that will allow him to flourish while he figures out NFL defenses.

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Any defense that blitzes Lamar Jackson better pray they get home. He has the Michael Vick-esque ability to create big plays out of seemingly disastrous starts. With two defenders flying through the B-gap untouched, Jackson doesn't panic. He knows he has the athletic ability to get to the edge and the speed to create a first down out of what was potentially a massive loss of yards. Rare playmaking ability like this should have NFL decision-makers enamored with Jackson's ability to become the ultimate dual-threat quarterback at the next level.

It should be noted that Jackson isn't a run-first quarterback. He resorts to running as a last-ditch effort to save plays, which usually works out well for him.

Of course, his athletic ability can also be used to create production on the ground. Every year we see more and more teams using option attacks to catch defenses off guard and force defenders to make plays in space. This is an area in which Jackson excels; he routinely maximizes the amount of yards that his offense can gain on option plays, even at the detriment of his own body.

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The team that drafts Jackson needs to be aware that there will be some growing pains as he adjusts to the NFL. Still, he's a supremely talented passer with advanced understanding of what college defenses were throwing at him. His electric ability as a runner will provide an immediate avenue for success, and he'll play his entire rookie season at age 21.

Trying to peg where he'll go in the draft process will be difficult, but he should make the team that pulls the trigger on him very happy. At the least, he'll dominate 2018 NFL highlight reels.