By Mary Cunningham
The latest 2015 mock NFL draft is out, and CBSSports.com tabs Oregon’s Marcus Mariota going to Tampa Bay at 1 and Florida State’s Jameis Winston going to Tennessee at 2.
But Eagles fans will take heart in knowing that the next quarterback to go would be UCLA’s 6-3, 225-pound Brett Hundley to the Birds:
20. Philadelphia Eagles – Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA: Incumbent starter Nick Foles did a fine job when healthy and Mark Sanchez provided evidence that others could come in and be successful with this scheme. Neither, however, possesses the mobility at quarterback that made Chip Kelly’s offense so formidable at Oregon. Given full power over personnel as part of the Eagles’ recent re-structuring of the front office, Kelly is in position to make a splash on draft day.
Here are Hundley’s career stats at UCLA:
| CAREER STATS AT UCLA | ||||||||||||
| SEASON | CMP | ATT | YDS | CMP% | YPA | LNG | TD | INT | SACK | RAT | RAW QBR | ADJ QBR |
| 2014 | 271 | 392 | 3155 | 69.1 | 8.05 | 93 | 22 | 5 | 38 | 152.7 | 71.8 | 78.6 |
| 2013 | 248 | 369 | 3071 | 67.2 | 8.32 | 76 | 24 | 9 | 35 | 153.7 | 75.3 | 82.3 |
| 2012 | 319 | 479 | 3745 | 66.6 | 7.82 | 71 | 29 | 11 | 52 | 147.7 | 58.5 | 65.6 |
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon:To compete in today’s NFL, offenses must score points and few clubs are worse than in this department than the Bucs, who surpassed 17 points in just four games this season. For the franchise to take the next step, improving at quarterback is critical. Mariota faces legitimate questions about how he’ll fare against tighter windows in the NFL, but he shows good awareness in the pocket, a live arm and, of course, great mobility. Mariota’s speed and the great size of Tampa’s pass-catchers would put an awful lot of stress on opposing defenses.
2. Tennessee Titans – Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State: The Titans dropped their final 10 games of the 2014 season and need a long-term solution at the QB position. It is hard to imagine GM Ruston Webster looking past Winston’s off-field issues but from purely a football standpoint, however, Winston projects quite well in coach Ken Whisenhunt’s offense. The greater question now is whether Winston elects to leave Florida State following the loss to Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Despite two more years of eligibility remaining, it has widely assumed that Winston would leave. In post-game interviews following the only loss of his collegiate career, however, Winston claimed that he wasn’t thinking about the 2015 draft and instead may play baseball for the Seminoles this spring.
