Ryan

Finley

Cincinnati gave up the 110th, 183rd, and 198th picks to move up. Finley (6’4/213) started three years for the Wolf Pack after transferring from Boise State, finishing his college career with a 64.2% completion rate, 7.6 YPA, and 63:30 TD-to-INT ratio with a 25-14 record at NC State specifically. Finley overcame mediocre arm strength with accuracy and poise in NC State’s pro-style offense, but his gangly build and general shortage of playmaking ability render Finley’s ceiling a likely long-term backup in the league. He’s also much older than most draft prospects, turning 25 in December. With Andy Dalton nearing the end of his deal and no better than an average starter, the Bengals should be looking for a long-term option at quarterback, but Finley is unlikely to be it.

Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins, Drew Lock, and Daniel Jones are clearly ahead of Finley’s No. 74 ranking, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Finley ended up as the fifth quarterback off the board. Other quarterbacks in the mix for QB5 are Will Grier (unranked), Jarrett Stidham (93rd), Brett Rypien (unranked), Tyree Jackson (unranked), and a few others. These quarterbacks are vastly different from one another, so it will come down to team preferences on how they shake out on Day 2 and 3.

Washington is currently one of the favorites to land Josh Rosen if the Cardinals decide to trade him, but if that doesn’t happen this is a definite possibility. As Reuters notes, Finley “going to be a solid NFL quarterback, even if he does not rise to elite-starter level.” Finley (6'4/213) is a high-floor, low-upside option for Washington with Alex Smiths’ career and Case Keenum’s viability both in question.

This seems like every team’s plans, but the Panthers may be more desperate to find “the right quarterback” with Cam Newton’s health being an actual concern. It would be very surprising if they used their 16th overall pick on one but picks No. 47 and 77 overall make sense. There are a handful of backup-level quarterbacks to choose from, but NC State’s Ryan Finley is accurate and may be more likely than others considering he played college ball right down the street.

Finley (6'4/213) is one of the better Day 2 quarterback options if the Bengals want to give Andy Dalton one more season of posting inconsistent numbers. While Finley does make sense as a prospect who could push Dalton later in the season or in 2020, the Bengals will face pressure to select one of the top quarterbacks with their 11th overall pick, assuming one is available. NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler both mocked Dwayne Haskins to Cincy in their most recent mock drafts, but Daniel Jones and Drew Lock would also be in play.

There’s been lots of talk about the Patriots taking a signal-caller in this draft, as Tom Brady is not exactly a spring chicken and there’s no obvious “quarterback of the future” on the roster; assuming Brady doesn’t play forever, anyway. The Patriots have three third-round picks, and you have to think that he’d be available with one of those selections at this point. “Finley is a guy who — as a quarterback — was a lot like Brady in college,” writes Easterling. “He does everything well, but nothing great, and has no red flags.” Makes sense to us.

This is an underwhelming comparison for Finley (6'4/213) as Mannion has largely been a bust. Zierlein believes Finley “works well in a controlled environment, reads alignments and knows where the ball should go.” The issue is he doesn’t flash anything special and didn’t perform against good competition. Zierlein believes he has quality backup potential in the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Dolphins have their starter in Ryan Fitzpatrick -- you likely know him as Ryan Fitzmagic, or at least you should -- so the “need” for a quarterback has lessened. That could allow the Dolphins to look elsewhere in the first-round and take a developmental quarterback, which is what Finley is at this point. “I see him in the same vein as Matt Schaub when I scouted him coming out of Virginia,” writes Jeremiah. “Schaub, when plugged into the right offense in Houston early in his career, had some success, earning a couple of trips to the Pro Bowl (2009, 2012).” You could do a lot worse, anyway.

Cosell didn’t see enough traits, specifically arm strength, to warrant a high selection. The film analyst says a player with his athleticism and arm talent has to have high-end ball placement to make it in the NFL, but Finley didn’t show that on tape. However, Finley did show above average accuracy according to advanced metrics. FiveThirtyEight’s Josh Hermsmeyer showed that Finley had a higher completion percentage than expected when adjusting for the distance of throws.

Finley’s official time in the 40 was 4.73 seconds, which placed him sixth among the quarterbacks who ran. And he didn’t sound too thrilled about the time when asked, either. “I can run a lot faster, but that was good, I guess,” Finley said. “I didn’t do as well as I was hoping.” The former NC State signal-caller won’t run at his pro day March 27 in Raleigh, as how he does in the passing drills will be of far greater importance. Finley, a first team All-ACC selection in 2018, is rated the sixth-best quarterback in this draft class by Scouts Inc.