Alabama quarterback Blake Sims will enter the NFL Draft, but don’t expect his name to be called on the first day.
The fifth-year senior started every game for Alabama this season, but in his one and only year of experience under center, he may not be consistent enough to warrant being drafted by an NFL team.
Sims spent last week in Mobile, Ala. preparing for and eventually playing in the annual Senior Bowl, which serves as an all-star game for college football’s best seniors. It’s a showcase that allows NFL teams to see these players in person and, for many of them, start the pre-draft process of critiquing every imaginable facet of their abilities.
Fox Sports 1 NFL Draft analyst Joel Klatt spent the week in Mobile and observed Sims in person for the first time. He said Sims showed flashes of quality, but followed them up with questionable mistakes that are concerning to NFL teams and could prevent him from being drafted.
“I think he’s more of the undrafted kind of free agent style guy, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Klatt said. “There’s a lot of guys that have succeeded that way and can hook on as a backup. I don’t know if I would classify him as a potential starter at any point in his career, but he’s definitely shown the ability to operate a pro style system and that’s going to give him a great chance during the course of rookie minicamps to go earn a contract and potentially get himself an opportunity to go to a training camp.”
Sims, who insists he has no plans of switching positions for the pros, threw for 3,487 yards, 28 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions last season for Alabama. He completed 64.5 percent of his passes, and completed 71 percent on his third-down passes. He also ran for 350 yards and seven touchdowns, and was always a threat when he decided to run.
In his first and only season as a starter, Sims went 12-2 overall, leading the team to an SEC championship, an overtime win at LSU and a comeback shootout revenge win over Auburn, and a berth in the first ever College Football Playoff. Though he is not overly attractive to NFL scouts at this point, Alabama head coach Nick Saban, offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and Sims himself all think he has done enough to show he deserves a shot.
“I think Blake’s a unique story in terms of what he was able to accomplish this year,” Saban said. “I don’t think anybody really thought he could play quarterback for us, so it doesn’t surprise me that people don’t think he can play quarterback in the NFL.”
For the next step toward the NFL Draft, Sims was recently invited to the NFL Combine, which takes place in Indianapolis Feb. 17-23. Former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron attended and threw at last year’s combine and was drafted 164th overall in the fifth round of last year’s NFL Draft.
Klatt says Sims should absolutely attend every part of the draft process including the Senior Bowl — which McCarron avoided — NFL Combine, his pro day and eventually private workouts with individual teams, and he stressed that Sims should throw at every opportunity and compete whenever and wherever he can.
“It’s not that he’s going to increase his draft stock as much as it will increase his familiarity with all the teams,” Klatt said. “The more you’re familiar with them, the more that he’s going to have an opportunity to get that contract as an undrafted player or even that flyer team that wants to select him in the seventh round.
“Not throwing is reserved only for about two guys in this draft and everybody else needs to compete. If I was Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, there’s no way that I would want to throw or need to throw, but everybody else needs to go out there, compete and show that they can do it.”
While some of Sims’ inconsistencies showed again at the Senior Bowl — going 4-11 on passes for 50 yards — he threw a few good passes, was elusive on the run, and threw what would have been a touchdown in college to Auburn’s Sammie Coates who failed to land both feet inbounds.
While Klatt and many scouts and analysts still don’t see him cracking any of the seven rounds in the NFL Draft, even with all of Sims’ success this season, that doesn’t mean he will never play in the league. He just needs a chance.
“If one team likes him and they like his pedigree under a pro style, he very well could get drafted in the seventh round or late sixth round, but I don’t see it right now, I don’t think he’s been a consistent enough player,” Klatt said. “I thought during the course of the week in Mobile, he did some things well, he also did some things that give you great pause as an evaluator.
“But there’s nothing wrong with being a guy that has to go earn a contract. There’s guys that do that all the time.”
