2014 NFL Draft Profile: Tom Savage, QB Pittsburgh

Dec 26, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Tom Savage (7) during the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against the Bowling Green Falcons at Ford Field. Pittsburgh Panthers defeated Bowling Green Falcons 30-27. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

No player in this year’s draft class has seen such a meteoric rise up draft charts as Pittsburgh quarterback Tom Savage.

He has great size for a quarterback.  Tom Savage stands 6’4″ tall and weighs in at 228 pounds.  It is hard to measure a lot of his skills because of how he moved around from team to team so often.  During the course of his college adventures, he attended Rutgers, Arizona, and Pittsburgh, but he didn’t stay at any one of them long enough to get a good read on his ability as a team leader, teammate, or maturity in an offense.

Tom Savage does possess one thing that draws him to fans.  His arm strength is possibly the best in the quarterback class of this year’s draft.  His cannon is great at getting the ball deep down the field, but the accuracy with which he throws is questionable at best.

Savage doesn’t have very impressive statistics either.  With a lackluster touchdown to interception ratio and average completion percentage, he shouldn’t be mentioned among the top quarterbacks in this year’s class.  He should be viewed as a project for an NFL team looking for a player to develop under an established starter.

Here are his statistics over 2 years at Rutgers and 1 year at Pittsburgh:

Dec 26, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Tom Savage (7) during the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against the Bowling Green Falcons at Ford Field. Pittsburgh Panthers defeated Bowling Green Falcons 30-27. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

757 pass attempts

430 completions

5690 passing yards

37 touchdowns

19 interceptions

4 rushing touchdowns

Strengths

• Excellent size
• Huge arm
• Physically strong
• Not afraid of contact

Weaknesses

• Passes get away from him often
• Questionable accuracy
• Doesn’t “look off” defenders
• Lack of reliable body of work to fully evaluate him

Fit For The Vikings

Minnesota will be looking for a young quarterback to groom under Matt Cassel for the next year or two.

My Take

To be honest, I don’t see what made him soar from a sixth or seventh round selection to a first round consideration.  When I watched his tape, I saw an indecisive quarterback with an erratic arm that would be a project for any team willing to give him a try.  Personally, I believe that Minnesota should stay away from Tom Savage unless he’s a VERY late round pick and a project quarterback.