6 quarterbacks the Minnesota Vikings could draft in 2023
By Luke Parrish
Spencer Rattler (South Carolina)
Spencer Rattler was disappointing at Oklahoma in 2021 and essentially tanked his draft stock. Instead of entering the 2022 NFL Draft, Rattler entered a much different market: the transfer portal. Will a season at South Carolina get him back on track and into the mix of a first-round pick in 2023?
Listen, his 2021 season was incredibly disappointing and there was essentially no reason to believe he was ready for the NFL after his brutal season. But that does not mean that Rattler should be written off completely as a prospect.
Quarterbacks develop and adjust at their own pace. Rattler may not have been ready for the bright lights and the NFL dream last season but a bit of a humbling experience could be great for his future. A year at South Carolina and playing against the SEC each week will tell us a lot more about his development this fall.
I am not ready to bash Rattler and call his future a wash at this point. He still has absurd arm talent but his throwing hubris got in his own way a lot at Oklahoma. Now that he has been shown the back seat and forced out of a tough situation, his response will be a massive talking point for the season.
Even if Rattler falls out of the first round, he has enough in the bag to be worth a Day 2 draft pick as a redshirt, developmental quarterback. For a team with Kirk Cousins likely under center during the 2023 season, sitting Rattler behind him for a year makes a ton of sense.
He’d be able to sit behind a proven NFL quarterback and eventually step into an NFL offense that features Justin Jefferson. That’s a promising situation for a young quarterback.