2025 NFL Draft Quarterback Scouting Report - Kyle McCord, Syracuse
Hey all,
Back with another edition of my 2025 NFL Draft QB Scouting Series! This week, I’ll be covering possible sleeper candidate Syracuse quarterback, Kyle McCord. I have the full written eval below. If you want to check out the YouTube video for McCord, you can check it out with the link below:
Kyle McCord, Syracuse
Height: 6’3”; Weight: 220 pounds
Age on Draft Day: 22 years and 7 months
Class: Senior
Overall Grade: 2.69/4 (May Have a Future Role)
2024 Stats:
Passing: 391/592 (66%); 4779 yards; 34 TDs; 12 INTs
Rushing: 67 carries; -65 yards; 3 TDs; 5 Fumbles
2024 Games Charted: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Cal, Miami
Totals from Games Charted:
Short Throw Accuracy on Platform: 85/102 (83%)
Short Throw Accuracy off Platform: 43/60 (71.67%)
Medium Throw Accuracy on Platform: 84/116 (72.41%)
Medium Throw Accuracy off Platform: 19/26 (73.08%)
Intermediate Throw Accuracy on Platform: 34/54 (62.96%)
Intermediate Accuracy off Platform: 0/6 (0%)
Deep Throw Accuracy on Platform: 6/10 (60%)
Deep Throw Accuracy off Platform: N/A
Left Side of Field Accuracy: 122/162 (75.31%)
Middle of Field Accuracy: 36/46 (78.26%)
Right Side of Field Accuracy: 113/166 (68.07%)
Total Accuracy: 271/374 (72.46%)
On Platform, Way Off Target Throws (Vertical/Horizontal): 5/7 (1.25/1.75 per game)
Off Platform, Way Off Target Throws (Vertical/Horizontal): 2/4 (0.5/1 per game)
Sacks/Fumbles: 10/2 (2.5/0.5 per game)
Deflections/Pass Interference: 6/2 (1.5/0.5 per game)
Throwaways/INTs/Dropped INTs: 8/5/6 (2/1.25/1.5 per game)
Drops: 6 (1.5 per game)
Designed Runs/Scrambles: 8/4 (2/1 per game)
Success vs Blitz: 45/82 (54.88%)
Success vs Pressure: 56/104 (53.85%)
Footwork: D+
Pocket Presence: B-
“Playmaking”: C-
Short Throw Accuracy: A-
Medium Throw Accuracy: B+
Intermediate Throw Accuracy: B
Deep Throw Accuracy: B+
Throw on the Run: B+
Success Against Pressure/Blitz: B-
Arm Strength: B-
Release: B+
Ball Security: C+
Top Starter Potential: C-
Final Strengths:
Gutsy passer
Protects pass catchers
Release
Often gets the ball out quickly
Accuracy in all areas of the field
Final Areas of Improvement:
Footwork
Can get hot/cold
Loses track of pass rush on deeper concepts
Lots of staring down his read
Turnover-prone
Comp: Bailey Zappe
Now I have to admit, after watching Kyle McCord at Ohio State in 2023, I expected to not even have him as a serious quarterback prospect for this year. However, he really grew on me the more I watched him. For better or for worse, he’s a gunslinger who won’t shy away from throws. It doesn’t happen very often with quarterbacks with less-than-stellar arms but some of the throws he went for and converted on will make you go “wow” with the amount of guts it had to take that throw. Just getting away from football for a second, it was just really great to see someone who was essentially wanted out by his former teammates/coworkers and left the program/area with little confidence become such a confident individual. But storylines aside, what transferred with McCord to Syracuse was his great release. He likely has the cleanest release mechanics in the class with very little dip and not too much depth in his pullback. He also has a good feel for release points to put nice touch on his throws. It’s just such a snappy, quick release that combined with his quick decision making made things very frustrating for pass rushers who didn’t have a chance to make a play. In general, he’s pretty reliable in getting the ball out before pressure gets to him leading to a lot of success against pressure/blitzes. Also, mechanically he can usually do a good job getting his feet quickly turned in time to his receivers on short patterns. Even under pressure, he also does a good job knowing where to place the ball to protect his pass catcher, which I’m sure they greatly appreciate. He definitely can be a bit of a hot and cold passer at times but when he’s in a rhythm, he looks great. Finally, while he can get stuck staring down his pass catchers, he does a good job identifying his best option and knows when and where to get the ball to him.
That being said, that tendency to stare down his pass catcher is the scariest thing for me when evaluating McCord. There are so many times when his eyes are frozen and just completely key in the defense where the ball is going. We saw Pitt punish him all game for this and that will be a regular thing in the NFL if he doesn’t adapt. What makes this tendency to stare down his pass catcher even worse is his stubbornness to try to force throws to his first-read whether it’s taken away from him or not. His newfound confidence is good to see and needed by a quarterback but he needs to reel it in a bit. The times he does go through progressions he can find himself being a tick slow at getting the ball to his pass catchers leaving an opening for the defender to make a play. Also, McCord was fairly decent at throwing with anticipation if it was to his first read despite being new to the program but he still had a lot of times when he waited well after the pass catcher made his cut to make the throw. As for his control in the pocket, he can be a bit delayed in recognizing pressure and has trouble multitasking when he’s required to read the defense. He can also get a bit too overconfident in his athleticism and end up taking sacks when he had the chance for a throwaway or checkdown. I’d also like to see a bit more positive movement from him in the pocket and not just trail back like he tends to do. That can make things very difficult for him especially since he has a solid, but not great arm to drive it when moving backward. Even when he’s not moving backward, his velocity can sometimes be lacking on throws, especially to the opposite side of the field which also makes him more turnover-prone. While his release is really clean, there are times when he is trying to get more air under the ball where it will have a bit of a windup and flare out. He also tries to throw at different arm angles at times but it doesn’t always work out and he doesn’t have the arm to get those throws too far past the line of scrimmage. Mechanically, things are very, very messy. He didn’t do a lot of standard dropbacks with a lot of simplified set and throw or three-step drop throws but the times he did a more standard dropback, it was pretty heel-clicky with his drop base being way too narrow at times. In general, I think his base width from the pocket can be all over the place and gets really messy when he's under pressure. As I mentioned before, he can get hot and go cold at times and his footwork is often a factor of him going into a cold streak. While his accuracy as a whole is good, there are a lot of throws that make you go, “Hhhh, what was that?” due to them being so off target due to bad lower body mechanics. He also has a tendency to put too much weight on his back foot when throwing the ball which also contributed to a number of these way off throws. He also has a tendency to bounce in the pocket and can sometimes get stuck on his toes when throwing the ball. Finally, while on the move, he doesn’t always do a great job getting his chest and toes square to his target leading to some inaccurate throws, especially downfield.
McCord is a player I think I would have been a big fan of in past years but I’d like to believe I’ve been improving as an evaluator and notice warning signs of trouble. While his accuracy, release, and newfound confidence are great, he also needs to dial back the confidence and improve the way he reads a defense. I think the Kyle McCord watch/eval experience will have most people go “Okay, he’s doing better than I expected. Wow, that was a crazy pass. Can’t believe he got that in there. Alright, this guy might be my sleeper for this year… What the hell was that throw??? Okay, he’s doing good again.” It can feel like a rollercoaster with a lot of highs but some real low lows with the Pitt game as the ultimate example of how bad things can go. If he does improve in his decision making and ability to read a defense, I think he could be a solid backup quarterback for a team. But as things stand now I just worry that NFL defenses would eat him alive. As for a comp, to comp him to another quarterback I was high on who did not pan out but now recognizing where things went wrong, I have Bailey Zappe as McCord’s comp. Both have a twitchy, fast release that lets them fit the ball into tight windows and before pressure can hit home while also having some really solid accuracy to all areas of the field. However, both can get fixated on their first read, lack great arm strength, and have really messy footwork. Also, both can get overconfident in their athletic ability leading to unnecessary sacks, and in their ability to make a throw leading to bad interceptions. Zappe has started to be tossed around the NFL due to not being able to quickly read an NFL defense and not having the arm talent to overcome this deficit and I have concerns that the same could happen to McCord. If he does make that adjustment, he could have a very long career as a backup quarterback.