ProspectWatch Profile – Tyler Bray, QB Tennessee
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com

Photo courtesy SEC Tumblr

Height: 6’6″
Weight: 215
Age: 21

Honors:
Named to 2012 Preseason Watch Lists for Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year, Manning Award and 77th annual Maxwell Award as nation’s top player
2012 Preseason All-SEC Third Team selection by Athlon, Lindy’s
Named 2012 Preseason Lindy’s “Strongest Arm in SEC”
Named SEC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 12, 2011)
Sophomore QB named to preseason Manning, O’Brien, Maxwell Award Watch Lists
2010 Three-time SEC Freshman of the Week (Nov. 6, 13 & 27, 2010)
(Games Watched – 2011 GA, 2012 Missouri, 2012 Florida)

It was an intriguing crop of quarterbacks heading in to Senior Bowl week. A lot of physical talent, a lot of questions marks. Not much was clarified after a week of sorting through inconsistency and inaccuracy to find the occasional flash of brilliance in Mobile.

The picture doesn’t become any clearer after evaluating Tyler Bray. It’s more of the same story. Obvious physical gifts mingled with tons of underneath throws, questionable decision making, and sharply declining accuracy down the field.

Positives:
Bray displays an efficiency to his game on tape. This is supported by an 8 yd/attempt average in 2012. Over the last two seasons, he has consistently displayed a 2.83:1 TD/INT ratio. He’s never been heavily sacked, and was tremendous in 12 games last year only being sacked 8 times. This indicates pocket awareness and a willingness to get the ball out on time.

Both qualities supported by decent mobility in and around the pocket and decent footwork in his drops. Bray shows good arm strength but throws a lot of underneath routes. There is evidence of some big-time NFL throws with touch, velocity, and accuracy vs Missouri in 2012. Coming from the SEC, Bray lands in the NFL after facing elite level collegiate competition.

Concerns:
Quarterback discussions begin and end with accuracy. Bray was substandard in this department, posting an almost identical 59.4% and 59.5% completion rate over the last two years. A large enough sample to create concerns. Sub-60% completion doesn’t cut it in college where some passers throw for over 70%, or in the NFL where accuracy comes at a premium. It’s not going to get any easier for Bray at the next level. He played almost exclusively out of the shotgun, scouts will want to see him handle the ball under center at the NFL Combine.

In three years, he’s never beaten a top tier team, unless you are including Ole Miss or Vanderbilt. Bray has a slightly lengthy and deliberate wind-up to his delivery, but his throwing mechanics aren’t horrible. The case can also be made that the talented NFL style WR corps at Tennessee made Bray look better than he is. A questionable concern since he will get a full compliment of NFL caliber pass catchers at the next level.

Evaluation:
Like many of the other QB prospects this year, Tyler Bray is a good developmental prospect. Much of his appeal will come down to character and intelligence – along with draft value. To me this group is all about value. Whichever guy I can live with and draft the latest is who I want. After lackluster Senior Bowl weeks by Mike Glennon and Zac Dysert, I’m willing to put Bray in front of them for now. Playing in the SEC I also give Bray an edge in competition level over those two. If his character, intelligence, and leadership abilities check out well above average; he could have an appeal similar to Tyler Wilson or EJ Manuel (for different reasons). Right now he is in the Ryan Nassib – Landry Jones group with lot left to prove during this draft preparation process.