Devin Leary scouting report: Exploring the Kentucky quarterback's strengths and weaknesses

A top-500 overall recruit in 2018, Devin Leary increased his numbers across the board in each of his first three seasons with the Wolfpack (missed most of 2020 after breaking a league). In 2021, he completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 3433 yards and 35 touchdowns and five interceptions – which broke Philip Rivers’ school record for TD passes in a season.

He was off to another good start the following year, being named a team captain, before a shoulder injury cost him the final seven games. For the 2023 season, Devin Leary transferred to Kentucky, where he immediately received captain honors again, but saw his completion rate drop to 53.6% with 2746 yards and 25 TDs vs. 12 INTs.

Profile: 6-foot-1, 215 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Devin Leary's scouting report

Physical make-up & arm talent:

• The ball really jumps out of Devin Leary’s hand, which was backed up by a 60 mph mark that he registered at the combine (only two behind Tennessee’s Joe Milton III)
• There’s good rhythm and pace to his drops, to pair with clean throwing mechanics
• Loves to fire seam drills in there to split the safeties in two-high looks or beat late rotations
• Yet you also see him put more arc on the ball and drop it into the bucket for his receivers down the sideline between the corner and the safety in cover-two – even from the far hash
• Puts a ton of air under his deep balls and allows his receivers to gain that late separation, after he sees the safety play flat-footed
• Excels on touch throws over the head of flat-defenders, particularly corner routes in the red-zone for example
• Has no issues releasing the ball off the wrong foot on rollouts/bootlegs and dropping down the arm angle to get it out a little quicker, yet with the same type of speed and accuracy
• Always sets up his skill-players to gain yards after the catch with the ball-placement on swing routes, screens, etc.

Processing & decision-making:

• Will happily take lay-ups and hit receivers on hitches to the field-side, if the corner over there is asked to bail, as well as hit his slot receivers on quick out routes if they have the leverage advantage
• Can work through his progressions at a good pace and read like a stick concept to the field, before coming back to a curl route by the single receiver
• Generally does well to operate on time and hit his targets out of their breaks, as that back-foot hits, yet is also patient enough to let them work into secondary windows
• You see Devin Leary hit a bunch of spot/hook routes as zone defenders widen in their drops and he quickly gets to his hot guy when blitzed
• Understands where free access and leverage throws are going to be, yet doesn’t tip off the defense where he’ll go right away by having his helmet pointed North as he takes the snap
• When you go to the end-zone angle, you see that Devin Leary occasionally opens up windows in-between shallow zone defenders with subtle no-lookers
• Looks comfortable turning his back to the defense on play-action from under center, set up and drive throws over the intermediate level of the field
• Actively turns his receivers to the opposite shoulder of where the defender is at trailing on deep balls, Back-shoulder fades are a regular item on the menu
• Didn’t have many real weapons at receiver around him and was let down by some bad drops and semi-drops, where his guys don’t turn away defenders and/or allow the ball to be raked out late

Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

• Willing to hang at the top of his drop and rip throws on the intermediate level that require velocity whilst a rusher is about to blow him up
• Is kind of slick with his pocket movement, understanding rush angles and letting crashing defenders run by him
• Maintains a throw-ready posture as he’s sliding away from pressure points and buying extra time
• There are some plays where he’s pedaling all the way outside the numbers to bleed out opportunities for his receivers to break open on secondary routes, whilst being prepared to release at any moment
• Has more “escapability” than he gets credit for, where you see him wiggle out of potential sacks as the linemen are being pushed into him from multiple angles, he jukes an oncoming rusher or dips underneath one trying to reach out for him
• Keeps his eyes up as he extends plays and can put different speeds on the ball, whether he has to drive it to somebody sitting down against zone or has to float it over an underneath defender – And he’s pretty accurate at doing so
• Didn’t scramble a ton last season at Kentucky, but on the nine times that he did, he recorded 98 yards
• You see it the quickness at times when he ran QB draw and was able to evade a point of penetration before getting back downhill

Weaknesses:

• Digs his cleats into the ground and opens his chest towards the target in then quick game, which enables defenders to drive on the throw simultaneously, from which point it’s about if they or the ball gets to that spot first, along with relying all on his arm and not being pin-point because of it
• Trusts his arm a little too much at times, such as trying to hit sail routes/deep outs to the field on flood concepts, where the corner doesn’t actually turn with the wideout pushing vertically
• Struggles with seeing full picture facing zone coverage and doesn’t always confirm what he saw pre-snap
• There are a lot of balls throw up for his receivers in one-on-one coverage on the outside and asking them to make plays for him, without optimal ball-placement on those
• Doesn’t have the speed to outrun defenders to the corner and gets tracked down frequently when trying to get out to the sideline

Devin Leary's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

Evaluating Devin Leary was one of the more pleasant surprises in this draft. He really got back onto my radar – since it’s been about one-and-a-half years since we’ve actually seen him play at a high level, and the circumstances at Kentucky largely dictated that – when I watched him absolutely rip it at the combine.

In a group that included Oregon’s Bo Nix and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, he was clearly the most impressive thrower at least, whether he needed to pin receivers at the sideline or show touch.

Now, there are certainly things on tape that bother you, whether he sort of pre-determines throws, is unaware of ancillary zone defenders or doesn’t calibrate deep ball accordingly.

However, I don’t think his completion rate last season with the Wildcats was representative of the quality of throws you see, with plenty of drops and even when the placement seemed to be off, on a few of those I saw his vision behind them, where he’d place it just behind a receiver to stop him in a window or lead someone further upfield to not allow the underneath coverage to make an impact.

Constantly being forced off the spot and not having good answers for extra pressure incorporated into the offense made Devin Leary feel different navigating muddy pockets. Nevertheless, he has the arm talent and the mental capacity to handle full-field reads that would really intrigue me to take a shot at him early on Day 3.

Grade: Fifth round