Michael Pratt scouting report: Exploring the Tulane quarterback's strengths and weaknesses

A three-star recruit in 2020, Michael Pratt immediately started nine of 10 games as a true freshman and was in the lineup for all 24 contests the following two seasons combined for the Green Wave. He helped them get a monstrous Cotton Bowl win over Heisman trophy winner Caleb Williams and USC.

This past season – despite getting banged up early on and only starting 11 games – he arguably was even better, completing 65.4% of his passes for 2,400 yards, accounting for 27 TDs vs. only five INTs. He was recognized as the AAC Offensive Player of the Year, one season after seeing former teammate Tyjae Spears (now running back for the Titans) take home those honors.

Michael Pratt scouting report

Physical make-up & arm talent:

• Unlike many of these AAC quarterbacks who operate in a spread offense, Pratt clearly has NFL arm talent and accuracy
• Quick hands and release to deliver throws in the RPO and quick game along with screens, with his targets having maximum time to make things happen after the catch
• Has beautiful touch on deep balls, as his streaking receivers don’t have to break stride at all – if his guy just has a step, that’s typically it
• Perfectly delivers bang-eight routes vs. cover-three, before the safety can fly over
• Excels lofting passes over flat defenders and hitting those intermediate windows with loopy-type of throws
• Looks smooth on the move, as Tulane cut the field down in half a lot on rollouts and he was very efficient with his motion
• Creates easy velocity on the run, to hit throws late at the sideline
• You also see some balls slightly across his body as one of his targets settles down as he approaches the numbers, which that area is already occupied by defenders

Processing & decision-making:

• Capable of reading the full field and being a confident decision-maker, who plays the game with great timing and anticipation
• Will happily take free-access and leverage throws based on pre-snap alignment of both sides all day long
• Consistently leads his receivers back down the stem on any type of route breaking toward the quarterback
• Allows the movement of zone defender to dictate where the ball should go, where he doesn’t shy away from testing tight windows over the middle of the field and he hits the button-hook on mesh when the coverage is still dispersing
• Definitely has improved his ability to manipulate coverage with his eyes and force safeties to void their landmarks
• Has some (quasi) no-lookers on tape, where he knows he has someone down in the flats whilst being aimed down the field and just flipping it out there without tipping off defenders to drive up early
• Willing to stare down the barrel of the gun and stand in there with pressure coming in to rip throws
• Looks comfortable turning his back to the defense, hiding the ball in different ways and locating targets down the field – often times wide open thanks to a good fake
• 2023 was the only of four years where less than 11% of his passes was dropped and he actually had a 100% adjusted completion rate in the 2023 season-opener vs. South Alabama

Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

• Generally displays good awareness for rush angles and when to be subtle or dramatic with his movements to erase them
• Does a nice job of re-setting inside the pocket without needing a lot of space to operate
• Once he gets outside, he directs traffic and can flip those hips around quickly to hit targets sliding away from coverage
• Sneaky good athlete, who punishes you in a hurry for bad rush discipline and green grass in front of him
• Has some good lateral agility to bounce sideways in order to escape through an opening between the guard and tackle after hitching up initially
• Quick to pull the ball and shoot through a lane in front of him, if the defense presents it to him
• Slick ball-handler who ran zone-read, invert verr, etc. to good effect for the Green Wave – averaged 9.2 yards per “non-scramble” for his career
• Had a career-best big-throw rate (6.5%) compared to a 3.9% turnover-worthy play this past season

Weaknesses:

• His hands are only 9-and-¼ inches and his raw arm strength is only average for NFL standards, which is why you see the ball wobble a lot
• Has a tendency to overstride trying to hit intermediate throws coming into his vision and you sub-optimal placement trying to drive the ball
• Would retreat way too much and not climb up into the pocket in 2022 especially and can look kind of small when the walls are closing in on him
• Doesn’t always confirm coverage post-snap or tries to fit in throws anyway, which will been more costly with less static pictures defensively
• His 21.4% pressure-to-sack conversion rate in 2023 was tied for 111th among 165 FBS quarterbacks with 100+ dropbacks

Looking at Florida State’s Jordan Travis and Pratt, I thought they were fairly clear evaluations as guys who have operated at a high level in college. There’s a lot of their game that will translate well to the next level, even though their ceiling may be capped due to physical limitations.

I love Pratt’s ability to ID defensive looks and deliver passes on the money with anticipation. It’s when defenses crush the pocket, challenge him to make throws outside the numbers against tight-man coverage where I get a little worried.

He'll most likely not be drafted to compete for a starting job. But I can see a situation where he finds himself in that role for a couple of years in the league along with being a high-quality backup for a long time.

Grade: Fourth round