New Kentucky QB Devin Leary Better Than Will Levis?

New Kentucky quarterback (QB) Devin Leary is a wildcard this upcoming college football season.

Why?

Leary’s season in 2022 was cut short by a serious injury.

Now, that is behind him, and he has used the transfer portal to put even more distance between everyone’s memory of him at his last school.

Of course, this will only work if he performs well at Kentucky.

Is he better than Will Levis?

Yes.

I believe Leary is a better NFL prospect than former Kentucky QB and 2022 second-round draft choice, Will Levis (Titans).

The wildcard again is Leary’s return from that torn pectoral muscle.

While neither Levis nor Leary was good at keeping their passes from being disrupted in the air (Leary had 15 passes disrupted in this four-game study). Leary is more athletic and showed better pocket awareness and throwing mechanics.

Neither one of them have a deep game to speak of.

Outside of putting the ball in harm’s way too often, Leary showed a stronger arm and he had better overall ball placement at the short to intermediate route range when he was accurate.

I was never a big fan of Levis, to begin with, in fact, I put a seventh-round pre-draft grade on him.

All things considered when I think of Levis’s game film last season and I stack it up in my mind’s eye to Leary, I like Leary better.

How much better?

There’s a little Tony Romo to Leary

That’s the name that kept going through my mind while watching Leary on game film.

Now, I’m not saying Leary is the next Tony Romo (former Cowboys’ QB), but there are some things about Leary that remind me of Romo.

Leary is a scrappy competitor with a live arm.

He is going to have to cut way down on putting the ball in harm’s way, and he’s going to have to start connecting on some of his deep attempts to ever have a shot at a starting role like Romo held, but he’s interesting.

Relies on footwork and mechanics

Leary is different than a lot of QBs in this year’s draft class.

He actually relies on footwork and mechanics to throw the ball a good amount of the time.

That used to be the norm in the pros, but now with the popularity of Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes and his unorthodox playground style at the position, three, five, and seven-step drops have all but gone out the window in college football.

Not with Leary.

This NC State transfer actually had a lot of three-step drops getting rid of the ball showing he understands the lost art in college of throwing timing routes.

Where is Leary on the draft board?

It’s encouraging to see him out there throwing again.

On his 2021 game film, I had a fourth-round grade on Leary.

While his arm looked much stronger in 2022, he regressed with the ball security.

I do find it interesting Kentucky went to get him to replace Levis. On game film over the past couple of seasons, it does appear he is evolving and developing in some ways.

#13 Devin Leary 6-foot-1, 215 pounds

Daniel Kelly’s Spring 2023 Grade: Fifth-Round (I would select him)

Projected by 0% of the NFL Draft Community to be a first-round pick as of June 13, 2023 (nflmockdraftdatabase.com)

2022 game film reviewed: Texas Tech, Clemson, FSU, and East Carolina (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)

2022 stats: 118/193 (65.7%), 1265 yards, 11 TD, 4 INT, sacked 9 times, long-75

Note: 2020 broken fibula

2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Pocket passer who is solid in the short to intermediate route level. Smooth initial ball handling. Moves around in the pocket. Relative quick decisions. Good football IQ. Inconsistent progressions. Sometimes throws it away under pressure. Tight compact delivery. When he missed, wasn’t by much. Works best short range. Excels throwing routes featuring break points. Tendency to throw high and overthrow. No big plays. No deep passes were completed in this film study. Not much of a runner.

What to watch for during the 2023 college football season?

1. Does he overcome the injury?

2. Deep game?

3. Ball security?

4. How does he adjust to a new team?

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock and has written for Sports Illustrated Lions, Jets, and 49ers, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @firstroundmock.