Stanton better than college career suggests

Jay Cutler added intrigue to an already dramatic quarterback battle between Vince Young and Matt Leinart in last year's draft. Although the 2007 class features another fine arms race between JaMarcus Russell (LSU) and Brady Quinn (Notre Dame), it's safe to say there will be no late-rising third-party candidate added to the mix. In fact, an entire round (32 picks) could pass between the second and third quarterback selected in next month's draft.

Different scouts have differing opinions on who is the No. 3 quarterback in this year's class. From my perspective, Michigan State's Drew Stanton is the best of the rest. Cutler was unquestionably a better pro prospect than Stanton coming out of college. Simply put, Cutler was able to do more with less during his career at Vanderbilt -- and that's why he was the No. 11 overall pick in 2006. In all actuality, the better comparison from last year's class is Kellen Clemens, who was selected by the Jets with pick No. 49 overall (second round). Like Stanton, Clemens is a gifted athlete with above-average arm strength, but his erratic decision-making skills and durability issues at Oregon were red flags for NFL scouts.

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