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Kaleb Eleby Scouting Report: 2022 NFL Draft Prospect

 

Western Michigan, QB #5

 

Measurements

6’1”/ 210 lbs.

40 Time: Unknown

 

Kaleb Eleby NFL Draft Player Profile

 

High School

Kaleb Eleby is a former 3-star recruit out of Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Eleby was also a 4-year varsity letterman and a captain for the football team his sophomore, junior and senior year. According to 247sports, Eleby was ranked as the 27th best pro style quarterback in the 2018 recruiting class. After seeing his stats from when he was in high school, I was surprised he wasn’t ranked higher.

According to stlhighschoolsports, as a freshman, Eleby had a cumulative QB rating of 103.52. He obtained this rating by completing 153 of 269 passes for 2,239 yards and 18 touchdowns. After seeing these stats from his freshman season, I was excited to see how he did the rest of his career in high school.

His sophomore season was roughly the same as his freshman season. He completed 134 out of 251 passes for 2,047 yards and 22 touchdowns. Although this was still a good season, I would have expected a little bit more improvement from a sophomore team captain. But I will cut him some slack because at the end of the day he was still a sophomore. Now moving onto his junior year. During this season he really started to show some improvement. This season he completed 174 of 296 passes for 2,616 yards and 22 touchdowns while only throwing 6 interceptions. This efficiency allowed him to earn an average QB rating of 110.29.

Finally, his senior season was the most efficient by a longshot. He completed 184 out of 294 passes for 2,831 yards and 27 touchdowns. These stats earned him a QB rating of 119.71. Graduating with that kind of efficiency is exactly what you need when making the transition to college football.

 

College

 

Western Michigan QB Kaleb Eleby

Western Michigan QB Kaleb Eleby

Unfortunately for Eleby, he barely saw the field for the first two years for the Broncos. To go further into detail, his freshman year Eleby only played the last five games of the season because the starting QB got injured. In these five games he completed 72 of 111 passes for 917 yards and 4 touchdowns. Although this was pretty good for a freshman who got thrown into the deep end towards the end of the season, he did not earn the starting spot for his sophomore season. So, with that being said, Eleby did not play a single snap.

Fast-Forwarding to his 2020 season, Eleby only played in six games. But, I should add that he was very effective in these six games. He completed 99 out of 153 passes for 1,715 yards and 18 touchdowns. Finally, his 2021 season is what caught my attention the most. In this season, he completed a total of 230 passes out of 362 for 3,277 yards and 23 touchdowns.

 

Kaleb Eleby Strengths

 

Accuracy

When looking at his stats alone, it is obvious that Eleby is a very accurate quarterback. Throughout his career with Western Michigan, Eleby did not have a single season where he completed less than 62% of his passes. To go into further detail, Eleby only had four games this season where he completed less than 60% of passes.

It is one thing to see that he is accurate when looking at his stats. Now it’s time to talk about how accurate he looks in game. One thing that I realized when watching his film was that Eleby’s strongest part of the game were short throws. His ability to hit the receiver in stride on short routes is very impressive. Although his short throw accuracy is great, there are some questions surrounding his deep throw accuracy which I will talk more about later.

 

Throwing Velocity

To put it into basic terms, Eleby has a cannon of an arm. His ability to get the ball to the receiver through a tight window is very impressive. When he would fit these passes through tight windows the defenders struggled to react in time. This is a skill that will translate well to the NFL if he continues to improve other aspects of his game.

 

Kaleb Eleby Weaknesses

 

Field Vision

 

Western Michigan QB Kaleb Eleby

Western Michigan QB Kaleb Eleby

An area that I realized that Eleby needs to work on his field vision. This is what I consider working through his progressions, decision making and keeping plays alive. When Eleby drops back in the pocket, he sets his eyes on his primary target and stays with them. In order to be successful in the NFL you have to be able to quickly work through your progressions. He also needs to work on his decision making. He sometimes when he sticks with his primary target, he has a tendency to force throws.

 

Crumbles Under Pressure

One of the biggest things that I look for in a quarterback is their ability to stay calm when the pocket is collapsing. After watching his film, it became obvious that Eleby needs to work on this before consistently seeing the field. When the pocket is collapsing around him, he has a tendency to panic and make a mistake that could result in a turnover. In order to be successful in the NFL, he needs to work on his poise and decision making when under pressure.

 

Deep Ball

As I noted earlier, Eleby is very effective when making short throws. With this being said, he has some big improvements to make when throwing deep down the field. I should mention that Eleby has a strong enough arm to make plays down the field. But, before he steps foot on the field in the NFL, he needs to improve his deep throw accuracy. When watching his film, I realized that he would not risk throwing the ball anywhere near the defender and would often throw the ball out of bounds. Not only does this take the defender out of play, it also takes the receiver out of the play.

 

Kaleb Eleby Draft Stock

It is very difficult to predict where quarterbacks will go in this year’s draft. From everything that I have seen, I think that Eleby will likely be a day 3 pick. I think this would be beneficial for him and the team that drafts him because he will have time to develop before seeing the field.

 

Final Thoughts on Kaleb Eleby Scouting Report

Eleby is still a very raw prospect and needs to drastically improve before seeing the field. As I noted earlier, he has the short throw accuracy and throwing velocity to be an effective QB. He still needs to work on many fundamentals before getting a shot in the big time.

 

Player Comparison

When watching Eleby’s film, his play style reminded me of a raw version of Kellen Mond.

Kaleb Eleby Scouting Report by Matthew Lewis.