Evan Weaver scouting report and NFL player comparison

When you sit back and look at the Arizona Cardinals haul from the 2020 NFL Draft you see the potential.

You see why Steve Keim is “at peace” and you see why fans are hopeful for the return of football.

We’ll keep the positivity going while also giving a look at maybe why each of the newest members of the Arizona Cardinals could be contributors for the team and in the NFL. We’ll also look at what could be their fatal flaw and hinder them making it.

As I’ve talked about throughout the draft process when it comes to NFL player comparisons they should be done on a spectrum.

That spectrum gives us a range of outcomes and what we believe could be their ceiling and floor.

Yesterday we looked at seventh round pick Eno Benjamin.

Today, it is sixth round pick and the Pac12 Defensive Player of the Year Evan Weaver.

Weaver gets some interesting comps thrown around, most specifically Scooby Wright.

What’s interesting is that Wright had a better singular season at UofA, but never put together back-to-back seasons like Weaver.

Weaver also tested significantly better than Wright did, which is why the comparison seems too easy.

Weaver isn’t a great athlete, no one is disputing that notion, but if you look at his short shuttle number (4.21) he was actually really, really good. Which matters a lot when you’re talking about inside linebacker.

Weaver’s short shuttle time was better than Jonathan Taylor, Eno Benjamin and elite athlete linebackers like Willie Gay Jr. and Malik Harrison.

Weaver’s 3-cone (7.02) was also good enough to push him over the minimum threshold for athletes lining up at linebacker.

Now, none of this is to say that Weaver will definitely make it, but it’s showing how off the comparison was to Wright from an athletic standpoint, Wright’s short shuttle was 4.47 which is in the 12th percentile compared to the 77th of Weaver’s.

So, where does an ultra productive, just good enough athlete project on the pro comparison scale?

High end you get a comparison to Nick Kwiatkowski, the former Bears linebacker who just signed a nice deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.

That’s obviously the best case scenario, but if you get that type of career from a sixth rounder it’s a really good pick.

On the low end you get Josey Jewell, another similar type of athlete who plays as a key backup but his main job is special teams. He’s never taken the step Kwiatkowski did, but he’s a contributor.

What are your expectations for Weaver?