NFL Draft Player Profile: Tajh Boyd of Clemson

Tajh Boyd of Clemson

Tajh Boyd's performance in the bowl game against LSU was one of the most memorable and outstanding outings by any player last season. Then again, how many of us remember his performance against Duke? It was definitely one of his more disappointing performances. The Boyd that we saw tear up LSU is certainly not the same Boyd we see every week and he will not live up to his hype next season.


For those that do recollect the Clemson VS Duke match-up, you'd know that Boyd threw a stunning 5 TDs. Unfortunately, those TDs were accompanied by a season-high 3 INTs. It's not just the alarming number of interceptions he threw, it was also the manor in which he threw them, but more specifically, two of them were absurd. One of them was to the right sideline against zone coverage. The DB was sitting in zone, not even moving, yet Boyd decided to test him. The second is the exact same story, but on the left sideline, as opposed to the right. Even more intriguing is that, on the second interception, Boyd contested the man all ACC quarterbacks fear: Ross Cockrell. The third was actually different. Boyd simply launched it into deep triple coverage and got picked off with ease.

If I had to tell you who the most inconsistent college football player from last year was, I would say either Cobi Hamilton or Tajh Boyd.  One game Boyd will look like your franchise QB, but then the next game he looks like he shouldn't even have the starting job. This especially applies to his deep ball. It's either perfectly on point or it looks like it was thrown by a high school kid with no arm talent. Boyd often tends to try to salvage a play that is clearly broken down and simply makes things worse. He also has a bit too much confidence in his arm and forces throws that most other quarterbacks wouldn't have even considered, hence all 3 of his Duke interceptions.

To be fair, Boyd isn't all bad. He is a mobile threat and has big play potential in his legs. His placement can be quite amazing at times, but as I previously stated, he is freakishly inconsistent. I also give him credit for his arm strength. While he may not use it with the best decisions in mind, but the arm talent is certainly there.

As of now, Boyd is being criminally over-rated. He is living solely off of the hype he mustered from his performance against LSU. I'm not saying that he won't prove me wrong next season, but Iv'e got plenty of reasons to believe he won't. Boyd is currently ranked as my No.7 QB behind Fales, Bridgewater, Carr, Hundley, Brett Smith, and Blake Bortles, in that order.