MSU Moorhead quarterback Jack Strand will not be coming into the upcoming NFL Draft with many conversations around him. If you haven’t gone looking for him, there’s a chance you haven’t seen much of him. But once you do, he tends to stick.
Jack Strand’s NFL Draft Projection and Best Team Fits
Right now, Strand is in that Day 3 range. PFSN has called him a “notable sleeper” in its scouting report with a 78.36 grade. He is ranked as the QB5, which on its own does not say much. The tape does more. He’s 6-foot-5 and around 240 pounds, so he is built like someone who should be hard to move.
What is more interesting is how comfortable he looks once the play starts to break down. He is not stuck in one spot. He can slide, reset, drift outside, and still throw without everything falling apart. And the throws don’t always look clean, but they get there. That’s kind of his thing.
Between different arm angles, off-balance releases, and adjusting mid-motion, you’ll see a few passes every game that look a little odd and still end up right where they need to be. That is usually what gets coaches interested because you can’t teach that part in theory.
He’s got enough arm to push the ball downfield too. You don’t need a perfect pocket for him to take a shot. The arm strength he showed at his Pro Day lines up with what you see: He can drive it when he wants to.
Where he separates himself a bit from other late-round quarterbacks is how he handles the mental side. He’s not locking onto one read and hoping for the best. You can see him move through things, adjust, or come off throws when they are not there. But yeah, there are things that need work.
The release can be a little slow, and that is going to matter more against faster defenses. His mechanics drift too, and that shows up in the ball placement. Some throws are spot-on; others just miss by enough to stall a drive.
That’s the part teams will want to clean up. The production helps his case, as he has accumulated 126 passing touchdowns during his career. It is also Division II, so that’ll always be part of the conversation, but he handled his level the way you’d expect someone with NFL traits to handle it.
The teams that make sense here aren’t looking for him to play early. They’re looking for someone they can bring along without forcing it.
New England Patriots
This feels like a place where he’d be given time to settle in. They’re putting things together on offense, and they’ve got room to carry a developmental quarterback. With Drake Maye already there, Strand will not be competing for snaps. It becomes more about sitting in meetings and learning the new system for a while.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders are kind of figuring out what direction they are going in, and that tends to open the door for players like him. Late-round quarterbacks with size and arm talent are the kind of bets teams in this spot make. If he shows enough in camp, he is the type you keep around and see where it goes.
Pittsburgh Steelers
This one lines up pretty naturally. Big quarterback, comfortable standing in the pocket, not afraid to take a hit and still deliver the ball.
That has always been part of what they’ve leaned toward. Strand would come in as a depth option most probably, but the style of play would not feel out of place there.
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San Francisco 49ers
This one’s more about how he plays than anything else. Their system asks quarterbacks to stay on schedule but also to handle it when things break down, and that is where Strand is at his most interesting.
He is comfortable throwing off-platform, adjusting on the fly, and still getting something out of the play. He wouldn’t be asked to do too much early, but in that environment, you could see the details of his game get sharper over time.
