Daniel Jeremiah compares Georgia QB Carson Beck to Eli Manning

We like to say here that “it’s always draft season.”

Former NFL scout and current NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has been conducting his “First Look” series at some of the top prospects in the 2025 draft class. Thursday he released his look at Georgia QB, and potential top draft choice, Carson Beck.

This is interesting to us for a couple reasons. The first is that Beck has been a very popular pick for the New York Giants in the first round of next year’s draft. The second is that Jeremiah openly compares Beck to New York Giants’ great Eli Manning.

Nick and I (Chris) were both intrigued by the comparison, so we each wanted to offer our thoughts on Beck and the comparison between him and Manning.

Before we get started, here’s the relevant part of Jeremiah’s assessment of Beck:

Beck was measured by scouts in the spring at 6-3 7/8 and 233 pounds. Considering his size, talent, and play style, he reminds me of Eli Manning coming out of Ole Miss. Like Manning, Beck excels from the pocket and plays to his size. Eli was a little under-appreciated during his career, but he won his first title with a good rushing attack in an offense that required him to make plays in key moments. I see a similar trajectory for Beck at Georgia.

(The full report is linked above)

Chris Pflum

For my part, I’m not going to go too deep into an evaluation of Beck since he still has a year of potential development.

My “elevator report” on him is that he’s a player with good-but-not-great arm talent and athletic ability. He has enough arm strength and is generally accurate but can struggle with precise ball placement. Likewise, he’s athletic enough to execute roll-outs and escape pass rushers, and even pick up occasional yards with his legs. However, he doesn’t have a rocket arm, pinpoint accuracy, or the kind of wheels to make defenses fear him in the open field.

Instead of delving deeply into Beck’s game, I want to look at Baby Eli and see just how closely Beck mirrors Manning’s game early in his career.

I try to avoid making pro comparisons in my scouting reports. They can be useful for helping fans conceptualize the general shape of a player’s game, but comparing a prospect to an all-time great can also place unreasonable expectations on the kid.

And since the name “Eli Manning” conjures up all kinds of emotions and a general schmear of highlights and memories, I’m going back to the oldest tape I can find of Manning to see what he was like as a young quarterback. I’m bending a personal rule with the first source, a highlight reel from his 2003 season at Ole Miss (I generally refuse to use highlights for film evaluation, but the tape is hard to come by), and Week 1 of the 2009 season (the oldest tape in NFL.com’s library).

Similarities

Both quarterbacks see the field well and process quickly. We all know how smart Manning is and how efficiently he was able to dissect a defense, and there are shades of that in Beck’s tape as well.

Beck generally sees the defense well and accounts for lurking defenders when attacking the middle or intermediate areas of the field. He seems to understand coverages and how Georgia’s passing concepts seek to attack them. He gives his receivers time to clear coverage while flashing the ability to throw with anticipation.

Like Manning, Beck moves through his reads well, but also understands when to get the ball out. Beck has a quick trigger and doesn’t waste time holding the ball when it has to be out immediately. The two quarterbacks both generally have a good understanding of where pressure is going to come from, as well as a good internal clock. That’s further evidenced by Beck’s strong 12.8 percent pressure-to-sack rate and 2.6 percent sack rate.

Differences

The biggest difference, to me, between the two quarterbacks is in their respective arm talent. Manning had a stronger arm than Beck and was more easily able to challenge the deeper parts of the field. He was also a bit better able to deliver the ball with velocity when in the short to intermediate areas of the field. Eli was also better at placing the ball precisely, hitting his receivers in stride, and putting them in a better position to pick up yards after the catch.

Beck has a much higher completion percentage than Eli (72.4 percent in 2023, compared to Manning’s 62.4 in 2003). Manning was always willing to take chances that might put the ball at risk or hurt his completion percentage, and Beck seems a bit more patient and less likely to take risks. Beck had a pretty high rate of play-action and screen passes last year, which are usually high-percentage plays.

Jeremiah notes that he’d like to see Georgia open the playbook for Beck and put more on his mental plate, and I agree. That isn’t to say that Georgia’s offense was simplistic (it certainly wasn’t by collegiate standards), but it also wasn’t the old-school Pro Style offense of yore.

On the flip side, Beck is the more athletic of the two. Eli was more athletic than he was given credit, but his athleticism was more used to flow within the pocket and he wasn’t asked to escape the pocket that often. While Eli will forever be able to say he outran Jason Taylor for a touchdown, he would hardly be considered “mobile” by today’s standards.

Final thoughts

I’m not sure I would have used Easy E as a pro comp for Carson Beck, certainly not before Jeremiah suggested it. However, I can see where DJ is coming from now that I’m specifically comparing the two. Neither player has elite physical traits, but they have more than adequate traits to find success at the next level. There are also definite similarities in the general shape of their games as pocket passers — both with what they do well, as well as some frustrating inconsistencies.

I’m a long way away from a final evaluation of Beck, so I can’t in good faith say anything for certain in July. Perhaps Beck can continue to develop and, like Eli, become more than the sum of his parts.

Nick Falato

Daniel Jeremiah compared the great Eli Manning to current Georgia quarterback Carson Beck. Both are similar in size (Manning is an inch taller) and share quick processing and solid comprehension of the defense. They share a presnap understanding that helps both identify the threats and vulnerabilities of their respective offenses.

Both players are accurate with good velocity and touch to threaten tight windows; both exercise prompt throws through narrow crevices. Georgia uses RPOs that allow Beck to establish a quick rhythm based on the defensive actions, and their dominant rushing attack assists Beck’s overall success.

Football was different 20 years ago when Manning was on campus at Ole Miss. Beck doesn’t quite have Manning’s experience when Manning was heading into his draft-eligible year, but Beck was much more efficient than Manning; this is due to how the game has evolved, and because Georgia is one of the best college programs in the country. Ole Miss was not.

Through four years, Manning had 1,363 passing attempts and completed 60.8% of his attempts for 10,119 yards with a 7.4 yards per attempt average. He threw 81 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Through three seasons, Beck only has 475 attempts, with a completion rate of 70.9% for 4,417 yards. His yards per attempt is 9.3, and he’s thrown 29 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Beck is a two-time national champion but will look to win one as a starting quarterback in 2024.

Manning has a slightly bigger arm with more velocity than Beck, and Beck is more athletic than Manning, but Beck should join Manning as a top selection in his respective draft — he is eligible for the draft next season. Beck also showed resilience in the modern era. He chose to stay and wait his turn at Georgia rather than transfer like many renowned four-star recruits would have pursued.

I’m generally not a big comparison guy, especially not for an All-Time great like Manning, but I understand why Jeremiah used Eli Manning for Carson Beck. The youngster has a lot to prove to earn that honor. He led the Bulldogs to a 13-1 record last season; his one loss was against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. He threw for 243 yards with zero touchdowns — one of only two games without a passing touchdown last season (South Carolin, Week 3). I’ll be excited to see how Beck plays through 2024 as the Giants remain uncertain of their future at quarterback.