Mel Kiper on Carson Beck’s NFL Draft stock: ‘He could be a career backup’

ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper evaluated what’s to come for Carson Beck in the pros ahead of Monday’s national championship. The Miami QB and the Hurricanes take on No. 1 and 15-0 Indiana, at home no less, for the crown.

Beck, once thought of a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, saw his stock plummet, suffered an injury and transferred out of Georgia for his final season. But Beck has resurrected his pro prospects this fall and winter.

As far as where he fits in the picture in April, Kiper has him at No. 4 or 5 among his draft eligible quarterbacks. Borderline starter? Backup in the pros? Perhaps the latter.

“Well he could be in that fourth, fifth quarterback spot,” Kiper said on Get Up. “You have obviously Mendoza, Dante Moore … he’s at two, Ty Simpson, Trinidad Chambliss, does he get an extra year? And then you have Carson Beck with Garrett Nussmeier, Drew Allar in that mix as a late day two, early day three type. This is a guy who has to cut down on those interceptions, 23 interceptions over the last two years. But this past season, this year, the best year overall. We look back at Georgia, what he was this season, best year overall for Carson Beck. He’s a guy I think could be a career backup in the NFL. I’d say late day two, early day three for him.”

This season (15 games), Beck has 3,581 yards, 29 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 73.3% completion percentage. Over the course of his career, Beck has 11,493 yards, 87 touchdowns, 31 interceptions and a 69.7% completion percentage.

As a member of the Class of 2020, Beck was a four-star recruit out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking. He was the No. 34 overall prospect in the state, the No. 16 quarterback in the class and the No. 225 overall prospect in the class.

“Tribute to him, testament to him and his teammates,” head coach Mario Cristobal said of Beck’s mettle. “So many different things on that drive that were executed at a high level. Handful of third downs that were not the easiest in the world. But elite protection. Elite route running. Contested catches. Being hard to tackle. 

“Turning a third and 12 into a third and seven instead. All those things. Right, the margins, we always talk all year long, right, the margins get smaller and smaller and smaller as the year goes on. And the margins were three minutes to go and ball in hand were like this, and obviously we want to play a cleaner game … But when it comes down to it, the resilience, the toughness, the fact that we just felt that that game, it just meant more to our guys, and they were going to find a way to get it done.”