The top NFL Draft prospect in the Pac-12, by Pro Football Focus’s estimation, isn’t USC star receiver Jordan Addison, widely viewed as a first-round talent after winning the Biletnikoff Award a season ago.

Instead, it’s Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee. Draft scouts are said to be in love with the Cardinal signal-caller, and PFF’s Michael Renner says he might be the most polished quarterback in the class:

Even though he has just one year of starting experience under his belt, McKee is arguably the most polished quarterback in the 2023 class. His ball-handling, footwork and timing all scream NFL-ready. Now, he just needs to play more consistent football in Year 2. 

If I were a betting man, I’d say we’ll see just that from McKee. A member of the 2018 recruiting class, he took a two-year LDS mission in Brazil prior to arriving at Stanford and was admittedly behind the eight-ball from a developmental standpoint. At 6-foot-6 and 226 pounds with easy arm talent and some athleticism added in for a man that size, McKee ticks a lot of NFL boxes. He just wasn’t helped out by a slightly archaic Stanford passing attack last season.

The 6-foot-6 third-year man was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection by league coaches last season. He started nine games and made 10 appearances, but as the season wore on and the hits piled up, injuries became a concern. McKee with 2,327 yards and 15 touchdowns while completing 65.4% of his throws (best among the qualified Pac-12 QBs) and tossing seven interceptions.

He missed games against Utah and Oregon State late in the year, and had two-interception performances against Washington and Cal sandwiched around those two DNPs. Over his first five games, though, McKee threw for 1,093 yards and 11 touchdowns with a 64.5% completion rate and no interceptions. That stretch saw the Cardinal start 3-2 with wins over USC and Oregon.

Stanford is hoping that’s the McKee it can see more often in 2022.

PFF ranked the top 25 Pac-12 draft prospects. The rest of the top 10 can be found below:

  1. QB Tanner McKee, Stanford
  2. WR Jordan Addison, USC
  3. LB Noah Sewell, Oregon
  4. OL Andrew Vorhees, USC
  5. TE Dalton Kincaid, Utah
  6. CB Clark Phillips III, Utah
  7. DL Tuli Tuipulotu, USC
  8. LB Justin Flowe, Oregon
  9. Edge Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Washington
  10. CB Kyu Blu Kelly, Stanford