2025 Scouting Report: QB Kyle McCord, Syracuse (FREE)
Bio
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 220
Schools: Ohio State (2021-2023), Syracuse (2024)
Career Stats: (22-4) as a starter; 8,965 passing yards, 60 TD, 18 INT, 65.5% completion rate.
2024 Stats: (10-3); 4,779 yards (1st), 34 TD (5th), 12 INT (T-5th), 66% completion rate, 8.1 YPA (27th)
A lot of people have Kyle McCord as their 5th best QB in the class, behind Ward, Sanders, Milroe, and Dart. In a weak QB class I think 4th/5th is a proper ranking for him, based on where I am in my 2025 scouting journey.
McCord was a highly touted QB coming out of high school, he was a 5-star QB who was buddies/teammates with Marvin Harrison Jr., and they both committed to Ohio State. In 2023 McCord took over the starting role after shadowing CJ Stroud and led OSU to an 11-0 start to the season and eventually lost to the soon-to-be National Champion – Michigan.
After the playoff loss, McCord left OSU for a guaranteed starting role + more NIL money, eventually settling on Syracuse and its Air Raid offense. The new offensive system led McCord to lead the nation in pass attempts and yards, top 3 in a number of other volume statistics, and breaking the ACC single-season passing yard record.
This leads us to the ultimate question… how is McCord as a prospect? I’m personally not sold on him. I watched one drive of a Syracuse game live, months ago, and with every pass attempt I saw him catch the ball in shotgun formation, look at one wide receiver, and never looked to another WR before throwing the ball. That drive ended with a TD pass, but not once did I see McCord play with any excitement/off-script movement.
Kyle McCord has the same vibe to me as Drake Maye did last year, he’s a ‘coaches quarterback’, meaning McCord/Maye will run the playbook how it’s meant to be played, neither of them has a real feel for the position, but both are very well coached, make good throws with good form, but you’ll never get that feeling of awe you get when you watch Burrow thread the needle between 3 defenders, or when Mahomes completes a pass while diving.
McCord’s insane 2024 season is a credit to the college air-raid QB, like Gardner Minshew, Bailey Zappe, Kellen Moore, and basically any QB from Hawai’i. How did any of these QBs pan out in the NFL? Zappe is barely holding a roster spot, Minshew is a backup-level QB, and I’m not sure a Hawai’i QB is in the NFL at the moment.
The Data on Kyle McCord:
McCord led the NCAA in passing yards (4,779), and passing attempts (592, 67 more than second), and led the ACC in INT (12). Breaking down McCord’s volume into a per-attempt basis his numbers are nothing special, he averaged 45.5 pass attempts per game bringing him to 8.1 yards per attempt. McCord also stat-padded against poor ACC defenses while at Syracuse…
In his Ohio State days, McCord threw 5 TDs/4 INTs in 4 games, facing ND, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
| ThrowRtg | MobRtg | H | W | Last | First | School | adjCompPct | adjYds/Comp | adjTD% | adjAtt/INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.766 | 1.837 | 75 | 220 | McCord | Kyle | Syracuse | 67.8 | 12.5 | 5.9 | 10.2 |
ThrowRtg = Combination of passing stats, adjusted stats, and strength of schedule.
MobRtg = Trying to identify/reward QBs that are more mobile than traditional passers, as teams look for more athletic QBs
ThrowRtg and MobRtg are on a scale of 0-10, but there are instances where players can be above or below the 0-10 threshold.
Adj. = Stats weighted against strength of opponents
Draft Outlook:
McCord will probably be a 5th/6th round draft pick, and he’ll most likely find himself drafted by Arizona, reuniting him with Marvin Harrison Jr.
Career Outlook:
McCord will have a tough path to success in the NFL, I think he’ll be a backup QB for two or three years and be out of the NFL shortly thereafter. If McCord can go down the Kellen Moore path into coaching, which I think he can do, we may see him as a QB coach in 5+ years.
Image Source: (Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com)