Who has the best fastball among the quarterbacks in this draft? Going by the velocity among those who threw at the NFL Scouting Combine, it's Southeastern Louisiana's Bryan Bennett.
Bennett threw a pass clocked at 60 mph during his combine workout, figures posted by "Ourlads' Guide to the NFL Draft" showed. South Alabama's Brandon Bridge and Oregon State's Sean Mannion tied for second at 57 mph. Oregon's Marcus Mariota was tied for fourth at 56 mph (with Duke's Anthony Boone), while Florida State's Jameis Winston -- the guy likely to go No. 1 overall in the draft -- was tied for sixth at 55 mph (with Nevada's Cody Fajardo).
Of course, highest velocity from quarterbacks doesn't mean all that much. Ourlads has been measuring velocity for eight years, and Bennett's reading is tied for the highest; the other quarterback who threw 60 mph is Logan Thomas, who was a rookie for the Arizona Cardinals in 2014.
Ourlads' reading comes from a radar gun positioned behind the receiver, and is one throw, not an average, Dan Shonka, Ourlads' general manager and national scout, told College Football 24/7 last year.
Five quarterbacks have hit 59 mph and five more have reached 58 mph in the past eight drafts. The quarterbacks who have hit 59 mph are Tyler Bray, Kirk Cousins, Zac Dysert, Colin Kaepernick and Brandon Weeden. The quarterbacks to hit 58 mph are Austin Davis, Ryan Mallett, Mike Reilly, Drew Willy and John Parker Wilson.
The numbers reached by some notable quarterbacks: Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez were at 57 mph; Andy Dalton, Blake Bortles and Cam Newton were at 56 mph; Joe Flacco, Geno Smith and Russell Wilson were at 55 mph; and Mike Glennon was at 49 mph.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
