2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Profile: Michael Pratt, QB Tulane
Tulane has become a surprising powerhouse coming out of the AAC in the last couple of years. Head coach Willie Fritz deserves plenty of credit for that, but so does quarterback Michael Pratt, who has started 44 games over the past four seasons for the Green Wave.
If he is drafted, he’ll be the first quarterback to be drafted from Tulane in 20 years (J.P. Losman to Buffalo in 2004). The question becomes: will he be drafted and, if so, can he have a successful career as a backup quarterback in the NFL?
The Stats
Images courtesy of Sports Reference.
Pratt is a product of Boca Raton, Florida, where he initially attended Boca Raton High School. He joined the football team as a freshman, having never played the sport before. Prior to that, he had devoted his life to baseball, where he was a pitcher and a shortstop. He claims that baseball will always be his best sport, but he grew weary of the game and made the switch to the gridiron. After two years as the starter at Boca Raton, going into his Senior year, he transferred to Deerfield Beach High School, a school known for its powerhouse football program. He won the job away from the established starter and led his team to the Florida High School Class 8A Semifinals in 2019. 247 Sports named him a three-star prospect and the 61st-ranked pro-style QB in the class. He received 14 Division 1 offers, most notably from Toledo, Buffalo, Florida Atlantic and Western Michigan. He chose to enroll at Tulane in August of 2020.
He started the third game of his freshman season for the Green Wave and never gave the job back, leading the team to a 66-24 win over rival Southern Miss in his first career start. As a freshman, Pratt only attempted 254 passes, but still threw for 20 touchdowns and 1,806 yards. He also ran the ball 115 times for 229 yards.
2021 was a rebuilding year for Tulane after offensive coordinator Will Hall left to take a head coaching job at Southern Miss. Despite the poor record, Pratt took some steps forward in production, throwing for 2,390 yards and 21 touchdowns.
2022 was Pratt’s best season, and one of the best football seasons in Tulane history. They finished the season with a 12-2 record and a #9 finish in nationwide polls after beating Caleb Williams and USC in the Cotton Bowl. While it was an incredible win for Tulane, you can’t give much credit to Pratt for the victory. He only threw the ball 17 times for 234 yards, including an 87-yard touchdown pass to Jha’Quan Jackson. Tyjae Spears was the offensive star of the game, rushing for 205 yards and four touchdowns. Despite the lackluster finale, Pratt had an outstanding season. He completed 63.6% of his passes for 3,009 yards and 27 touchdowns. He also had his best season as a rusher, carrying the ball 129 times for 478 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Despite several high-end transfers and graduations, Pratt and the Green Wave had another successful season in New Orleans. He led the team to an 11-1 regular season record, and a #23 ranking to end the regular season. The only loss they faced came to #20 Ole Miss in their second game of the season. In his final game for Tulane, Pratt lost the AAC Championship to SMU. He opted out of the Military Bowl and declared for the NFL Draft.
He kicked off his pre-draft process by attending the Senior Bowl. By all accounts, Pratt had a great week in Mobile. He was a leader in the huddle and on the sidelines for the American squad and looked solid in the practice drills.
Took these videos of Michael Pratt through 3 days of Senior Bowl practice. Not all about the reps; how do you lead a group of strangers?
Every drafted QB will face this on their team. Pratt notably tracked down receivers and had more one-on-ones than any QB I watched. pic.twitter.com/SmkIfWt8uI
— Maddy Hudak (@MaddyHudak_94) February 1, 2024
Heck of a week at the Senior Bowl on and off the field for QB Michael Pratt of Tulane! Leadership, command, accuracy, anticipation and competitor. I think we also put the arm strength questions to bed as well. pic.twitter.com/RamzAvBhPg
— Tony Racioppi (@Tonyrazz03) February 2, 2024
The Film
For more Pratt film, check out his DLF Profile.
Pratt is tailor-made to be a backup quarterback in the NFL. He does some things well, but he just isn’t physically gifted enough to be a team’s number-one option. He’s smart and a leader, perfect to carry a clipboard and wear a headset. If a team does need to turn to him, he will keep it safe and run the offense, but he’ll struggle to push the ball down the field. He’ll need to be coached up and schemed into easy throws in games.
He has good pocket presence with soft, quick feet and the ability to escape when needed. At times he does expose the ball too much to defenders in the pocket under pressure. When he is escaping the pocket, he keeps his eyes down the field, hoping a receiver finds a way to get open.
When he does throw the ball, he usually makes a good, safe decision on who to throw to. Unfortunately, he lacks professional-level arm strength and accuracy to get the ball to his receivers. Several times his receivers had to come back to the ball, or make acrobatic attempts at catches despite being open. He especially struggles with throws outside of the numbers, but does a good job when the receiver is in front of him.
His arm strength is probably his biggest weakness. He has some good deep balls on film, but oftentimes he forces his receiver to stop, find the ball and come back to make the catch instead of hitting them in stride.
On short and intermediate throws, he has good touch and varying speed based on what the coverage calls for. When his first read is open, he’ll take it quickly and cash in the easy yards. When the play breaks down, he has enough mobility to extend the play and even gain yards as a scrambler.
Pratt needs to mature and grow with an NFL offense to have any success.
The Measurables
Image courtesy of NFL.com.
Pratt measures in a bit smaller than the ideal quarterback prospect. He’s 6’ 2.5” and 217 lbs with a hand measurement under 10 inches. His arms are also some of the shortest in this class at just 30.25 inches. We’ve seen NFL quarterbacks have success at his size, but it is certainly another ding against his resume. The most successful backup quarterbacks in the pros tend to be a more prototypical size.
At the Combine, Pratt was solid throwing the ball. We saw him throw a go route pretty well, though he did have to wind up a bit and the receiver did need to slow down a step to get to the ball. The ball placement on the fade route looked really clean.
Here are Michael Pratt’s on field throwing drills
While he didn’t run the 40 yard dash at the combine, he was lights out throwing the ball📈 pic.twitter.com/f41JwnQ0Xz
— Tulane Football News🌊🧃🏈 (@TULNrecruiting) March 3, 2024
The Value
Image courtesy of NFL Mock Draft Database.
Pratt seems likely to be a day-three pick in the NFL Draft, but should hear his name pretty early on Saturday. 2023 was the year of the backup quarterback in the NFL. There were dozens of QB injuries around the leagues, and the teams that survived them the best were the teams that prioritized a high-end backup at the position. Even the NFC Champion 49ers were led to the Super Bowl by a former backup quarterback, Brock Purdy.
This quarterback class is loaded with talent at the top, but there’s a steep dropoff after the top five. Backup quarterback will be a priority for several teams in the draft, and it’s up to them to decide which ones are the best fit for their teams. The Jets stand out as a team that desperately needs a backup quarterback for the long term, and Pratt could be a good fit there behind Aaron Rodgers.
In dynasty, Pratt will not have any value until an injury occurs for the quarterback in front of him. In the deepest two-quarterback leagues, Pratt could be worth a speculative pickup as a quarterback handcuff, but in most leagues, he will go undrafted in rookie drafts and will be on waiver wires to start the season. His upside is a career backup who earns some starts as an injury replacement here or there. The DLF Rankings have him as the number eight rookie quarterback. Only one ranker included eight rookie QBs in their rankings, and Pratt is their eighth.
Dynasty Outlook
I got a chance to meet Pratt at the NFL Combine in February and I was really hoping to like his tape more than I did. Unfortunately, I saw a quarterback with limited ability who will struggle to translate to the NFL. There is a path to him having a successful NFL career, but it’s very unlikely he’ll ever be in fantasy football starting lineups.
I personally like to stash my quarterback handcuffs in superflex leagues, especially when there are deep benches. So, depending on where he ends up and if he can win the backup job, he could be worth stashing away in August just in case disaster strikes for his starter, but I think it’s more likely he ends up on the practice squad to start his NFL career.
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