Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener expects to be drafted anywhere from the third to the fifth round. At least, that is what he is hearing with the 2023 NFL Draft just two weeks away.
Measuring about six feet tall at the NFL Scouting Combine, Haener lacks the physical traits that would shoot him up many team's draft boards. He's also heard the comparisons to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who stands just over six feet tall.
"I definitely think [height is] less of a deal," Haener said Wednesday after the 49ers' local pro day, an event in which he participated. "But I definitely think that there's evidence that people can do it, so why not me? I just kind of think of it like that, and I'm just another guy that's coming through the pipeline and feel like my traits can stack up with all of them.
"I'm not scared to compete. I'm not scared to go into a room that has people who played, and I just want to go in and learn, keep my mouth shut, be as consistent as possible, and show an organization what I can do for them."
As for the comparisons to Purdy, Haener admires what the 49ers quarterback has done since San Francisco made him the last overall selection in the 2022 draft. However, Haener is growing tired of those comparisons.
Haener has been labeled as having "below-average size and arm talent, but above-average football IQ." Similar things were said last year about Purdy.
QB Jake Haener of Fresno State appreciates what Brock Purdy has done, and while the comparisons are inevitably, he sees a lot of differences in how they go about playing the position.pic.twitter.com/H2sbjAP54V
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) April 12, 2023
"I just feel like Brock's different. I'm different," Haener noted, trying to distance himself from the comparison. "There's different things that we do in our games. And shoot, I'm even older than Brock. Brock did a lot of really good things [last] year, and super happy for him and his family. But at the same time, I'm on my own mission, on my own train, and trying to do something for a franchise that believes in me."
Haener revealed that he scored in the 97th percentile on the S2 Cognition test. You might remember that Purdy landed somewhere in the mid-90s on the same test, which is considered "elite."
"That was one thing I was pretty psyched about," Haener said of his test results. "… I just know that 97 is pretty high up there."
The former Fresno State quarterback is obviously proud of the high mark and appreciates any opportunity to show NFL teams how quickly he can process things.
"I just feel like some of the intangibles, at times, are hard to see when you're going through this process and seeing how things can translate," Haener shared. "I feel like there's a lot of things we did at Fresno State that are above some of the things that people do in college.
"I was really involved in protections, really involved with getting in and out of concepts, bad looks, using cadences to try to get defenses to jump offsides. And I feel like we did a lot of things that translate to this level.
"So I feel comfortable with where my development's gone. Obviously, still a lot of work to do, but I definitely think there's some things that translate [to the NFL]."
Haener completed 252-of-350 attempts (72.0 percent) for 2,896 yards with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions as a senior in 2022 despite missing four games with an ankle injury. He earned first-team All-Mountain West accolades. The quarterback was also named the MVP of the Senior Bowl after completing 12-of-19 attempts for 139 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.
