Former Syracuse football quarterback Eric Dungey wasn’t drafted and hasn’t been signed. Here’s why NFL teams will regret that decision.
Eric Dungey has been doubted all of his life. This past weekend was no different. The 2019 NFL Draft was in Nashville and was spread across three days, through seven rounds, and the immediate dash of priority free agent signing post-draft.
Now that the dust has settled, NFL teams have made a tragic mistake by not drafting or signing Dungey yet.
Dungey was a good college quarterback, here are some highlights from Cuse.com:
- Played four years for the Orange from 2015-19, starting 38 games over that stretch.
- As a passer, was 786-of-1,279 (.615) for 9,340 yards with 58 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.
- As a runner, racked up 1,993 yards and 35 touchdowns on 543 carries (3.7 avg.).
- Finished his career as one of five ACC quarterbacks all-time with 11,000+ yards of total offense and 90+ touchdowns responsible for, joining Philip Rivers (NC State), Lamar Jackson (Louisville), Tajh Boyd (Clemson) and Deshaun Watson (Clemson).
But NFL teams don’t just draft you because of your past, they draft you for what you can do. Beyond the football field, Dungey is a leader of men. Any NFL team would be lucky to have one Dungey on the team and many NFL teams would want 53 of him.
Too many NFL teams sign or draft guys that have character issues. You have to wonder where those players are when they aren’t at the facilities. There’s no such worry with a guy like Dungey. He always says the right things, he’s a team-first guy, and even if you bring him in as the backup quarterback he’ll still work his butt off.
According to Gil Brandt of NFL.com, Dungey was the eighth best available quarterback post-NFL Draft. Six of the top-10 have already signed with NFL teams. In other words, he’s the fourth best quarterback available per those rankings.
So why isn’t he signed?
We’ll mix some speculation, Dungey’s comments during the offseason, and what NFL teams are saying:
- NFL teams are concerned with Dungey’s durability and concussion history. Eric missed 11 games during his career due to a wide variety of injuries. He only started and finished every game in a season once and that was his senior season. If he can’t hold up in college, can he hold up against professional athletes?
- Would Dungey be open to a position change?
- When he was asked about this at the Syracuse Pro Day back in March, he was adamant that he was a quarterback. Look at some of the other contemporary examples: Tim Tebow was drafted as a quarterback and Terrelle Pryor was drafted as a quarterback before both switched positions and/or left the league.
- Eric wants an opportunity to be a professional quarterback. He has worked incredibly hard during this offseason to correct his mechanics both throwing the football and his footwork. Dungey said that “he’s been throwing it the wrong way his entire college career” at his Pro Day. Considering all the records he broke at Syracuse “throwing the ball the wrong way”, just imagine how much better he could’ve been and CAN be in the pros with these tools.
- So long story short, I’m not saying he WON’T facilitate a position change eventually, but right now he wants to have an opportunity to play quarterback before being forced to change positions and it’s hard to blame him.
A possible solution?
So if teams are worried if Dungey’s body can hold up and if Eric doesn’t want to make a position change, perhaps both ideologies can mesh?
Eric’s role can be on a pitch count as a “Taysom Hill” type player. For those who don’t know, Hill was an undrafted free agent out of BYU and became a utility player for the New Orleans Saints. He threw seven passes, had 37 rushing attempts, three receptions, 15 returns, and even played some defense last year for the Saints.
Dungey is obviously a capable thrower of the football and if his mechanics really improved he’ll be even more accurate than he was at Syracuse. His accuracy or lack thereof is a big point of contention among NFL teams.
Plus his strongest ability to run the football can be highlighted in goal-line packages and wildcat formations with the threat of the pass still prevalent. Taysom Hill has provided an additional way for Dungey to make an NFL team and we’ll see if it pays off.