Julian Sayin is Safe... But is That Enough?
Julian Sayin's first year as a starter highlighted the full spectrum of his ability, but is his ceiling high enough for lofty first-round expectations?
22/35. 287 yards. 1 touchdown. 2 interceptions. 5 sacks.
Julian Sayin’s first season ended on the lowest note. Ohio State’s championship aspirations were wiped away with elite defensive line play and lackluster play from their Heisman-hopeful quarterback against an eventual national title contender. Of course, the Heisman was already a done deal after the Big Ten Championship, but Sayin’s play through the regular season put him squarely in the conversation. Debate about Sayin’s measurables, tools, and lack of reps will persist throughout the 2026 college football season. He’s considered short for the quarterback position, standing at 6-foot-one, and he’s not very stocky, sitting at just north of 200 pounds. He doesn’t win with elite arm strength, which has led to some overblown concern about his ability to drive the ball into windows. He has just one full season of starting experience, with a poor performance at the front of everyone’s minds.
Despite this, Sayin should be viewed as one of the best prospects in the 2027 NFL Draft.
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How He Wins
Sayin breads his butter with supreme accuracy, advanced pocket maneuverability, and outstanding footwork, especially when he’s not dealing with pressure. He also shows off high football IQ, reading the field well and ticking through progressions faster than most first-year starters.
Footwork
I broke down Arch Manning’s film a few weeks ago, highlighting how his upper body is rarely tied with his legs.
Sayin isn’t perfect in this area, but he’s as mechanically sound as anyone in the class. He’s especially good when he’s moving from right to left in his progression, tying his feet directly to his eyes and where he’s going with the football. Here’s a great example.
This is also a master class in pre-snap recognition, leading to quick processing. Texas drops into a three-high look and packs the middle with curl zones. Ohio State doesn’t run a Cover 3 beater here, but Sayin recognizes there’s no flat defender. He quickly ticks through his progressions, landing on the dump-off to his running back in the flat for a positive gain. This is from his season-opener against Texas, a game in which he never got completely comfortable, but still out-dueled Manning.
Here’s another example of excellent footwork, leading to elite ball placement deep downfield. After Sayin rolls out across his body, he stays light on his toes, plants, and gets his hips fully rotated back to the middle of the field before throwing a dart up the seam. This is a perfectly executed play, made possible by intentional footwork.
This last example is a case of outstanding pocket movement that opens a window. Sayin makes this look easy, but shuffling to his left, keeping his hips aligned with his target, and firing an accurate ball are challenging. On this flood concept, he knew he only had one side of the field to read, and moving the pocket to the left to gain access to better throwing angles made this play possible. Some quarterbacks drift backward on plays like this, but Sayin’s intuitive decision to shift left shows off some of his excellent pocket awareness.
Accuracy
Sayin’s arm strength is slightly above-average, but nothing to write home about. That makes ball placement even more important. He was up to the challenge in 2025.
We’ll discuss Sayin’s accuracy from the pocket in a bit, but his ability to create outside of structure is something that has largely been overlooked by early evaluators. He rarely scrambles, and he doesn’t have a huge arm like many on-the-run gunslingers, but he rarely loses accuracy when rolling to his right, and he’s extremely accurate when rolling to his left, too.
