{"id":161333,"date":"2025-06-27T01:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T01:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/161333\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T01:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T01:02:11","slug":"espn-insider-explains-why-john-mateer-could-really-climb-up-nfl-draft-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/161333\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN insider explains why John Mateer could ‘really climb up’ NFL Draft boards"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Oklahoma<\/a> navigated the transfer portal<\/a> this past cycle, the program made a splash at quarterback. Former Washington State<\/a> QB John Mateer<\/a> committed to the Sooners and will continue working with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle<\/a> as a result.<\/p>\n

Mateer will also have the opportunity to further improve his NFL Draft<\/a> stock. ESPN\u2019s Jordan Reid thinks he\u2019ll have an opportunity to do just that.<\/p>\n

Reid predicted Mateer could be a big riser ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. He was one of the top players to enter the portal this offseason and is coming off a huge year at Wazzu, but what stood out was how impressive he was as a runner. As a result, the excitement is building.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really caught my eye, honestly,\u201d Reid said of Mateer on The Paul Finebaum Show. \u201cComing over from Washington State where he threw for a ton of yards, he was really productive in that system there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think an underrated factor about him is just the mobility. He actually rushed for over 800 yards last year, which was a stat that really caught my eye when I was doing my research on him and it shows up in the tape, as well. But the competitiveness that he plays with, I think he\u2019s by far one of the more competitive players in the country this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mateer arrived at Oklahoma as the No. 3 overall player to enter the transfer portal, according to the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings<\/a>. That came after a monster year at Washington State as he threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns while adding 826 rushing yards and 15 scores on the ground.<\/p>\n

As a result, his draft stock is sure to be on the rise, and an early statement opportunity awaits in Week 2 against Michigan<\/a>. While Oklahoma brought in some other big portal targets \u2013 led by running back Jaydn Ott<\/a> \u2013 John Mateer is sure to be the focal point of the offense and hope to be a top name next spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big year for Oklahoma, in my opinion,\u201d Reid said. \u201cI think this is a make-or-break season for Brent Venables<\/a>. They have to figure it out. They\u2019ve done a good job in the portal bringing in some guys, and Mateer is really the headliner along with running back Jaydn Ott, who\u2019s going to receive a lot of notoriety coming into the season, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to see what Mateer does this year, but I think he has a chance to really climb up boards, especially if he plays well in that Week 2 matchup against Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Oklahoma navigated the transfer portal this past cycle, the program made a splash at quarterback. Former Washington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,15521,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-161333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-john-mateer-22-little-elm","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114752635017650546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}