J.T. Barrett Staying at Ohio State is Definitely the Right Move

J.T. Barrett will be glad he decided to come back to Ohio State for his senior season.

J.T. Barrett said on his Instagram page today he is coming back for his final season at Ohio State, and that’s the best decision the junior quarterback could have made. When his passing totals plummeted during the 2016 season, his draft stock did as well.

That isn’t exactly a good situation if you are a quarterback foregoing his final season of college football. If you have a cannon for an arm, which J.T. doesn’t, you may be picked up as a “project” like Cardale Jones was in last year’s draft. But even Jones has been put on the shelf by Buffalo for most of the season and the Bills have had quarterback issues.

More than likely Barrett would have fallen way down in this year’s draft and that is usually a death knell for quarterbacks. There aren’t many Bart Starr or Tom Brady success stories when quarterbacks are taken in the late rounds.

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They usually end up at No. 3 on the depth chart, if that, and there is a player who was drafted higher and an overpaid free agent quarterback ahead of them. The organization doesn’t want to admit they were wrong bringing these two players in so it’s hard for the third string quarterback to climb the ladder.

Barrett’s other option was to transfer to another university where he could have played immediately because he has already graduated from Ohio State. Why try to learn a new offense in your final college season on a team with inferior talent?

Also, new coach Ryan Day has had pretty good success with a quarterback recently. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford had his best season in the NFL when Day was his coach.

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I think J. T. Barrett will be glad he decided to return to Ohio State. If his production in 2017 matches or exceeds that of his freshman season, he could be a high draft pick the following spring. Not only will it mean more money in his pocket initially, it will give him a better chance at succeeding in the NFL.