He has a strong frame with the toughness to hang in the pocket to make the difficult throw and take a hit. He has good velocity on his passes with the arm strength to throw the out and deep pass. He has adequate footwork on his setup with the ability to deliver the ball with a quick release and nice timing. He displays both courage and strength against the pass rush and is able to get rid of the ball with defenders all over him. He is a good athlete with the running skills to avoid the pass rush and slide out of the pocket and make plays, though he is not a scrambler.

As a senior, he threw for 1,653 yards on 116 completions of 223 attempts for 11 TDs and four interceptions. He had several big games early in the season, namely Tennessee, Kentucky and Ball State, but lost time due to an upper respiratory condition and ankle sprain that cost him the Auburn and Vanderbilt games. In the Tennessee game this year, he led the Gators on a 91-yard drive that culminated with a game-winning TD pass to Jabar Gaffney with only 14 seconds remaining. For the game, he completed 20 of 43 passes for 290 yards and one TD.

During his down time, he was replaced by freshman Rex Grossman, who impressed head coach Steve Spurrier enough to keep him at the controls for the key late games, Florida State, the SEC Championship game vs. Auburn and the Sugar Bowl game vs. Miami. Spurrier later admitted that he was probably wrong for not bringing Jessie back as his starter.

Palmer has had his periods of erratic passing and needs some work on his delivery and follow through to improve his accuracy. He does show the ability to find the open receiver when the initial play breaks down. His career seemed to take off as a sophomore when he opened the season as a starter for the first six games until breaking a clavicle and missed the remainder of the season. He had the third best pass efficiency in the nation and first in the SEC that season. For the year, he threw for 1,246 yards with 14 TD passes and five picks on a 60 percent completion percentage. He had his first big game against Tennessee that year when he opened the game with 10 straight completions.

He needs to improve his reads and look off the safety better and then come back to his primary receiver. He has the makeup clubs look for in a leader at QB: poise, toughness and the work ethic necessary to get the most out of his abilities.

He played in two all-star games, the Gridiron Classic and Senior Bowl and was impressive in both games and practices. He shows good decision-making and the ability to improvise outside the pocket. He had a good effort during the Senior Bowl week, showing the strong arm and adequate mobility necessary to start in the NFL. At the combine, he ran a 4.76 with 35.5-inch vertical leap. He needs to get to a club where he can develop further in all aspects of play. He is an NFL starter after the necessary adjustment time, which may take a few seasons, and is capable of being one of the best steals in this draft class. Good athlete with the arm and intangibles to becoming one of the biggest surprises from this draft class.

Draft Projection: Third-Fourth Round