Redskins 2020 UDFA profile and film review: QB Steven Montez

Steven Montez

Steven was infatuated with soccer growing up and that became his first love. It wasn’t until his freshman year of high school where he began to grow comfortable with football. A three-sport athlete at Del Valle High School (TX), he also played on the basketball team, averaging 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game. Track was another sport he excelled in, as he participated in the 100-meter dash, high jump, and long jump events as a senior.

Choosing to go to Colorado for college, Montez had a redshirt freshman year, but as a sophomore in 2016, he played in 10 games, making three starts, and compiling 1,017 passing yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions.

He became the full-time starter in ‘17, playing in 12 games in each of his final three seasons. He was incredibly consistent from year to year, throwing for around 2,900 yards and 18 touchdowns per year, with about 9 interceptions. He capped off his four-year career with 10,555 yards of total offense and 9,569 yards passing.

During the final three seasons of his career, scouts were waiting for Steven Montez to make the big leap, but it failed to happen. His yearly numbers hovered around the same parameters all three seasons as a starter despite a coaching staff change during his final season.

While he possesses good measurables, Montez seems to not to have developed pocket presence or the ability to fluidly adapt to plays as they unfold. Combining these traits with a smooth, but slower type of delivery, Montez will face an uphill battle in the NFL.

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Measurements and Statistics

6’4”, 231 pounds

Frye’s filmroom

In this section, we’ll offer a look some film, with a brief look at style, skills and limitations written by Joshua Frye, who has volunteered to help me with this series.

As a Skins fan, Joshua says that he grew up with a team that wasn’t winning on the field, and that this lack of success made him look for something other than Superbowls to keep him connected. He focused on the draft. So, even from a young age, Josh watched college football, doing his best to evaluate players, and he read extensively — books written by coaches and personnel evaluators. Josh says that he would love to become a professional scout someday.

Let’s see what Joshua thinks about Steven Montez

Here, against Oregon, we see Steven’s speed as he is able to get away from the rush to extend the play. He then communicates with his target and makes a good throw on the sideline to put his team near the goal line.

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This is 3rd and 5 on the wrong side of the field. It’s still very early in the game.

There’s not really much of a rush here. The defense brings a stunt up front and Montez panics right away and leaves the pocket, rather than staying strong, which would’ve allowed the right side of the line to pick up that stunt.

After escaping the pocket, the quarterback at least keeps his eyes down the field, which is good. But instead of recognizing there’s no where to go with it — and making a decision to just throw it away and punt the ball — Montez instead throws across his body, which is an unnecessary risk this early. This kind of reminds me of the game losing play made by Favre against the Saints in the NFC title game following the ‘09 season.

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Here’s another example of Montez panicking and almost costing his team points, which was definitely a theme in this game. Once again, he just needs to take the sack or get rid of this ball.

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This is my final negative play of Montez, but he did make a lot of bad decisions with the ball in this game. He does, afterwards, go on to make some nice throws after this inexcusable interception.

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This is his next attempt after that interception. He has a nice pocket; he stays in it and delivers an accurate ball against some very tight coverage.

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This is Steve Montez’s best throw of the game. He fakes it to his back, stays strong in the pocket and delivers and excellent ball down field right in the numbers. You can’t ask for a much better of a throw than that. If he could consistently play like this, he’d be a much better prospect in the NFL.

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Here we see Montez do a nice job of climbing the pocket and picking up the 1st down. Again, this is the type of movement skill that would make a scout feel that there’s a chance for Montez to develop as a pro.

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How would he fit with the Redskins?

Steven Montez didn’t wow me, which isn’t surprising given his undrafted status. On film, his speed (4.65) from the combine was definitely on display. He has no shortage of confidence in his arm either — in fact he has too much confidence in that arm, which leads to some bad decisions. If he’s gonna make the Practice Squad (or anything at all) he’ll need to do a better job at being consistent with his technique and decision making. Personally I don’t think Montez makes the team, and I’d be surprised if he even makes the Practice Squad. He needs a lot of development to be ready to play in the NFL, and teams may not have the time or patience for this 23-year-old to develop.