cunningham wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2024 11:59 am
I trust your evaluation over DH's hatred of JJ McCarthy. I liked Daniels and I am not totally sold on Caleb Williams. I guess for the Bears maybe 3rd try will be a charm this time after their history of first round busts.
I totally agree on needing to maybe go to the hockey model for football. Or the Baseball model. Today's NFL is difficult for developing quarterbacks - especially when you add in all the union rules. The transfer portal sure has changed things, but there has to be a better way to develop quarterbacks. The other issue is that with film study playing quarterback in today's NFL has way more complexity than it did just a few years ago. Bradford was an example of teams finding his weaknesses on film and then just shutting him down to where he became totally ineffective. TJack was the same way while here. Hell, Dobbs went from the Passtraunat to just the "not..."
We are kind of giving up on Hall and Darnold, but either one could be our Purdy. We might trade the farm like SF did for Lance and then find that Darnold with his more recent development is better. Although, Hall looked totally inept when he got the start last season. Mullens is expendable.
Fans today want a guy to come out of college and be Tom Brady. If he isn't then the team trades him for scraps in a short time. I think teams give up on quarterbacks way too quickly and don't do enough to support them. Hopefully we are the outlier..
You can go back and look at my evaluations of players, especially the quarterbacks. DH brings up Kurt Warner. I'll put my track record on evaluating quarterbacks against Kurt Warner's 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
Here is my evaluation of Zack WIlson well before the draft:
I have watched several games of Zach Wilson now and I do not think he is a first round quarterback.
He has all kinds of intangibles. Solid athlete with good movement in the pocket. He can get the ball off from all kinds of weird throwing angles and arm slots.
He has a high completion this season, 74.6% but BYU plays a much less competitive schedule than a quartrback in the SEC or Big Ten does. He does have a lot of drops (more on that in a second) but a lot of his completions are bubble screens and short flips. His 2020 schedule so far is Navy, Army (ppd), Louisiana Tech, Troy St, UT-San Antonio, Houston, Texas St, and Western Kentucky. This coming Saturday they play their only ranked team in Boise St.
His major problem is arm strength and poor footwork. A lot of passes he completes are not well thrown balls. There are a lot of back shoulder and receiver coming back on underthrown balls. His ball flutters and while I get touch, he takes so much off of the ball sometimes it takes too long for it to get to his receiver who loses concentration on the ball because he knows the defender is closing. He really struggles throwing the ball into tight windows that he would need to do at the next level and he really struggles with accuracy throwing to his right.
You could work on his footwork to help his velocity, but so much of his game is razzle dazzle improvisation I don't think it would matter. He is loose with the ball, carrying it too low in his drop or roll out which helps him get the ball out side-armed or the other improvised throws he makes but hurts him in his delivery when he needs to make standard throws, leading to innaccuracy, short throws, high throws, and a much longer release than necessary. Because his receivers are much better than the defensive backs they play against (this Dax Milne guy reminds me of Adam Thielen) he completes more of these bad passes than he deserves.
I am not certain of the 6-3, 210 he is listed at either.
Right now, I see a college RPO flinger who has a high football IQ, good athleticism, solid leadership, elite prep effort and the type of playmaker that can make something out of nothing at the college level. But I also see a quarterback who plays against lesser competition who cannot adequately make the throws needed for a quarterback in the NFL. I think the expectations for Wilson should be a backup/fringe starter in the NFL. Give him time with the NFL playbook and he might be one of those backups that can start games, not embarrass the team and has enough heart and moxy that he might even win games here and there with his sheer will power. Case Keenum. Matt Moore. Ryan Fitzpatrick. That type of level of QB which has value in the NFL, but not the kind of expected value I would want in investing a first round draft pick.
It might be the case that a team takes the shot on those intangibles. And maybe they have the right offensive scheme that fits his style and he becomes successful in the NFL. That is possible. But I dont think it is enough to draft him high in the upcoming draft.
Most people can probably write that Wilson evaluation up TODAY after watching him on Sundays for the past few years, but not in November before the April draft. Warner loved Wilson. And Mac Jones.
I've missed players. I thought Kellen Mond would be a much better NFL player, BUT I THOUGHT HE WAS A 3rd ROUND PICK. Everyone sees things in prospects that sometimes makes you like them.
While the Vikings have to be trying hard to trade up, and they might even reach for a quarterback if they can't, there are many scenarios in which Darnold, Hall, and Mullens are the quarterbacks we start preseason with. I will hope for the best for the development of all three.