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Pros: Good size, very intelligent and great intangibles as far as that, does not seem to be a good leader to me (which disappointed me), has slightly above-average arm strength, impressive accuracy and touch on his throws, reads defenses well and despite spending lots of time in shotgun he shows pretty good footwork on his drops. Anticipates his throws well, which to a degree makes up for his lack of impressive arm strength. Showed some toughness and willingness to take a hit in order to deliver a throw. Does not stare receivers down as much as other players who play in spread offenses (he plays in more of a pro-style that uses lots of shotgun), spreads the ball around well, goes through his progressions fairly quickly.
Cons: Limited arm strength, some of his passes float a bit when he throws deep outs or other throws that require more natural arm strength. Very limited mobility, and is a bit of a statue in the pocket. He is ok at stepping up/buying more time in the pocket, but because of his limited mobility he can't buy much time by scrambling outside and regularly gets chased down from behind. His offense employed a lot of short, quick passes. I imagine this was a combination of his offensive line having trouble with pass blocking for longer, deeper routes and his impressive zip on throws 10 yards and under. However on longer throws some of his throws lack zip and occasionally the ball doesn't come out of his hand clean, and he does not throw especially well on the run. He doesn't seem to have a very good feel for the pocket either. At times he forced passes into coverage, but I believe that if he ever becomes a NFL starter he will not make as many poor decisions because he threw the ball an awful lot at WMU. Partially because it was a pass-heavy offense and he often had to throw to keep his team in games or to try to catch up as a result of a pretty porous defense. He doesn't always react to blitzes well and will force passes downfield in the face of pressure occasionally.
Overall: I like him as a mid-late round QB prospect, and should get an opportunity as a NFL backup. He has the intelligence to pick up any playbook, but I am not sure I ever see him developing into an effective starter. He looks to be a career backup/spot starter to me, which hurts me to say because I was very optimistic about his NFL future at the beginning of the season. But the more I watched him the more I realized his combination of limited arm strength, mobility and his lack of impressive leadership capability consequently limited his potential as a NFL QB. He could have a long career as an effective backup and spot starter because of his intelligence and I imagine he will be able to manage a game as a NFL QB. Give him an effective running game, some players to spread the ball around to and some pass protection and he could win games. But he won't make the guys around him better and won't ever be a franchise QB.
Projection: 5th/6th round. I wish I could say he would go earlier, but he will land somewhere as a #3 and eventually work his way up to a #2 after a few years in the league in my opinion. That may be as high on a depth chart as he ever gets without help from injuries though.
SKILLS 1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite
ARM STRENGTH: 2.5 ACCURACY: 3.5 MOBILITY: 1.5 DECISION MAKING: 3.5 MECHANICS: 2.5 POCKET AWARENESS: 2.5 INTANGIBLES: 2.0
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Last edited by Mr. Offseason on Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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