FalcFans Forums

Pros: McCoy is an accurate passer, has decent size and pretty good athletic ability. He is a threat to scramble and pick up yardage, and has the ability to extend plays with his feet. He seems to be a pretty good leader, and also seems to be a fairly intelligent player. He was very productive at Texas and has tons of starting experience even if it is in their spread offense. Has decent footwork when given time in the pocket as well as a pretty good delivery with no serious issues.

Cons: He operates almost exclusively out of the shotgun, has average arm strength and his intermediate and deep passes lack zip on them and will hang in the air too long, especially on outs or other timing passes thrown to the sideline. He rarely goes through more than one or two progressions on a given play, and when forced to do so under pressure he tends to make poor decisions and force throws into coverage. He does not seem to do well in the face of pressure, and needs to learn to throw the ball away more (though he has flashed the ability to do so). Will throw off his back foot in the face of pressure, meaning tons of air under the ball. He has gotten away with this on the college level, but NFL DB’s will eat him alive if he tries that.

Overall: McCoy strikes me as a very good college player but an average at best NFL player. He is not an elite talent in any sense of the word, he has simply taken advantage of all of his talent at the college level. However he does not have the arm strength to make some NFL throws that will limit an offense with him at the helm. When faced with pressure regularly he struggled mightily with decision making and forced a lot of throws into coverage. He has good accuracy, but he will have to learn to read defenses from under center, take snaps from under center and execute 3, 5 and 7 step drops from under center. All while he works with less than impressive tools from a physical standpoint. To me his ceiling is a spot-starter and his floor is not having the ability to make it on a NFL team. I think he will be a career backup most likely, and as a result could end up seeing some time as a spot-starter should an injury occur. I really do not see him overcoming his issues with arm strength and poor decision making in the face of pressure to become a NFL starter however.

Projection: 4th round: He may go higher because of his reputation, but I think it would be a mistake to take him before the 4th round range. He looks to me like a career back-up who could develop into a quality one as well as a potential spot starter. For that reason it would make little sense to spend a pick any higher than this on him. I personally wouldn’t pick him until the 5th, but it’s hard to imagine him sliding all the way through 4 rounds entirely.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

ARM STRENGTH: 2.5
ACCURACY: 3.5
MOBILITY: 3.0
DECISION MAKING: 2.5
MECHANICS: 3.0
POCKET AWARENESS: 3.0
INTANGIBLES: 3.0

COLT McCOY
6-1/216
Texas Senior
40: 4.79

PROS: Has nice arm strength that shows good zip on the short and intermediate throws. Has a quick release and has good touch and accuracy and does very well on the short, quick timing-based throws. Can build a rapport with his receivers and can throw the ball to where only his guy can make the play. Has good mobility and shows ability to slide and move around the pocket to find throwing lanes. Has the athletic ability to extend plays outside the pocket and throws well on the run. Is a tough runner in space and can be somewhat dangerous in the open field because he can make plays with his legs. Smart, makes good decisions and shows ability to go through his progressions. Is poised under pressure, responds well to adversity, and doesn't get tight when he's asked to play from behind.
CONS: Doesn't have great size or arm strength and in the past has had some trouble with comfortably throwing from the pocket. Underthrows deep balls and puts too much air under them at other times, making him somewhat limited in the vertical passing game. Often goes to his first read and sometimes will stare down receivers. Sometimes forces throws into coverage. Doesn't always make great decisions, throwing across his body at times when moving outside the pocket. DOesn't always keep his eyes downfield when he's moving outside the pocket. Throws off his back foot at times, and has a three-quarters release that may need to be tweaked some. Takes very few snaps from under center.
OVERVIEW: McCoy is a very good quarterback in the spread offense. He can make the quick read and throw, and is accurate. And when the pass breaks down he has the mobility to buy time or to pick up the necessary yardage with his legs. For the past two seasons he has essentially been the Longhorn's running attack. Set NCAA record with 76.7% completions as a junior. A four-year starter with plenty of experience, with 53 career starts. Has a career record of 45-7 as a starter if you discount the BCS Championship this past year where he was hurt on the second series with a shoulder injury. Production dropped off a bit as a senior, as his completion % fell to 70.6%, and he had a 27:12 TD-INT ratio instead of the 34:8 he had as a junior. Also his yards per carry fell from 4.1 to 2.7 as a senior, and he had 8 less rushing touchdowns. For his career, completed a ridiculous 70.3% of his passes, and had a 112:45 TD-INT ratio.
NFL FORECAST: McCoy isn't going to excel in every offense, but he has all the tools that down the road he can develop into a solid franchise-caliber passer. Comparisons to Drew Brees make a lot of sense in my eyes, as Brees didn't have a great arm, was mobile, and was highly productive in a spread attack in college. And like Brees, I think McCoy may undergo some growing pains early in his career. He's not great as a dropback passer, so teams will help him a lot if they increase the amount of shotgun they use (last year about two-thirds of Brees passes came from the shotgun). His accuracy isn't amazing, but it's good and I think he'll work hard to improve it, as Brees has over the years making him the league's most accurate passer. He has built a strong rapport with his friend and teammate Jordan Shipley at Texas, but I think McCoy will do the same right off the bat in his first NFL camp. HIs mobility allows him to buy time and can make plays. HIs lack of size is proabbly the one thing that hurts him, and it's why I think his release may need to be tweaked. It's quick, but with smaller frame, it means passes can get batted down fairly easily than it he was 6-4 or so. I think McCoy is capable enough to handle being a starter right off the bat in the pros. I think there will be some transition time to a pro-style offense, but I think he has the intangibles and mental toughness to handle the rigors of being a rookie starter. He's not a vertical passer, but I should stress yet. Brees and Tom Brady were the same when they came into the league, and put in the work to improve in those areas, and I think McCoy will too. I don't think he'll ever get to a point where he's an air it out kind of guy, but I think four or five years down the road, throwing downfield won't be a limitation for the team/offense he's in. My expectation is that there may be several ups and downs during his first year or two, but by his third season he will start to hit his stride as a starter. It's hard to predict that he'll eventually develop into the elite passer that Brees is today, but he does have the necessary amount of intangibles to believe it's a good possibility, if not probability.
ATL FORECAST: McCoy would have the time to develop in Atlanta behind Matt Ryan, and certainly could learn a lot from him. But he would be a wasted talent here in Atlanta. He could fit in the Falcons offense, but doesn't have quite the arm strength/vertical passing capability that the Falcons probably want in a backup to Ryan to fit in this offense.
VALUE: McCoy is worth a first round pick for a team that runs a more West Coast-oriented scheme that is looking to take advantage of his ability on the short/intermediate passing game and mobility. His long-term potential to be a top-level starter is enough to merit a Top 20 pick for such a team.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

ARM STRENGTH: 3.0
ACCURACY: 4.0
MOBILITY: 4.0
DECISION MAKING: 3.5
MECHANICS: 3.0
POCKET AWARENESS: 3.0
INTANGIBLES: 4.0

We sure don't see eye to eye on McCoy Pudge, lol. It will be interesting to come back and look at some of these reports to see how accurate we were.

I like McCoy. There are flaws to his game, but in having watched him develop over the past few seasons, I do think he has the intangibles, drive, and work ethic to overcome those flaws.

His accuracy is his greatest asset. And I saw improvements in his decision making and pocket awareness this past year to make me think those areas aren't going to hinder him significantly on the next level.

I like his intangibles, and while I don't think his first year or two will be all peachy because of some of his limitations, I think by his third and fourth years he's going to start to make significant improvements, just like Drew Brees did.

I see what you're saying, I guess I don't think as highly of his intangibles as you do. I could see him improving with a couple of years on the bench, but I don't see him ever being more than a solid starter if that. Drew Brees might not have a rocket arm, but I think it is significantly stronger than McCoy's.

I just don't see McCoy's ceiling being higher than a potentially solid starter, so it will be interesting to come back to this in a few years to see how he panned out.

Safe to say that I have missed on McCoy thus far... I have been very impressed with him thus far. I have to say I underestimated his intangibles. If I had to go back and regrade based off of what I've seen so far I would give him a 4.0 like you did Pudge.

Well, I think what a guy does in Years 3 and 4 are more indicative of intangibles than what he does in Year 1. So while I'm optimistic about being right about McCoy based off fairly good play this year, there's still time for you to be right and me to be wrong.