Rick Newheisel is a former quarterback and NFL coach, and I assume you know who Greg Cosell is. Listening to them on NFL Radio from the Combine recently, I've picked up some authentic expert stuff on these draftable quarterbacks.
I learned something too: Per Greg, Mitch Trubisky is a left-leg knee-locker. Or maybe it was a stiff left-leg passer.
Ron Jaworsky first brought this out several years ago, perhaps in describing Alex Smith, who also has this trait.
This undermines a quarterback's ability to drive the ball downfield. It's not hard to understand:
When the front leg bends foreward, all the power in the legs and hips drive the football forward to the release point. If the left knee doesn't bend, the right leg, well...kind of just comes off the ground, right? (Well ok unless your right leg is a lot longer than your left leg, ok?)
What Cosell is saying is that the stiff left leg is limiting what could be an elite arm. Cosell also ignores completion percentages, and goes strictly off films. He thinks Trubisky isn't as accurate as everybody else says he is.
A completed pass does show reasonable accuracy, but Cosell is talking about placement.
Opinions are divided about how fixable this stiff left leg flaw is. Greg Cosell thinks it can be fixed. He says you can't mess with the upper body, because that's just wired in as the kid grows up. (In other words, you don't try to make a Bernie Kosar throw overhand).
But the lower body is different.
To me, this seems kind of obvious (Greg is right).
The amatuer Cassius Clay stepped into his jabs. Angelo Dundee said it telegraphed the punch, and made him bend his knee to move his shoulder closer to the opponent instead. This was very hard for the young boxer to learn, but he learned it.
This is similar. And this is another reason why any of these quarterbacks (except Pitt's Nathan Peterman) should not start as rookies. Trubisky would revert under pressure, and undo all those bent left knee practice reps.
This encourages me about Trubisky more than it discourages me, since Greg thinks that if not for that locked left knee, Trubisky probably has elite arm talent (and he says more accurate, too).
Nor does this flaw show up except when his feet are planted. It doesn't have anything to do with his ability to throw on the run, or even falling backwards.
But I'm liking Deshaun Watson more, too. HE measured in at almost 6'3", 220 lbs! He had 9 3/4" hands, too! So much for cold, wet, windy weather maybe messing him up, Tony! Tony? Tony?
Anyway my lesson here came from Newheisel, who asked Watson about the intermittent issues with his deep ball.
Watson said he had a tendancy to lean his upper body forward into deeper passes, rather than maintaining his platform and rotating. This "flattened" those passes out, instead of putting the air under them the way he intended to.
The passes still usually went where they were supposed to, but some got deflected, and others made receivers adjust to the ball.
Newheisel came away thrilled by this answer. Rick says "this kid is a self-corrector"!
Per Rick, that's rare. Coaches, even in the NFL, don't always catch this stuff. Watson watches his own tapes, and figures out why this or that went wrong. Then he fixes it. Immediately.
In his second consecutive National Championship Game vs Nick Saban and his historic Alabama defense, he didn't need to see any films. I saw this!
Early, Bama had his number. He looked terrible. He was off on his deep passes. But then he was great, all of a sudden!
It wasn't some rah-rah speech. It was all Deshaun Watson starting out bad, then becoming unstoppable. I have no doubt that he had a "V-8" moment, slapped himself in the forehead, and said "Damn! I'm getting off-balance again!" and just stopped doing it!
Greg Cosell likes him, too, but describes him as a "distributor" any team can win with if he has talented players around him. He predicted that Watson would be a long-time starter in the NFL A F T E R his rookie season, during which he SHOULD NOT START.
DeShone Kizer is very mature, and a brain. Consensus gives him the most upside of any quarterback in this draft. But of course Cosell itemized several flaws, the most concerning of which is his own tendancy to hold the ball too long, and inconsistent accuracy.
In his own defense, Kizer pointed out that when you're 6'4", you need to work harder on your footwork. I liked that. Some people seem incapable of comprehending why Terrelle Pryor isn't running precise patterns yet. Well?
I got very little on Mahones, the stealth quarterback.
Everybody agrees that Nathan Peterman will start in the NFL and will be at least pretty good. He ran a pro style offense at Pitt, beat Clemson, and was the best quarterback at the Senior Bowl.
He has been compared to Kirk Cousins. He is bigger than expected at 6'2.5", 225. He's a legit pocket passer, and is the only one of these guys who could start during his rookie season.
Hue Jackson didn't coach him at the Senior Bowl, but no doubt had plenty of chances to talk to him, and saw him tear up his defense in person. Watch out for this guy!
Now, people have talked about trading back up from twelve to nab a Watson or Mahones if Trubisky isn't the guy first overall. It's universally regarded as unthinkable that the Browns would "give up" Myles Garrett.
But for the umpteenth time, I repeat: Edge-rusher is NOT an urgently desperate need for this defense!!! A franchise quarterback IS!!!
Verily, the Browns and about 30 other teams have nobody like Garrett, but consider what many of YOU have been repeating: "The Browns need help everywhere".
Well that's bullshit, of course, but they could certainly use upgrades everywhere (just like around twenty other teams).
Notably an eventual replacement for Joe Thomas, a hybrid safetybacker for Gregg Wiliams, a super-safety, at least one big cornerback, a penetrating defensive tackle, a REAL tight end, and yeah a center (to make sure).
This draft is deeeep at running back and (wing) tight end, and at cornerback, safety, edge rusher, and defensive tackle. The quarterbacks don't suck, but only one is ready for primetime, and the rest are all risky. Left tackles? VERY shallow. Center? I don't care how Pocic tested (nice right tackle candidate) there is only ONE strong candidate.
Well, the Browns now have five top 65 picks.
Well, if Hue determines that Mahones, Watson, or Kizer can be a franchise quarterback (after a season on the bench), then trading DOWN might be the way to go!
No wait...but...I know but...ahh, shaddap!
REBUILDING. Through the draft. This means EVERYTHING, ok? I want to steal Zietler from Cinci and nab a stud young fa cornerback and stuff, but this whole new team must be 75-80% draft picks for sustained success. That's not just for the youth production line, but for budgetary reasons.
Many of you think only about the 2017 season. Some of you think a couple years ahead; how can we win the 2019 Superbowl?
If you were in charge, the Browns might actually win that game...then collapse as they lose all the veteran talent they can't afford to keep anymore, and don't have talented kids to replace them.
Look, if the Browns want Trubisky or nail down Garropolo, nevermind. If Hue likes Peterson, Wells, Dobbs, or whoever, nevermind. But if they want Watson, Kizer, or Mahones, they should consider trading DOWN to get him cheaper.
Somebody else will want Trubisky or Garrett bad.
By sacrificing this one player, they could make sure to get their quarterback, have at least five top 65 picks remaining, and at least one more high draft pick in 2018.
With the five remaining high 2017 picks, they would have a good shot at a cornerback, safety, 3-tech defensive tackle, center, and tight end; ALL of them, in this one draft.
And I'm telling you again: To give up on Cam Johnson, the injured Nate Orchard, Ogbah, Nassib, and Holmes after one season is spastic. They're not as good as Myles Garrett, but they also weren't nearly as good as they will be--even this coming season.
Terry Pluto thinks they'll lose Terrelle Pryor to free agency. I truly hope he's wrong, but can't argue with him. Pryor is under no obligation to even give the Browns a chance to match his offers. Signing Jimmy Garopollo would help.
A lot of people would spazz out again, as Corey Coleman, let alone the rest of the rookies, are all busts, right? Spazztown USA! Grossi pronouncing last season's draft DOA?
In the real world, the rookie who surprised me late in his rookie season was the rookie Ricardo Lewis. I guess he was a bust because he had to play behind Coleman and Pryor. But he showed some good stuff late in his first rookie NFL rookie season. And was a rookie.
But there is another card in this deck: Josh Gordon. He will obviously be re-instated, and not to give him another shot would be illogical and irrational. Zero risk, astronomical upside: No-brainer. The rest is hysteria.
Ideally, they do retain Terrelle Pryor, and retain Gordon too. Whoa, Nellie Jimmy G would be breaking the door down to sign up for that!
No comments:
Post a Comment