Per PFF, Jim Miller, Pat Kirwan, and just about everybody else, Baker Mayfield performed the best, but not by a wide margin. The guy who came in a close second was Luke Falk.
Like Baker, Luke ran an air-raid offense at Washington State (a strike against both of them). Luke also suffered a concussion, broke his wrist, and missed his Bowl game due to injury.
He played most of his season with a brace on that broken wrist, and still completed 67% of his passes (last season it was 70%, and he's over 68% for his career).
I've read some scouting reports on this guy that say that in that offense he should have had an even higher completion percentage, and that he throws "mush-balls".
Well, this pseudo-scout needs to take that to Jim Miller, who was extremely impressed with his pinpoint accuracy and anticipation, and pointed out that his ball had the highest rpm (over 700 rpm) of all the Senior Bowl quarterbacks.
The basher also seemed oblivious to the broken wrist and brace. I prefer analysts who analyze, myself.
Falk's situational accuracy hardly varies; he's still completing 67% vs blitzes. Between 2016 and 2017, he increased his efficiency after play-fakes by over 25%.
He reportedly impressed his interviewers with his football IQ.
Bucky Brooks, Mike Mayock, et al compare Falk to Jarod Goff (although Mayock thinks Goff has a stronger arm). Other guys, like the one I mentioned, think he's a bumb.
Falk is 6'4"-plus, and thin at a little over 210 lbs right now, but who cares? As Jim Miller points out, he has room on his frame to add twenty pounds, and Falk says that once his wrist-brace comes off and he can work out again, he's going to get bigger.
The people worth listening to say that Baker Mayfield has a stronger arm, is more athletic, has a quicker release, and is better able to salvage broken plays. He's also accomplished what he's accomplished on a bigger stage.
And I repeat that Mayfield's almost double-digit yards-per-attempt number (while completing over 70%) is just amazing.
Still, Falk could be a massive sleeper.
The third best quarterback was my man Mike White, but Falk and Mayfield were a cut above him, according to my expert witnesses.
The Branch-Allenians are predictably oblivious to Josh Allen's predictably poor performance, and are telling you about his "muzzle velocity" (admittedly ungodly; over 72 mph) and perfect placement on a couple deep passes. In reality, Mayfield, Falk, White, and maybe a couple others were better every day and for the week.
As I've mentioned, big twelve (and air-raid) quaterbacks have a terrible history in the NFL, (notable exception Goff), and this is one of the reasons why Falk and Mayfield are getting dissed.
But my experts think that Baker Mayfield and Luke Falk could, like Goff, succeed.
Falk has the "NFL size", and a much stronger arm than his predecessors. Mayfield is short, but (according to Jim Miller) extremely polished, makes fast decisions, and in most respects is ready to play in the NFL.
Jim likes Falk's mechanics too, by the way.
Terry Pluto once again says "what he (meaning my humble self) said!", but as usual did more homework and provided evidence to support
Here, Terry agrees with me that Hue showed some real brains recruiting Todd Haley and handing him the keys. I have to repeat, for a guy who himself was considered a great offensive coordinator, this shows a lot of brain power.
Most of us humans have egos which interefere with clear thinking. We all want to think we're smarter than everybody else, are worried about what others think of us, want to impress everybody, etc.
It's difficult to step back from that, even for the majority of intelligence analysts (we all want to be right, too).
Hue Jackson telling Todd Haley (or anyone else) that he could install his own offense and then run it is really imressive to me, and exceedingly rare among NFL Head Coaches, who are usually insecure powermad control freaks.
Good for you, Hue! I'm a fan again!
Terry also sees the strangeness of the Josh Allen mania, and seems to like Mayfield better.
As Terry says, we have more to hear from Darnold and Rosen.
I like Darnold a lot, and as you know don't like Rosen at all.
Darnold does look and move a lot like more like Carson Wentz than Josh Allen does, but people are getting out of hand with these comparisons:
Carson Wentz ran a pro offense in college, so he had a mental head start. Darnold and the other guys who matter will have to start from scratch.
Oh yeah sorry. Josh Allen's offense is more advanced, so he'll have a shallower learning curve...and will still be inaccurate.
No listen to me here: Josh Allen completes just over half the passes he throws. Darnold completes a little over two out of three, and Baker Mayfield is less than 4% away from 3 out of 4, with the highest yards per-attempt of all of them...by 2 yards(?)!!!
This is between a 1 out of 2 passer and a 3 out of 4 passer in some minds (including Mel Kiper's?)
For me (and almost certainly Dorsey), it's between Darnold and Mayfield at the top of the draft, and (dammit) Luke Falk later.
Here we go: Pat Shurmer is taking over the Giants (and I bet he does a great job). He says Eli Manning can play forever. That's a lie. They'll draft his successor for sure in this draft.
This quarterback class is extremely deep. Luke Falk was a potential first round pick in 2016 had he come out, as was Mason Rudolph. Many are projecting Lamar Jackson in the top ten, and here we got this Branch-Allenian thing going on!
Oh yeah: the Kirk Cousins bidding war is libel to get outta hand, and no matter how much cap space he has, John Dorsey won't need Paul DePodesta to tell him when to fold and cash out. Alex Smith is the likeliest new Browns quarterback.
Lots of variables here:
Smith is 34, and smart. Dorsey will want to extend him, even if he plans to start his successor in 2019, but will Smith make that deal, or "bet on himself" and test free agency in 2019?
Maybe not if Dorsey guarantees him all of 21 mil for 2019 and 15 mil in 2020 (by which time he'll be 37).
If Smith takes the Browns to the playoffs in 2018 (as he would expect to), that contract makes him tradeable to a team needing a starter. If he gets injured, he still gets paid. And it would be painful to cut him loose (too much dead money).
I think Dorsey will not just trade for Smith, but extend him.
What will it cost? Because of the depth of this draft class, the lame-duck contract, Smith's age, the other available free agents, and the fact that everybody knows the Chiefs have cap issues and have to dump Smith's contract, deprive them of the leverage a lot of you think they have.
The highest pick Dorsey will need to cough up will be one of his two lower second rounders. The rest could be a couple day 3 picks.
But I digress: The Giants (in reality) think Eli will last 2-3 more years, so they might or might not use their top pick on a quarterback, and might want to grab superback LaQuon Barkley.
This makes them the biggest threat to the Browns in this draft:
They could nab a quarterback, OR the consensus-best overall player in this draft with their top pick, and if it's Barkley, then they probobly target somebody like Falk in the second round.
What should Dorsey do?
It's high stakes poker, you people. It depends on how strong he thinks his hand is:
If he's willing to "settle for" one of three quarterbacks at fourth overall, then he obviously drafts Barkley first. If he's stuck on one specific quarterback, he has to take him first overall, and cross his fingers.
He's still in the catbird seat, since if Barkley is gone, he can draft that swiss army defensive back or Joe Thomas II or even another elite edge-rusher at 4, and a really good running back later.
Dorsey could also surprise everybody (except me) and wait to draft his future quarterback (maybe Falk) later...
Just spitballin here. I just like Falk and Darrius Guice a lot more now, and know they'll come cheap in this draft.
There is also hope, now that Todd Haley is taking over the offense, that Isaiah Crowell will consider sticking around.
Now that Hue Jackson's under/misuse of him has deprived him of leverage, he won't be too expensive.
Contrary to some really ignorant pseudo-analysts opinions, LaVeon Belle, like Crowell, is a prototype one-cut back meant to exploit inside zone-blocking.
Well, Todd Haley USED zone-blocking to help Belle out!!!
Belle is famous for his patience; for "waiting for his blocks to develop" before darting forward.
Isaiah Crowell is the same kind of running back! Hue Jackson never used him this way, but Todd Haley will, if he stays.
Haley should also use Corey Coleman exactly the way he used the shorter, lighter, slower Antonio Brown (ok well you need a quarterback for that, but he should HAVE one).
This is different for Haley, however, because he never had a Josh Gordon before, not to mention a tight end like Njoku.
Once he has a real quarterback, Gordon will be the primary weapon, but Coleman and Njoku will take what's left.
I'm telling you right now: The Browns need to resolve these quarterback and running back issues, but when they do, Todd Haley will wreak havoc in 2018.
I've been wrong a lot before, but I will be right this time, I think for sure maybe, and you can take that to the bank if you can make it there.
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