Happy Easter everyone,

 

Listening to all of the QB debates on this board over the past several months got me thinking, is there a way to truly guage how these QB prospects project to the NFL? I decided to come up with a list of skills and traits that are vital to a QB's success in the NFL, some of these are coachable, others are not. The list is below

 

 

Group A: Physical Attributes (the upside Group) - Size, Arm Strength, Overall Athleticism (prototype John Elway)

 

Group B: QB attributes (coachable skills)- Accuracy, throwing mechanics, footwork.  (prototype Drew Brees)

 

Group C: Intangible's (attributes you can't teach)- Pocket awareness, pocket mobility, poise in the pocket, football intelligence, production, leadership, work ethic, toughness. (Prototype Tom Brady)

 

 

Looking at these skills and traits, it's easy to see why scouts were enamored with John Elway & Andrew Luck, both guys would grade insanely high on each of these metrics, truly once in a generation type players. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there have been QB's taken in the top 10 (Jamarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, Blaine Gabbert etc..) solely based on their physical attributes, they would've graded poorly in the other areas, guys like Joe Montana, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees slipped in the draft because of their physical attributes, Joe Montana was too skinny with a weak arm, Tom Brady wasn't athletic and didn't have a strong arm, Drew Brees wasn't 6'5, yet Brady, Brees, & Montana would've graded incredibly high in Group B & C. When looking at  these QB's we get obsessed with physical attributes, size & arm strength take precedent over everything else, that's the only reason a guy like Tom Savage (Pittsburgh) is being talked about as a 2nd round pick.

 

My conclusion is, when grading these QB prospects we need to put a lot more weight into group B & C, as those traits project better to the NFL. Let me know what you think, thanks. 

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The problem is you failed to mention the guys like Wuerffel and Weinke who didn't do anything in the league while having great B&C and not great A. And I'd split leadership and work ethic away from C into its own category. Mainly because grading Manziel with those mixed gave me a headache.

 

Looking at this years prospects though, for the sake of argument: (All rankings off the cuff and subject to change)

 

Potential: Bortles, Mettenburger, Carr, Bridgewater, Manziel, Garoppolo, McCarron

 

Technique: Bridgewater, McCarron, Carr, Manziel, Mettenburger, Bortles, Garoppolo

 

Mental/Instinct: Manziel, Bridgewater, McCarron, Carr, Garoppolo, Bortles, Mettenburger

 

Leadership/Maturity/Work Ethic: McCarron, Bridgewater, Carr, Bortles, Mettenburger, Garoppolo, Manziel

 

You can probably tell I like Teddy the best, and for the last one I did a lot of guessing. I'm sure others will disagree, so have at it! It's something to do until the draft.

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