(03-16-2018, 12:10 PM)Bullseye Wrote:

(03-16-2018, 11:43 AM)OklahomaAviator Wrote: So there's a few different parts to this and I want to make sure each one is addressed so I'm going to break it down individually.

Footwork:

To be fair he does have good footwork, especially so when he has plenty of time in the pocket.  He has good pocket presence and feel for when and where to climb up or bail out.  It would be hard for him to put up the kind of numbers he did without it.  However, his footwork seems to break down whenever he senses pressure or it trying to make the quick turns to hit the receivers running within a few yards of the line of scrimmage.  Most of the time, it's just him not planting properly, but he will also get "happy feet" sometimes where he seems to bounce up and down which causes the pass to sail a bit on him.  I'm not entirely familiar with the offense run by the Jags, but if receiver screens are a common play, they will have to work a bit on his footwork.

The Shotgun:

This question is one for the ages and I'm not sure it's ever been answered.  It's hard to predict just how Rudolph will adapt to playing under center and how it will affect his footwork, but I'll take a stab at it by comparing it to how well he did in the Pistol formation here.  For those unfamiliar with the Pistol formation, the QB stands about 2 yards behind the Center with a RB behind him and usually (in our offense) flanked by what we call a Cowboy Back (more like a HB or TE).  This puts him not quite at shotgun depth, but definitely not under center either.  From here, he does have to turn his hips and shoulders and complete a drop back (usually 3-5 steps- almost never more than 5) before releasing the ball.  He handles this well and is very fluid in his rotations.  When given time, he is able to set his feet and launch from a good foundation, but the key thing to note here is when he is given time.  He can get flustered a bit by pressure and either not set his feet properly or start dancing after his drop back.  Frankly, it's hard to blame him with how spotty our O-Line was.  Whether it's something he will get over or not is hard to tell, but Big 12 teams started to find out that if they could get pressure on him with blitzes that his accuracy would drop as his footwork fell apart.  I think it's a big reason why he went from 4 INTs his Junior year to 9 INTs his Senior year.  Now, it's not all on him either (or the o-line for that matter).  His WRs, outside of Washington, were plagued with drops this year which caused him to tunnel in on receivers he could trust.  

Physically:

From a purely physical perspective, he's your prototypical NFL QB.  Tall, strong and fairly mobile, he will have no issues in the pocket (as mentioned above).  He's not fast, but he makes good reads when he needs to escape the pocket and he's not exactly slow when he gets outside.  I think the comparisons to Ben Roethlisberger are pretty accurate physically.  He has enough athleticism and mental wherewithal to pick up NFL offenses and adapt to playing under center if needed.  That said, for the first year or two, I definitely expect his accuracy to be higher from the shotgun formation than from under center.  That should change over time, but he will definitely be better suited in a situation where he can sit for a year or two and really start to master the offensive system.

Bottom Line:

When given time, he should be fine in terms of footwork whether under center or in the shotgun.  However, if teams can get pressure on him then it starts to break down for him and leads to sailed passes.  This is why I think it's key that he lands in the right situation.  He's not the kind of QB that's going to come in and lift a team up right away regardless of how bad their offense is.  I think he can become that eventually and honestly, I don't think there's any QBs in this draft who can do that, but he's not at that point yet where teams with glaring holes on offense can take him early and try to build around him.  Hopefully this answers your question.

(Emphasis added)

Thank you for your detailed response.

As to the portion I've highlighted in bold, if I am understanding you correctly, the footwork mechanics in executing a 3-5 step drop from a pistol formation are not too dissimilar from executing the same drop back from under center, and the transition to the pro game for him should be relatively smooth from that perspective?

If you don't mind, I have another question.

When watching draftbreakdown clips of him and games, my initial impression was that he gets rid of the ball really quickly.  Further viewing seemed to show very few times where he actually went through a progression to ind an open receiver.  I do not wish to erroneously give him credit or take away credit from him.

To the best extent possible, could you tell me whether that is a function of the offensive philosophy (i.e. does the offense simplify his reads to half the field), receivers being open quickly such that he doesn't have to go through the progressions, or does he make quick decisions?

Good questions. 

Comparisons between Pistol and Under Center Formations regarding footwork:

Yes, they are very similar in terms of mechanics.  Let's talk about the Pistol formation for a bit.  The Pistol was popularized out of Nevada and picked up and adapted by our coaching staff in 2010.  Calling it the Diamond Formation, the QB lines up closer to the line of scrimmage flanked by TEs and was used to introduce a power run game to an offense designed to run out of the shotgun formation and to help set up the play action pass. What this does is get the ball to the QB quicker post-snap (versus a traditional shotgun formation) and allows the TEs to lead block for the RB, or gives the defense time to read the run and bite on play actions.  Now it's similar to a regular, under center approach, due to the QB having to turn his hips and drop back regardless of whether he's going to throw the ball or hand it off.  While the number of steps needed to get to depth are obviously different between the two, mechanically speaking the QB still has to rotate his hips and shoulders in the same way whether he's operating out of the Pistol or under center.  From a footwork point-of-view, it should be a smooth process, but the biggest concern will be the mechanics of snap from under center.  On that, I really can't say how well he will do.  I honestly think he ran less than 10 plays under center throughout his career at OSU.

Quick reads:

Yes, he excels at getting rid of the ball quickly and that is a major function of the offense he ran at OSU.  The offense here is predicated on Run-Pass Options (RPOs) as well as the receivers reading the defense and choosing a route from their route tree.  What this means is that Rudolph often knows where he's going to go with the ball before the ball is even snapped.  Before the snap, he accounts for the alignment of the defense and determines whether or not he will hand the ball off (do the numbers favor my blockers or not?), and if the numbers favor him throwing the ball he will look at the alignment of the secondary.  If the Safeties are shadowing a certain way or the CBs are playing outside or inside, he's making notes of that and anticipating his receivers will run the part of the route tree that exposes these holes in the defensive alignment.  This results in the ball getting out of his hands quickly and allowing our receivers to get YAC, or he knows that he will have to wait a little longer because he is anticipating his receiver will get open on the deep routes. Ideally, he will not have to go through his progressions but sometimes that is required based on what the defense does post-snap.  Now, like I said before, he does seem to get flustered if the defense is able to get to him and it doesn't just affect his footwork but also causes him to go through reads too quickly or even lock in on one particular receiver.  While most QBs have that problem, he will need to work on that as he goes through his first year or two in the NFL.  While NFL offense are generally more structured than what he had at OSU, many NFL offenses are employing RPOs (see: Philly this last year) and I think Rudolph will do well in offenses that use them.

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