That's a good point to bring up.
Personally, I believe he has that mental ability. Playing as much as he has in the slot, he has run option routes consistently throughout his career. I'm pretty confident he'd be able to make the transition here. I think when you have experience playing in the slot, where you have to make reads/decisions on routes more frequently than on the outside, it puts you ahead of the curve when coming here. It's not like you're bringing in a Joey Galloway who just wants to run straight down the field and catch balls on fly patterns.
Bill worked him out pre-draft at Florida and was reportedly set to take him in the 09 Draft before Minnesota grabbed him with the pick before us, as Reiss has written about.
What might have been with Percy Harvin?
He also reportedly pursued him last off-season.
New England Patriots lead Percy Harvin landing spots - NFL.com
I'm not going to paint with a broad brush and suggest all Urban Meyer/Florida receivers can't cut it in the NFL just because of our failure with Chad Jackson. Was that really because he couldn't transition to an NFL offense or because his body failed him with hamstring, groin, and knee injuries? Plus, we've seen Harvin contribute at the NFL level and be highly effective, so the whole "Chad Jackson" narrative isn't valid or relevant IMO.
Crazy, right? Feels like he's been around forever. He will turn 28 in May. Still another good 3-5 years left in him, IMO.
I'm not a fan of this type of surface level analysis. Reading off his transaction log does nothing for me. I had the same conversation with another poster about this regarding analyzing Christine Michael through this lens.
You could technically say the same thing about Darrelle Revis going into the off-season last year. Well, he's been on three different teams in three years - Jets, Bucs, Pats. Must be something going on there.
There was a point in time where Anquan Boldin was on three different teams in the span of five years. You're telling me you wouldn't want that guy on this team, especially in his younger days, just because he bounced around a few rosters ?
I don't get the practice of Applying that criterion as a major tenet of the analysis on whether to pass on a guy like Revis or Harvin. It is arbitrary and ineffective in my opinion - too shallow.
I'm not talking about him as a QB as a whole. He's an above average QB in this league. Clutch, tough, smart with the football, just finds a way to make winning plays.
But in terms of dropping back, reading defenses, and delivering the ball from the pocket, yes, he is below average. He does not have the touch on his throws, the anticipation, or the accuracy that good pocket passers have. He's great at scrambling, buying time for coverage to break down, keeping his eyes downfield, and playing "backyard football."
If you put him in the types of offenses that the Patriots, Packers, Saints, Giants, Colts, etc. run, you'd see him be pretty ineffective and inefficient.
That Seattle offense he runs is similar to those other mobile-QB led offenses like the ones Kaepernick and Cam Newton run. Run the ball, use the threat of mobility/running ability of QB to open things up, take some deep shots, have a lot of easy-read pass plays, as in here's option 1, here's option 2, if both are covered use your feet to extend play or tuck and run.
IMO, If you asked Wilson to stand back there and operate like Brady, Brees, Rivers, Manning, Luck, Rodgers, etc., you'd be very disappointed in the results. He is not talented enough or polished enough as a pocket passer.
