BobDigital
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2013
- Messages
- 16,350
- Reaction score
- 15,044
Thoughts on the rookie QBs. The ones I didn't watch live I watched their preseason 'every snap' highlights on youtube. It doesn't always give the full pre snap picture but it is pretty good.
Jax - Trevor Lawerence - The main take away I had was that he looked a little behind in everything he did. And it was more obvious at NFL speed. When under center he took a fraction of a second longer to get back than he should have. His ball release speed was a fraction of a second slower than it should be. The air speed of the ball was a fraction of a second slower than it should be. And his read of the defense appeared to be slow, causing some sacks. He competed against the ones and pretty much only the ones. So that works in his favor. But I'm getting a sneaking suspicion he might bust from what I saw. Full disclosure, I predicted he'd hit in the pre-draft process. So I'm big time reversing course. Maybe it will speed up for him next week? 3.5/10
Edit: In retrospect after seeing the highlights again I think i was a little hard on him. I'm moving him up from 2.5 to 3.5.
NYJ - Zach Wilson - Like Lawerence he started against the ones, which is always preferable. Overall he did well out there. He seemed to miss some reads and throws, and wasn't in full command post snap. Some of his throws missed the mark, or someone got the play wrong. But the key thing to me is all his mistakes APPEAR to be experience based rookie mistakes. He looked shape back there. The moment wasn't too big. He went at the same speed as the game. The ball had good zip, and when things clicked on a play he was able to hit his guy in stride. Wilson to me needs some seasoning, and many people said this pre-draft, but I think he has it. A future NFL starter and a long term one is my guess. Beyond that, who knows. 6.5/10.
SF - Trey Lance - He played a mix of 1s, 2s and 3s. Overall he was a QB I liked this week. Let's talk about that 80 yard TD pass. It was pretty good, not great. The NFL is loving the highlight. But the WR got to turn around and slow down a hair to get it and still out run his defenders. That being said, the ball was well placed (not perfect as the WR had to slow down for it a bit, but pretty good). A less well placed ball may have resulted in only a big gain. It was a nice pass, but I don't want to talk it up more than it should be talked up. One good play and one bad play doesn't matter in these games. All these guys can have a single amazing play or a horrible one. It is the full picture that is important. What I liked is his first pass more. It was a needle (tiny bit behind) with tons of zip hitting his WR between 3 defends. It was dropped, but he gave the WR a thumbs up. That is good leadership. He gets to the backfield fast and seems to has a good feel for what's going on. He tends to be decisive. Also his ball has NFL level zip. Clearly the tools are there. 4 sacks look bad, some of the were. That 2nd sack in particular. He had 6 coming with 5 blocking. He needs to understand the situation and his his releasing crossing over the middle free there INSTANTLY. His 3rd stack shows a weakness many QBs that can run have. He wants to escape backwards to buy space instead of stepping up. He ran into the sack due to that. 1st and 4th sack aren't really on him IMO. Still, his clock needs to be faster and he needs to recognize the situation. Going 5/14 isn't a good look but there were 3 drops in there too. He was also often under pressure. My main issue is he doesn't seem to know when to give up on a play. Sometimes it is better to live to see another down instead of taking that hit or a sack. Also his field vision was a bit shaky at times. The good news is this is typical rookie stuff. So if I was a SF fan i wouldn't be too upset to see it. His long term issue will probably be his accuracy, which wasn't really pin point often, and it isn't something often fixed until you remake your entire throwing motion from the ground up, which almost never happens. 5/10
CHI - Justin Fields - He came in in the 2nd Q and and a large part of the 3rd. He generally played against 2nd, 3rd and off roster guys. This is easily the most interesting performance from a fan perspective, as you can take what you want from it if you had a strong preconceived notion. Was he just getting over his butterflies or did he beat up on scrubs? The truth is usually in the middle, but I find myself heavily in the beat up on scrubs camp. Basically he got dunked on hard by the 2nd string and blown off the field in the ugly fashion. He had a nice drive to end the 2nd half and get 3 points. Then he sliced them up in the 3rd. I don't buy much of what he did in that 3rd quarter. In large part because it is VERY hard to properly defend a duel threat QB in the NFL if your team is not all on the same page, not running a well known scheme and you have no one in the same athletic class. Fields feasted in that situation. All the negatives aside, he didn't look out of place on the field. It came off as more experience them any lack of game processing speed or arm strength. He looked like a talented but very raw NFL QB. I find myself mildly hopeful. 4/10
NWE - Mac - Mac went against the 2s 3s and some 4s. The main thing about Mac that stood up to me and all of us and how much he LOOKS the part. More than any first round rookie QB this week he seems in command and control of the game. It was plain to see that the speed of the NFL was no issue for him mentally, and he even was call out protections. He made good reads and pretty damn accurate throws. While he didn't have any TDs that didn't matter in my mind. Nor did it matter his best drive came against the 3s after half time. Unlike Fields they knew what was coming and that there was no deep threat. They weren't caught out of position or confused because what was coming was obvious, and they still couldn't stop it. That makes those plays still fairly impressive. The release speed and drop back speed are good too. The main issue with Mac is his ball hangs in the air a bit too long. Something he needs to work on. Overall he was probably my fav pick for this week around the rookies. And a big reason why is his play was the most consistent. He was the same guy the first snap as the last snap in how he played. He missed some plays, but that is always expected. 7.5/10
Jax - Trevor Lawerence - The main take away I had was that he looked a little behind in everything he did. And it was more obvious at NFL speed. When under center he took a fraction of a second longer to get back than he should have. His ball release speed was a fraction of a second slower than it should be. The air speed of the ball was a fraction of a second slower than it should be. And his read of the defense appeared to be slow, causing some sacks. He competed against the ones and pretty much only the ones. So that works in his favor. But I'm getting a sneaking suspicion he might bust from what I saw. Full disclosure, I predicted he'd hit in the pre-draft process. So I'm big time reversing course. Maybe it will speed up for him next week? 3.5/10
Edit: In retrospect after seeing the highlights again I think i was a little hard on him. I'm moving him up from 2.5 to 3.5.
NYJ - Zach Wilson - Like Lawerence he started against the ones, which is always preferable. Overall he did well out there. He seemed to miss some reads and throws, and wasn't in full command post snap. Some of his throws missed the mark, or someone got the play wrong. But the key thing to me is all his mistakes APPEAR to be experience based rookie mistakes. He looked shape back there. The moment wasn't too big. He went at the same speed as the game. The ball had good zip, and when things clicked on a play he was able to hit his guy in stride. Wilson to me needs some seasoning, and many people said this pre-draft, but I think he has it. A future NFL starter and a long term one is my guess. Beyond that, who knows. 6.5/10.
SF - Trey Lance - He played a mix of 1s, 2s and 3s. Overall he was a QB I liked this week. Let's talk about that 80 yard TD pass. It was pretty good, not great. The NFL is loving the highlight. But the WR got to turn around and slow down a hair to get it and still out run his defenders. That being said, the ball was well placed (not perfect as the WR had to slow down for it a bit, but pretty good). A less well placed ball may have resulted in only a big gain. It was a nice pass, but I don't want to talk it up more than it should be talked up. One good play and one bad play doesn't matter in these games. All these guys can have a single amazing play or a horrible one. It is the full picture that is important. What I liked is his first pass more. It was a needle (tiny bit behind) with tons of zip hitting his WR between 3 defends. It was dropped, but he gave the WR a thumbs up. That is good leadership. He gets to the backfield fast and seems to has a good feel for what's going on. He tends to be decisive. Also his ball has NFL level zip. Clearly the tools are there. 4 sacks look bad, some of the were. That 2nd sack in particular. He had 6 coming with 5 blocking. He needs to understand the situation and his his releasing crossing over the middle free there INSTANTLY. His 3rd stack shows a weakness many QBs that can run have. He wants to escape backwards to buy space instead of stepping up. He ran into the sack due to that. 1st and 4th sack aren't really on him IMO. Still, his clock needs to be faster and he needs to recognize the situation. Going 5/14 isn't a good look but there were 3 drops in there too. He was also often under pressure. My main issue is he doesn't seem to know when to give up on a play. Sometimes it is better to live to see another down instead of taking that hit or a sack. Also his field vision was a bit shaky at times. The good news is this is typical rookie stuff. So if I was a SF fan i wouldn't be too upset to see it. His long term issue will probably be his accuracy, which wasn't really pin point often, and it isn't something often fixed until you remake your entire throwing motion from the ground up, which almost never happens. 5/10
CHI - Justin Fields - He came in in the 2nd Q and and a large part of the 3rd. He generally played against 2nd, 3rd and off roster guys. This is easily the most interesting performance from a fan perspective, as you can take what you want from it if you had a strong preconceived notion. Was he just getting over his butterflies or did he beat up on scrubs? The truth is usually in the middle, but I find myself heavily in the beat up on scrubs camp. Basically he got dunked on hard by the 2nd string and blown off the field in the ugly fashion. He had a nice drive to end the 2nd half and get 3 points. Then he sliced them up in the 3rd. I don't buy much of what he did in that 3rd quarter. In large part because it is VERY hard to properly defend a duel threat QB in the NFL if your team is not all on the same page, not running a well known scheme and you have no one in the same athletic class. Fields feasted in that situation. All the negatives aside, he didn't look out of place on the field. It came off as more experience them any lack of game processing speed or arm strength. He looked like a talented but very raw NFL QB. I find myself mildly hopeful. 4/10
NWE - Mac - Mac went against the 2s 3s and some 4s. The main thing about Mac that stood up to me and all of us and how much he LOOKS the part. More than any first round rookie QB this week he seems in command and control of the game. It was plain to see that the speed of the NFL was no issue for him mentally, and he even was call out protections. He made good reads and pretty damn accurate throws. While he didn't have any TDs that didn't matter in my mind. Nor did it matter his best drive came against the 3s after half time. Unlike Fields they knew what was coming and that there was no deep threat. They weren't caught out of position or confused because what was coming was obvious, and they still couldn't stop it. That makes those plays still fairly impressive. The release speed and drop back speed are good too. The main issue with Mac is his ball hangs in the air a bit too long. Something he needs to work on. Overall he was probably my fav pick for this week around the rookies. And a big reason why is his play was the most consistent. He was the same guy the first snap as the last snap in how he played. He missed some plays, but that is always expected. 7.5/10
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