Most impressive rookie QBs so far..... - Page 2

YAYareaRB · 08-14-2011, 12:50 PM

Dont forget about Josh Portis

nepg · 08-14-2011, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBCX

This is the most blatant example of "jumping to conclusions" that I've ever seen on here.

There is *nothing* you can say about this QB draft class until at least two years have passed, minimum. You can't even begin to make sketchy assumptions until 2011 season is 10 Weeks into the regular season.

Yes there is.

The QBs in this draft were an amazing bunch from a physical, athletic, and experience standpoint. They were elite talents and most of them showed great leadership skills in college. Locker, Gabbert, Mallett, and Newton are 100% legit Franchise QB prospects (in any year, by any definition...these 4 are legit guys). And they all had the same thing to work on going into the NFL...footwork - an easy fix. And all 4 look to have significantly improved in that area already. Ponder, Kaepernick, Dalton, and Stanzi all have potential to get to that level (though I don't see it with Dalton).

I had 4 going in the Top 5 of my "what teams should do" mock (5 in the Top 20)... And I wasn't that high on Ponder (he looks like he might prove me slightly wrong) and really low on Dalton (still had both in the early 2nd round). I had 8 QBs in the Top 50. Teams ****** up. Bad.

DoughBoy · 08-14-2011, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nepg

Lol at everyone that was hating on this qb class. Best one in years. Could end up being next-best after 1983.

Glad to see no one is jumping to extreme conclusions after the first preseason game.

ATLDirtyBirds · 08-14-2011, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nepg

Lol at everyone that was hating on this qb class. Best one in years. Could end up being next-best after 1983.

Overreaction and a half.

bigbluedefense · 08-14-2011, 01:48 PM

Way overreacting.

I was a Locker fan, he was my favorite qb in this class so i'm glad to hear he's doing well.

Gabbert still sucks. Just like in college, once there was pressure he just tries to scramble outside the pocket. He has no blitz recognition and no pocket presence.

Newton looks promising.

Mallet looks promising. I haven't seen the rest.

SolidGold · 08-14-2011, 02:15 PM

I think Dalton will be fine, he had that one underthrown ball that was intercepted. It was the first preseason game. His o-line did not really help him. They will be a run first team and spoon feed Dalton more of the playbook as the season goes on.

Overall considering there were no OTAs/mini camps for these rookie QBs all of them actually performed pretty well. None embarassed themselves. It kind of makes you wonder what a team like Seattle was thinking by signing Tavaris Jackson to be the starter.

ElectricEye · 08-14-2011, 02:19 PM

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with getting some impressions from the pre-season and such, but to say it's certainly not a great barometer of how these guys will turn out.

descendency · 08-14-2011, 02:21 PM

Physically, this is one of the most talented classes in a while. I don't think it's that big of a deal to predict that they will be a great class.

yo123 · 08-14-2011, 03:02 PM

Ponder really impressed me playing behind our awful O-line he handled it very well. One thing he needs to work on is accuracy on slants because for whatever reason he's terrible at that route. Maybe just a timing thing that will get sorted out. He moved well in and out of the pocket and made some nice throws, he kind of reminds me of Jeff Garcia.

niel89 · 08-14-2011, 04:47 PM

I'm watching Newton right now and he is doing alright. Not terribly impressive but he has made a couple nice throws. I thought that Clausen looked pretty good also aside from that pick 6. I'm not sold on Newton starting early on at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by descendency

Physically, this is one of the most talented classes in a while. I don't think it's that big of a deal to predict that they will be a great class.

This was one point that I really thought was important around draft time. All of these young QB for the most part have pretty great tools overall. Newton, Gabbert, Mallett, and Locker have very good physical tools to work with.

Ness · 08-14-2011, 11:11 PM

Locker's accuracy looked really nice and he threw some beautiful spirals...Warren Moon-like. Hopefully he turns out to be a good quarterback for Tennessee. Having someone like Hasselbeck in front of him is a great addition too.

A Perfect Score · 08-14-2011, 11:23 PM

I want to know where all the Jake Locker supporters were pre-draft when I was getting ripped a new one for saying he was still a Top 10 prospect. Same goes for Christian Ponder, although I never had him ranked that high I did have him as a first rounder and I liked him a hell of a lot more then Cam Newton.

Saints-Tigers · 08-15-2011, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Perfect Score

I want to know where all the Jake Locker supporters were pre-draft when I was getting ripped a new one for saying he was still a Top 10 prospect. Same goes for Christian Ponder, although I never had him ranked that high I did have him as a first rounder and I liked him a hell of a lot more then Cam Newton.

Was never that high on Ponder like you, but I did love me some Jake, and would have taken him over Bradford the year before, and still think he will be the better player.

Was very high on Mallett as a player as well, didn't like getting too deep into the intangibles and off field stuff, because quite frankly, we don't know nearly as much on those subjects as we think we do.

Cam, not so much, but the more I listen to him, the more I think he might make it, he comes off douchey too some people, but he seems extremely driven, and I don't think he's faking that.

Bengalsrocket · 08-15-2011, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saints-Tigers

Was never that high on Ponder like you, but I did love me some Jake, and would have taken him over Bradford the year before, and still think he will be the better player.

Was very high on Mallett as a player as well, didn't like getting too deep into the intangibles and off field stuff, because quite frankly, we don't know nearly as much on those subjects as we think we do.

Cam, not so much, but the more I listen to him, the more I think he might make it, he comes off douchey too some people, but he seems extremely driven, and I don't think he's faking that.

I pretty much liked all the QB's in this class besides Dalton and Ponder (I even liked Stanzi pre-draft, a lot actually). I'll support Dalton now that he's a Bengals though.

I think the problem with Locker (and not to sound like a broken record here) is that he was just over analyzed for returning his senior year. He was still a good prospect and Tennessee knew that obviously, that's why they drafted him.

bucfan12 · 08-15-2011, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Perfect Score

I want to know where all the Jake Locker supporters were pre-draft when I was getting ripped a new one for saying he was still a Top 10 prospect. Same goes for Christian Ponder, although I never had him ranked that high I did have him as a first rounder and I liked him a hell of a lot more then Cam Newton.

Bro, relax. It's 1 preseason game where Locker and Ponder both played against base defenses with 2nd/3rd stringers. So, don't go all out saying you were right about Locker all along. WAY TOO EARLY.

I think Ponder will have a better career than Locker. I'm just not sold on Locker as a franchise QB. It just seems like he won't be able to break down and read defenses properly and doesn't have the best pocket presence.

I hope Locker proves me wrong because it's not right to say that I hope he busts, but he just doesn't seem like he is a guy that can be a franchise guy.

Ness · 08-15-2011, 04:43 AM

I never liked any of the quarterbacks coming out.

FUNBUNCHER · 08-15-2011, 05:01 AM

I still need to see more from Ponder. He had all the skill talent in the world at Florida State and struggled to elevate that team.

I don't think he ends up the long term solution for Minny, but who knows???

descendency · 08-15-2011, 05:03 AM

Two guys I really liked after your "core" group, TJ Yates and Greg McElroy, will both play tonight.

nepg · 08-15-2011, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Perfect Score

I want to know where all the Jake Locker supporters were pre-draft when I was getting ripped a new one for saying he was still a Top 10 prospect. Same goes for Christian Ponder, although I never had him ranked that high I did have him as a first rounder and I liked him a hell of a lot more then Cam Newton.

I had him #1 the whole time, buddy.

And I'm not BASING it off of the pre-season necessarily. I'm basing it off of having thought that all along and knowing the main guys needed to work on a couple things to get to where I thought they were going... And the pre-season games showed all 4 had come a long way with their footwork which improved their accuracy and pocket presence.

ElectricEye · 08-15-2011, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Perfect Score

I want to know where all the Jake Locker supporters were pre-draft when I was getting ripped a new one for saying he was still a Top 10 prospect. Same goes for Christian Ponder, although I never had him ranked that high I did have him as a first rounder and I liked him a hell of a lot more then Cam Newton.

....I had him ranked at the top the entire time and got in page long fights with Sniper about college production and being the internet police.

I even had "I remember Jake Locker" in my signature up until about a week ago.

But yeah, arguing like a bunch of scene kids about who liked a band first probably isn't very productive. Plus, it's just one pre-season game.

DraftSavant · 08-15-2011, 11:46 AM

Looks like we may be putting the horse in front of the carriage here. All you can really do at this point is judge physical attributes - and that was never a question with any of these guys coming out (save Dalton).

I believe Gabbert was the only one who started, and the Pats had reserves at every position except for safety. Remember that almost all teams are carrying around 90 guys on their roster who have to be evaluated in a game situation before the first cuts. So most of these QBs were going against players who won't even be on an NFL roster by next week.

Also, other than the Saints game, I saw even MORE vanilla schemes (both offensively and defensively) than we're used to in the pre-season. The Pats, in particular, weren't even disguising coverages PRE-SNAP. You could look at their alignment and easily deduce Cover Two, Man Free, Cover Three, etc. before the ball was even snapped.

Also, in regards to the OP, are there more good, young, talented QBs than ever before? Or have the rule changes swung so far in favor of the offense that playing QB in the NFL is easier than ever before? I lean towards the latter.

Unbiased · 08-15-2011, 11:50 AM

I wish they would let Gabbert start the rest of the preseason. We know what David can do. I don't want to see Blaine play against a bunch of UDFAs. What would be the point of that?

descendency · 08-15-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Perfect Score

I want to know where all the Jake Locker supporters were pre-draft when I was getting ripped a new one for saying he was still a Top 10 prospect. Same goes for Christian Ponder, although I never had him ranked that high I did have him as a first rounder and I liked him a hell of a lot more then Cam Newton.

I had a fairly long topic in the draft forum listing my top players at each position and had Locker, Ponder, and Mallett 1, 2, and 3. Newton 4. I had Gabbert like 6.

DraftSavant · 08-15-2011, 11:56 AM

Interesting that so many were so high on Locker, yet so low on Newton when they're essentially the same guy coming out of college. Unless you're of the belief that playing in Sarkisian's magical "pro style offense" somehow better prepares you for the NFL.

But yes, Mallett was the gem of this class at QB and would/should have gone 1st overall if he didn't have such a good time in college. You know, like a normal college kid does.

descendency · 08-15-2011, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DraftSavant

Interesting that so many were so high on Locker, yet so low on Newton when they're essentially the same guy coming out of college. Unless you're of the belief that playing in Sarkisian's magical "pro style offense" somehow better prepares you for the NFL.

I wouldn't call it magic, but there are some things that playing in a pro style offense prepares you to do that you will have to learn in the NFL. It's not a guarantee, but it gives you a leg up. By year 3, if it's still a problem, you're a bust.