http://www.nfl.com/podcasts?series=movethesticks-podcast MOVE THE STICKS WITH DANIEL JEREMIAH [PODCAST] Marcus Mariota 360 Published: Apr 1, 2015 at 1:21 PM Daniel Jeremiah conducts a scouting report of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, analyzing Mariota's college tape and taking a look at his early-football career. With interviews from Mariota's high school coach, an opposing college coach, former teammates and more, D.J. answers all the big questions surrounding Marcus Mariota's skills and personality entering the 2015 NFL Draft.
Jeremiah's top 10 prospects: 1. Leonard Williams 2. Kevin White 3. Amari Cooper 4. Dante Fowler JR 5. Jameis Winston 6. Shane Ray 7. Marcus Mariota 8. Davante Parker 9. Danny Shelton 10. Trae Waynes I may missed some things, but here's what I got. His breakdown was similar to rexandthecity's. - field vision and decision making were outstanding. - on a lot of post snap progressions he scans the entire field from left to right. Gets from his 1st to 3rd read. - Oregon's offense is more complex than Baylor's system so Mariota will have an easier time transitioning to the NFL. - Touch/Timing were very good, much better than Kaep. - poise with blitz/pressure - very good - Mobility is his best trait. Elusive. - underneath/intermediate accuracy very good. Deep accuracy needs improvement. - pocket awareness - huge growth from last year, a lot better. - throwing while running from left/right is very smooth and accurate. - Arm strength rated 6 our of 7. 6 is above average and 7 is elite. Winston was rated 6+ out of 7. - Needs to do a better job of taking care of the ball. - He went back and studied the OSU nat'l championship tape and said that Mariota had a very good game, "he was big time". Costly drops from scrub receivers, stayed in the pocket, got knocked around a bunch. Made tight window throws, out-routes, seams. - He leads by example, quite leader but when he speaks up, everyone listens. Former teammate josh huff noted his Stanford halftime speech. He compared Mariota to Tannehill but with a higher ceiling. When Tannehill came out, he gave him a high second round grade. He believes Mariota can be a top 10-15 qb in the league. He probably won't be a top 5 qb because he doesn't have that elite arm. If you're a top 10 draft team that needs a starter, you should draft him. You can go to the playoffs and win with him. Stanford's coach David Shaw, for obvious reasons has seen a lot of film on Mariota and was very high on him. He compared him to Luck (quite leader, pocket presence) and RG3 (athleticism).
Why are we "going up". If he's under-rated a la Teddy Bridgewater (article says so..) then...why wouldn't we sit pretty and/or trade back and acquire some more picks? You're blinded by your pure love for him.
I'm not blinded but I still don't believe he's going to be there at 6. It's not worth the gamble to find out and ultimately lose him. A pass rushing OLB or a WR is not changing the franchise. They'd be good players and make us better but that's not the best we can do for the franchise. _
Pretty interesting. It doesn't really discuss any of the negative aspects of his game, though. Makes him look like a slam-dunk guaranteed superstar.
Thanks for posting this. Great stuff, even if it is bleacherreport. That's first-rate writing and analysis.
It does mention some of his weaknesses. The point of this article wasn't to present all of his pluses and minuses. It was to support his opinion that Mariota is being undervalued, and shows how silly it is that he is sliding when he had an excellent season and led his team to the national championship game, while Winston had a pretty mediocre season. It talks about his accuracy being his greatest weakness and that he needs to work on ball placement and accuracy and gain more consistency. It says that he may struggle with finding open receivers over 30 yards downfield his first couple of seasons, although I don't understand that since Mariota keeps his eyes downfield. It disputes negative questions and comments about his being a "system QB" and not making reads/progressions. It shows how his skill sets make those comments about his being a "system QB" look stupid. It highlights his quick and good decision making. His excellent footwork and adjustments, how he is able to reset and use good mechanics most of the time. It disputes that he is a "running QB" first and foremost and shows that he keeps his eyes downfield and looks to pass first and foremost. He gives solid evidence to show Mariota's awareness in the pocket, poise, how he helps his blockers, how he helps his WRs get open not only with his eyes and fakes, but by extending the play. IMO this article show how poor the analytic skills are of many posters on this site at least as far as Mariota is concerned.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...vs-scout-is-marcus-mariota-worth-a-top10-pick Check out this video of Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, 2 former NFL scouts, debating whether or not Mariota is worth a top 10 pick. Jeremiah is for while Brooks is against. There is a very interesting exchange around to 2:30 mark. DJ argues that Mariota can make plays with his legs early on as he learns and adjusts to the pro game. He further argues that if you are in the top 10, you stink and you probably don't have anybody better. Bucky counters by saying that the only way that would work is if you have a creative OC that incorporate what he does well in the offense. Then he says "…the ONLY guy that can take him and really do it...is Chan Gailey of the NY Jets. If he doesn't go to the NY Jets I don't think it's going to work out for Mariota." So Brooks is against taking Mariota in the top 10 because he will need time but thinks he can play sooner under Chan Gailey…hmmm.
I have been saying this for a while that besides Chip Kelly Chan Gaileys offence is perfect for Mariota!! Not to mention he takes care of the ball which Todd Bowles needs as a defensive guy.
I wish I knew more about Gailey's offense because there are so many variations of the spread. The thing with playing Mariota right away would be that you can't have a competition, you would have to crown him pretty soon (which I don't like too much). The reasoning is that with Mariota's skill set, Gailey would need to tailor an offense around him to get him acclimated initially, as Bucky Brooks pointed out - sort of like RG3's rookie year but not exactly. The only problem is that you can't install multiple offenses. There can't me a MM offense and a Geno/Fitz offense just for the sake of competition; there's only so much time in training camp/ brain capacity in the other players.
