Before that stuff came out about him not being a leader and what not, he always gave me that feeling. I don't think he's quite as ignorant to work ethic as Johnny Football was. Be he gives me the arrogant rich kid vibe.
thats my point Probably true. but the steelers had the D, run game, and a pro bowl QB and barely beat us and would have lost 1 year if not for a missed kick at the end of the game. If we had a QB eating 20% of the cap because he was elite we wouldn't have had such a well rounded team. it's a balance
Fields was still pretty good last night, considering he was headed into a buzz saw most of the game. It was hard to evaluate him too because the play calling was so generic and run-heavy. Luckily, Joe D and his scouts have a couple seasons worth of film to evaluate. Same goes for Zach Wilson and the rest of the QB's. They also have Sam's film the last 3 seasons to evaluate and see if he is a better option. Plenty of work to do!
I think you are greatly underestimating Fields. The processor is not slow. I agree he can do better in progressions, but pretty much every College QB who plays tough competition face that. Even including monsters like Lawrence. This year Fields played 5 out of 8 games against ranked teams, including #1 and #2 as a big dog. In some of these he was badly hurt. For the final he admitted he could not practice mostly. And at the end of the day he still came out as one of the most accurate QBs in College this season with 70%. Guys with physical talents like Fields with great arm, speed, and athletic ability, who are also accurate, TO adverse, proven against top competition in multiple years, and can be dual threat are typically taken #1 overall. He is going to need a good coach, but this is a type of talent, who can be molded into MVP candidate player. You just don't pass on talent like this who also proved himself at the top since HS and multiple years in College, and I trust that Douglas won't.
Because first and foremost, we need a QB!! It is the most important position. If you don't have the QB you aren't gonna win most of the time. What good is a WR like Smith if you don't have a QB that can take advantage of having him? Then there's his very thin frame that probably won't be able to put on much weight. Look at how thin his legs and arms are. He is an injury waiting to happen in the NFL. IMO Mac Jones is not a starting caliber NFL QB. Yes he looks great at Alabama because he is surrounded with NFL All Pro talent at WR and RB and has an NFL caliber OL (notice the order of priority there, you posters who want to have 4-5 first round picks on the OL and/or who want to draft Sewell #2), but he isn't very athletic, PROBABLY doesn't have a strong enough arm to make all the throws needed in the NFL or to play in NE winters. He makes quick decisions and gets the ball out quickly, but he is where the NFL has been at the QB position, NOT where it's going. I have zero interest in him and hope that Douglas does as well. The trick is that one has to evaluate how college players will play in the NFL, not just accept how well they play in college and assume that they'll do the same in the NFL. Most do not. Very few do better in the NFL than they did in college, but some do because of getting better coaching, getting on an NFL weight program, and because they may be late bloomers. Alabama has more talent than any team in the country, and probably more talent than Clemson, OSU and whatever other team you want to add in combined. Smith is NOT a Wayne Chrebet type. He's 10x more talented than Chrebet, and I loved Chrebet.
You're damn skippy it won't be popular. That is the past and I have no interest in going backwards. I'm sick of being 10 years behind the curve and trying to do things differently that the rest of the NFL and always failing. If JD can't put together a modern NFL offense or has no intent to do that, then he needs to go today.
All that "stuff" has been refuted. They talk about his being a great leader and a hard worker. I think all that crap was some NFL guy putting it out there so Wilson would drop and they could get him. My only two concerns with him are his slender build/previous surgery on his throwing shoulder/throwing 3/4 which puts more strain on his shoulder, and his too aggressive demeanor both in running the ball and throwing the ball. He's going to have to learn to slide and run OOB at a minimum. He probably will also have to run a lot less in the NFL, and learn to pick and choose his spots. He doesn't have Mahomes arm. A lot of those passes he got away with at BYU will be interceptions in the NFL because of his lack of arm strength. His placement, accuracy, anticipation are all topnotch.
That may be, but when you take into consideration the position they play, Fields is the better prospect and #2 is too high to take a RT.
I disagree about RT.In the modern game an OT is an OT mainly bc defenses have become so match up based. Pass rushers can line up anywhere along the line. OT supply has become extremely limited,While their impact increases.Esp in this case where youd be pairing him w a special OT in his own right Becton.Thats an elite foundation you can build around & in both run & passing game. Yes the financial piece is big in figuring out how to retain both he & Becton..but I dont view either moving to RT as a bad thing.Bookend Tackles are bookend Tackles
As a point of reference, this year Trevor, whose team is comparable to Fields, played against 3 ranked teams out of 10, or 30%, and didn't have to face a monster like Alabama was this year. He did not have to play through illness, since you MUST skip games when you have COVID for obvious reasons and got time to heal up. Fields played against ranked teams in over 60% of games, including Alabama, and when he got hurt didn't have time to heal up. So, Fields has faced significantly higher level of competition, yet the seasons both guys had were pretty comparable. Still #1 and #2 overall in the draft.
another year, another “can’t miss” OT ... only this time, he hasn’t played in over a year hard pass on sewell
If we take Sewell I'm going to lose a ton of faith in JD, probably most of it. It would show that he's out of touch with how you achieve consistent success in the modern NFL.
I'm sure you've brought him up in the past and I missed it, but what were your thoughts on Trey Lance? Is he rated lower than Wilson/Fields because of the perceived lack of readiness due to competition or is it that he's closer to the Jones/Trask level?
One of the assets that Jones has is his "quick eyes" as mentioned by the announcers last night, meaning he reads and processes the field quickly. To me that's a HUGE plus. What I'm not sure of is his arm strength - is it just barely adequate, i.e. Pennington-level, or above average, i.e. Brady-level? Because for me, the most important traits for a great QB are: - arm strength - will to win - smarts - innate sense of the game - ability to process what's unfolding on the field quickly The only question I have out of that for Jones is the first one, arm strength. If he reaches that threshold I think taking him at #23 would be good assuming they're moving on from Darnold, whether that's this season or next.
What's a modern NFL offense? The Browns, Saints, Rams, Titans, Ravens. All playoff teams where you could make a case that an effective run game is critical to what makes them tick. Without it their O struggles to function at all. You don't have to be the greatest show on turf reborn to score points.
Where did I say that I didn't want a strong rushing attack? I guess you haven't seen or ignored my comments about wanting Najee Harris, or if not, then one in the 2nd round or at the top of the 3rd round Javonte Williams, Trey Sermon, or Kenneth Gainewell, rather than waiting until as some posters and just taking a guy.
what hes saying is that we would be going against the norm and reverting back to some old ways. When in fact many of the teams still left in the playoffs dont throw a ton have strong Olines and run the ball heavy. Yes you need a Qb to keep the D honest but you dont need Peyton Manning to win it all. Colts had a strong team and Rivers is a shell of himself, that team did well because of Oline Taylor and good D. Browns same thing, Rams same thing we can go on and on. I have no problem with building the team from within and having a serviceable Qb
I think Lance is rated lower because of the level of competition against which he has played and because he only played one game this season and looked pretty bad in it. I can't remember if his school or conference decided not to play or if opted to sit out, but I think it really hurt his draft stock. I need to watch more video of him, but in what I've seen, he has prototypical size, good mobility, a very strong, and accurate arm with generally very good ball placement (although it is off in some games), seemed to have pretty good mechanics but I'm no expert on those, and is able to go through progressions, and do some fairly advanced things like look off safeties. Kurt, Legler, or one-two other posters whose names escape me at the moment can probably give you a better, more accurate picture of Lance's potential, but he looked pretty darned good to me. I could be mistaken, but see the QB tiers like this: 1a - Lawrence 1b - Fields 2 - Wilson/Lance 3 - Trask, Jones I think there's a clear separation between Lawrence/Fields and Wilson/Lance, but a HUGE dropoff after Wilson/Lance
