I enjoy your opinion and appreciate the time you spend in the college ranks. But...I don't know if I'm too concerned with which guy is more 'pro ready'. I don't care which one would be the most ready to be our day one starter. I worry more about years 4,5,6,7.... I guess I'm more concerned with a players ceiling, which deals with what he learns in the NFL, than his 'pro readiness' which is what he learned in college. Given a good coaching staff, good oline, and good weapons, which QB will be further ahead 3 years from now?
I was reading an interesting discussion of the read progression argument that has become a sort of generally accepted knock against Fields this morning. And he then went on to quote tweet this thread:
Well that would provide some explanation that seems to fit with the way it's not all the time that he does this...other times (most of the time?) he seems to read the field and make the right throws. This might also explain why OSU QBs struggle adjusting to the pro game since no NFL offense would ever employ that type of play with any regularity.
The bottom isn't completely true, but NFL offenses usually have the quarterback and receiver see the field together in the pre snap and receivers will adjust their routes to what the defense is in. If they give a cover 4 look, then the receivers are generally not going to be running four verticals against that. That's communication that happens prior to the snap. That and if a slot receiver is running a stick route and the flat defender has outside leverage he needs to work back inside. That goes without any communication because the quarterback sees that and that's where he's throwing the ball. That's the "option." That's why it's so damn important that we get some receivers in here that we're going to keep for a couple years with whomever we bring in and not do what we did to Sanchez and constantly change them. I'd be a bit careful about putting Ohio State quarterbacks in the same basket as well. Ryan Day has only been their as the offensive coordinator since 2017. Under Urban Meyer before that they were running more of the offense you saw a lot more short passing concepts with a downfield attack that was pretty much predicated on the aforementioned four verticals concept. Ryan Day ran a lot more pro type route concepts and likely incorporated the options routes as he had trust in Fields and the receivers to be on the same page.
What you say here makes sense, but my point remains: what OSU is running isn't helpful to Fields' development as an NFL QB. Nor was Meyer's offense for QBs under him. Of course it's not the OSU HC's mission to make sure his players are NFL-ready, they have games to win and their methods of doing that aren't predicated on whether they help his players become ready for the pros. But for QB recruits who do want to go to the NFL this is something they ought to be keeping in mind when they choose the college they play for.
Justin Fields continues to fall in McShay's top NFL draft prospects However, it’s hard to believe someone that played against the level of competition that Fields did would fall to the fourth-best quarterback in the draft. McShay has Lawrence, BYU’s Zach Wilson and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance ranked ahead of the former Heisman finalist. https://buckeyeswire.usatoday.com/2...alls-todd-mcshay-prospect-rankings-nfl-draft/ Buckeyes Wire, USA Today BTW, I don't believe Fields is falling as I explained before. This is just the media adjusting as information leaks out.
Again, I'm not saying that Fields won't succeed, but I do believe he has to go to a team that can be patient and develop him more so than I think Wilson and Lawrence do. Lance also has to got somewhere that he can sit and learn for a season or two, but the reason I rank Lance ahead of Fields is Lance has a better, more accurate arm, and he already reads the field better than Fields. I do think Fields can learn and improve on the latter, but the arm and accuracy will never be as good as Lance's.
You could be right but I don't think there's enough data to really draw that conclusion. He had one year of JT Barrett (no NFL arm talent - not highly regarded), one year of Haskins (over-drafted and character issues) and now Fields at Ohio State. Outside of that he's only really worked as coordinators/position coaches at G5 schools and a couple years in the pros as a QB coach for Bradford and Kaepernick for a year each with Chippy.
Well it's not like I'm stating unequivocally that the OSU scheme is why Fields doesn't seem to read the whole field, I'm just saying that this would make sense to me since Fields does seem to read the whole field on other plays, so finding out that he's been coached to wait for his receivers to decide what they're going to do before he makes his decision would provide a reason for this.
I mean, this still isn't a good thing if it's the case. It still means he will need to work on going through his progressions in the NFL unless we adopt the Ohio State offense.
Pretty much. Can we just stop taking people based on physical talent with this franchise Vernon Gholston was a freak Stephen Hill was fast Muhammad Wilkerson was strong Sam has the physical tools Yada yada How about someone who can read a defense? Someone who can make split second decisions? These are things that cant be taught no matter how hard you try. Either you can do them or you cant. Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
Yeah and transitioning to the NFL is hard as it is, I can't imagine learning to go through progressions in an environment where everyone is bigger/faster/stronger than in college and defenses are more complex.
Now the Jets want to complete their QB evals (pro day, combines, interviews) before deciding on Sam? Wasn't it Douglas that said their evals are 95% complete and the senior bowl, pro day and combine are basically meaningless???
I was thinking the same thing. To me this is most likely a smokescreen or another leak designed to pump up Darnold's value before a trade by giving the impression that people with the Jets still think he can be the guy.
I disagree. Any/all college QBs have to work on their reads and progressions when they get to the NFL. I have seen Fields go through his progressions before, he's smart, and I'm not worried about him making that adjustment in the NFL.
This is a fair assessment and true but his game film looks like hes definitely behind the curve than some of the other prospects. This is a bigger leap than people think its going to be. Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
Trubisky never got better at going through his progressions. I remember some people saying that he would figure it out in the NFL. With Fields it's more than that. I have seen plays where he got to a read that was wide open and he wouldn't throw the ball.
I've seen the same thing from Lance and Wilson. I never thought Trubisky was a great prospect. I laughed my ass off when the Bears traded up to take him. I'm not surprised that he hasn't developed. I think that Fields is smarter and better and Trubisky.
The point that you're skipping over is that Trubisky has had 4 years to get better at it and never improved. You can't just gloss over mental traits and assume they get better in the NFL. QBs adjust to NFL speed in the first year or two in the NFL but they seldom gain new abilities they didn't have in college.
