Any chance we can make the votes in the poll public? I've lost track of who posters want. Profile pictures usually work well but not everyone has a profile pic of the guy they want. Nevermind, just figured out you have to click on the actual number of votes. Ignore my stupidity please.
I heard a story that he threw the ball through the goal posts from the 50 yard line while on his knees. That can't be true, right?
Well now I think I understand much better what you're saying, and I don't think we're far off in our assessments, but we do disagree on what that means for the Jets. I'll touch on the "arm strength at Met Life" first. The best way I can answer this concern is to mention Pennington who I think was very successful despite not having even as strong an arm as I think Wilson has, and Penny was still effective even after he got hurt - although he relied much more on guile and short passes and a decent running attack. In short, If Pennington could succeed at the Meadowlands I feel confident that Wilson can. As to the "never being under pressure", Wilson was in fact under pressure a few times, even if not for an entire game, but in the CC game he was actually under pressure quite a lot and IMO he played well given the other conditions I mentioned. And of course "instinct" or "innate understanding" are highly subjective because we can't really see what's going on on the field and what his choices really are. From what I see it looks like he's doing things to take advantage of defenses, and not just going with his first read. I could be overstating this, but it's a gut feeling I guess for me. And I get that using the #2 pick on a player who no one can say is "can't miss" (and I include all the QBs here) is a risk, but really can't we say this about pretty much every college QB? Even Peyton had some doubters. So the question then becomes: Do you want to reduce your risk as much as possible. which almost certainly means that your "reward" is lowered? Or do you you take the higher risk because your "reward" will be higher? For me, the answer is the latter. But at some point, whether it's this year or next or the year after, the Jets are going to have take that higher risk, so THEN the question becomes: do you think there will be better prospects available AND will the Jets be able to draft one in a future draft? And for me, I don't think so. Anyway, glad I'm off "Ignore" for you!
You watch these clips and you can see the talent, and his ability to make plays and bring his team back under pressure. Wilson did not face teams as good as these, which is one of his admitted shortcomings. That said, Wilson didn't have the talent around him like Fields did, so it makes it hard to quantify this for me. Fields is more accurate than I recalled, although not necessarily more than Wilson ( I still rate Wilson slightly higher). His "athleticism" is better than WIlson, but maybe that's more in the style than in actual athletic measures: he's more like a RB and has to be respected for that ability, like Allen maybe, whereas Wilson can certainly run, even for big yardage, but I don't think he presents the same running threat as Fields. One difference I see as an advantage for Wilson is that Fields seems more like a "programmed" QB - like someone took a great athlete and taught him how to be a QB. And this POV contrasts with what someone here (I think it was Kurt) said about Wilson - I think it's the opposite, that Wilson seems like a multi-disciplined athlete - like Mahomes was - who eventually focused on football and the QB position, and he brings more of an "ad lib" aspect to his game. Of course that's completely subjective and I can't support it any more beyond what I just said. Anyway I wouldn't be upset with Fields being the pick, but I still don't think he's as good as Wilson.
On an absolute basis Fields threw very few interceptions last season. On a per attempt basis it was quite a bit higher. Fields threw 6 interceptions on 225 attempts last season compared to 3 interceptions on 336 attempts for Wilson. So Wilson had half as many interceptions on roughly 50% more attempts. That's significant. For perspective, Mac Jones threw 4 interceptions on 402 attempts last season and Lawrence threw 5 on 334 attempts. Fields did throw a very small percentage of interceptions in 2019, though. For the record I like Fields as a prospect a lot, I just prefer Wilson slightly.
Yeah I mean in a vacuum that makes sense. But people forget that Lawrence started off his 2019 season pretty poorly relative to him being an elite prospect but he had an entire season to work through early struggles. Fields had six regular season games including essentially no off-season program and his season started a month and a half late. Of course, so did his opponents but BYU and Clemson had a much more normal CFB season to prepare for. Not to mention that BYU was never on the field against a team with more talented than their squad.
No disrespect to all the great insight here but the more video highlights reviewed the more we seem to find ways to talk ourselves out of any specific QB with the first pick because of some perceived weaknesses over a big range of pluses. Not too different than those made about the likes of Aaron, Mahomes, Burrow, Murray, Allen, Mayfield, and so on. Our own Sam was deemed the most pro ready of the bunch that year but go figure. I know is hard to evaluate QBs but I rather make the pick and miss when I have the chance than to wait till all the stars line up. I say grab Wilson and develop him for a year and don’t look back.
I completely agree. In a way it seems like the #2 comes with the "baggage" of unreachable expectation, and gives the feeling of much greater risk. IDK, maybe that's the reality of it, but it turns what should be a blessing into a curse. On the plus side I think that there are potentially 6 QBs that could turn into very good, and possibly great QBs. And also a plus, I believe Douglas has the experience and knowledge to make the right choice, including deciding to pass on all of them and stick with Sam or even trade for Watson. As far as us here on TGG, this is a great opportunity for us to trade our opinions which is what a forum is for.
Excellent post, LA! I totally agree. It's crazy how some posters can't recognize talent. I honestly think that some of them want us to lose. They enjoy being miserable and fear the Jets becoming a winner.
You'll be ordering the Sam Darnold special then? Looks great in the package but always leaves you disappointed and looking for more an hour or 3 later
