I think that's exactly what Sellers is going to do: transfer and try to raise his stock. Right now I am not sure if the stock is that high. It might get higher by the time draft rolls, be he has to make a decision to declare by Jan. Sellers is also one of the highest paid NIL guys. So, in his case, unlike Moore's, there is enough there to hold off for a year. Of course he could be thinking differently, we just never know, but it feels like there is a pretty high probability he does not declare. I wish he did, since it would give us another option, but I think it is unlikely. We will have to wait a month to find out.
I think a big difference to be frank is that Sellers is a pretty smart guy and Fields doesn't appear to be a smart person. Being coachable is important.
I don't remember Fields having a rep for being dumb in College. He also had amazing College moment with 6TDs against Lawrence in the semis. Had another year where he was close to winning Heisman. He was a pretty good prospect too and did get drafted fairly high at young age. Basically I don't remember too many red flags about Fields then, which Sellers does not have now. In general there were not too much negative about him. Some reputable folks thought he was better than Lawrence and should go #1, something you are saying about Sellers next year.
I shared before that Fields had 4 1st round draft picks at wide receiver. Looking back now, the nameless "reputable" people you are describing were wrong about why Ohio State was winning and overlooked that talent at WR
Is that what you thought at the time: that Fields was not good as a QB prospect out of College? Also, they are not nameless. JT O'Sullivan from QB School thought he was QB1, he does a lot of all 22 study, and while he was wrong obviously, he is still pretty reputable. No one is always right. Especially when it comes to QB. He did not like Zach that much for instance.
I was impressed by his performance in the Sugar Bowl but I did not think he was a better prospect than Trevor Lawrence. Idk why we are even discussing this mostly? I'm so confused about your point to keep bringing up Justin Fields when discussing the eligible prospects in 2026
I didn't bring up Fields at all. Others did and compared to Sellers. The reasons are quite obvious: both have great athletic profile, dual threat, while pure passing stats don't jump off he page, need development, etc... That was a valid point. You then said it's different because Sellers is smart and Fields is not. I then asked if you thought Fields was not smart or was not a good prospect at the time. And it sounds like you thought he was impressive at the time also, just like Sellers now. The point is how is Seller's different to what Fields looked at the time, because clearly there are aforementioned similarities?
I've watched every single snap Sellers has taken. I did not with Fields, I was a casual observer at best with Fields so at the time is irrelevant and not comparable because I knew very little about him in comparison
I didn't like Fields, but to be fair I did like Wilson and he was awful too lol. Projecting college QBs is hard, no one is really great at it. Even former QBs get these projections wrong a lot more often than not. The takeaways from Fields and Wilson failing are similar. From Fields - I learned that you can't blindly trust great stats even when they're earned against good competition. College is full of QB-friendly systems and there are huge coaching differences which have a major impact. Fields also had all-world receiving talent which should've been somewhat of a red flag. The lesson from Wilson was to not discount level of competition. I dismissed it when scouting him and it turned out to be a big mistake. Kudos to @Jonathan_Vilma for identifying that early. Going back to Sellers - there's just very little evidence of prospects like him working out in the pros. His passing ability is a complete projection. We can speculate about how he'd do on a different college team but even then, it's speculation on top of speculation. We're speculating that A) he'd be a better passer with a different college program and B) he'll be a good passer in the pros. That's a lot of speculation. The ideal QB prospect looks something like this: Good level of competition in college Decent surrounding talent relative to competition (more than decent raises questions) Multi-year starter (3+ ideally) Pass-first, running only as a last resort No massive coaching edge relative to competition The prospect's stats need to be considered relative to the above criteria.
I LOVE it when a QB trucks any player! He's got some wheels too. I'll have to do my usual YouTube search to see more. I wouldn't hate on that being the pick AND we get to keep all the draft capital! THAT is what I'm talking about.
I was conversely wrong about Fields as he was the guy I wanted but I think the fact that the speculation is that if Sellers wasn’t on a garbage team this year he’d be a top ten pick means there’s something there. I think if you watch his 2024 tape when South Carolina wasn’t severely outgunned, you’d be impressed. If you watch his 2025 tape he’s under siege every snap and they have a bottom tier rushing defense. 121st out of 136th in all of college football in yards per game. That’s down there with teams most people didn’t realize were D1 like Kent State and Middle Tennessee State.
I'll definitely check this out. Here's where I'm at with the Sellers discussion. 1st, I'll look at this whole game to see if I can glean any meaningful opinions, HOWEVER, I saw someone mention he could go a little later. Now, I don't know about you all but, if this kid has the potential to fall to the Indy pick, which looks like it'll be a little higher than expected, is that a good landing spot? We get BPA at 5 or wherever we end up landing and then Sellers at the lower pick. I guess my question is, would he fall that far, thinking the Indy pick will be somewhere between 10 & 20, and would that satisfy the folks, like @REVISion, who are 100% accurate about Sellers comparison to Fields. At least, comparison in so much as they are both running QB's. I do take into consideration @Jonathan_Vilma's point that Fields basically had college HoF'ers catching his passes vs. Sellers with a bunch of UDFAR's. That makes a huge difference. Sellers, clearly, IS South Carolina's offense whereas Fields was just a QB throwing to some of the best receivers IN the NFL right now. Definitely worth watching. I wonder...Sellers might be the kind of kid that really benefits from going and playing in one of the all star games, if anything just to get exposure to some better talent as far as players are concerned. Bottom line, we simply HAVE to take a QB this year at some point. A low 1st round "flyer" is a lot better than blowing a top 10 pick on a "maybe" along with the draft capital it might take to move up. Point is, they take a shot, don't throw draft resources in the toilet and, if Sellers looks bad, they take another shot in 2027.
A lot of bums fall in that category too though. What you have there is true of Will Levis, Kenny Pickett, Daniel Jones, Drew Lock At the end of the day I would trust athleticism myself. Especially in this day and age where running QBs are having a renaissance anyway.
Actually, in that first clip, shared by @Jonathan_Vilma, he did more read/react than Fields has done all year. I saw that LB'er crashing in and he read that, reacted, pulled the ball in then TD. So, even though that is the very 1st time I've seen the kid do a football play, it's clear that he can read a little. Also, I don't consider a 10-20 1st round pick "high" as long as it's not traded for. As many keep pointing out to me, more often than not, teams aren't winning without a QB taken in the 1st round. This is a possibility that doesn't preclude the team from taking another shot in 2027 if the kid doesn't remotely pan our or grow or be coachable. Food for thought.
There really aren’t similarities though. They’re both black guys that are athletic which is about where it stops. I’m not insinuating any one is being racism by trying to draw a comparison between them either. They look similar on highlight tapes so it’s easy to draw the comparison. Fields was a pure pocket passer who ran as a last resort. Fields threw a billion touchdowns in an offense littered with NFL players. He was always reluctant to run in college despite being one of the best athletes on the field. He fancied himself as a pocket passer. Fields motion is also atrocious for any sort of timing pattern that’s not a bomb. I think you can describe Sellers as a mobile QB. No reluctance to run. Much smoother motion with wrist flicking ability to get the ball where he wants. Bigger and navigates/breaks the pocket quicker because he’s not reluctant to run. I’ll try to find it but his tape vs. Missouri and Alabama last year is so good to watch. Both top 25 teams.
Mendoza checks most - maybe all - of these boxes. I think he is the safest prospect. And after watching him a lot I do have to agree with @Jonathan_Vilma and @BrowningNagle about limited upside. Now, don't take me wrong I would take Goff 100 out of 100 times, but the thing is, it's not like he is guaranteed to be Goff. When you trade up major assets, you want that upside to be a bit higher. But if he is there when we pick or maybe we have to trade a spot and give up a little, I would take him, no issues. Moore fits these boxes too, but not ideally when it comes to multi year starter category. He started 5 games in the 1st year, than sat in the second, and started 12 games this year plus more to come. He may get to around 20 total, but still starting experience is less than ideal. I think he has great upside though. And another thing I love is his quick release time. His average time to throw is 2.56. And he actually improved it from earlier in the year. He keeps getting better at only 20 years of age. For comparison, Sellers is 3.16, Simpson 2.96, Mendoza 2.70. If Moore can keep up what he is doing in the play-offs, I would take a chance on his smaller 20 game start sample and trade up. And you could see it visually as well, Moore gets rid of the ball very well and is extremely accurate. In that game against Clemson I posted, Sellers had his best passing performance of his career. And yet I still see him holding on the ball ball a big long, some inaccurate throws, and the picks, at least one of them was a really bad decision. Second one, pick 6, less egregious. Still, I have to agree with @BrowningNagle that the kid had massive talent and upside to go in the 1st round this year, but maybe towards the end. It's high risk/high reward type of situation. I don't think he will declare this year though.
I wonder if say our pick ends up 6-7, but Indy 13-14. Raiders take Moore, and we don't want to trade up for Mendoza, who goes #2. We then pick at 6, 13 and trade up our second into the backend of the 1st round to grab Sellers? Similar to what the Giants did with Dart or when we got JJ. I can probably live with something like that, though I would prefer to come out with Moore. This is assuming Sellers declares though, which I have my doubts.
Let me make one final point on all this QB draft vs. FA etc.... The Indianapolis Colts just SIGNED a freakin' 44 year old HoF semifinalist! It has GOT to be bad if teams, in the playoff hunt, are yanking dudes off the street who haven't tossed the rock in a meaningful game in over FIVE years. As I scan the landscape of FA's and veteran QB's, we may as well throw the golden truck at Taylor, to convince him to stay, because he's no better/worse than what we're going to be able to pull in during the offseason. Injuries not withstanding at this point. Every single team that has a backup QB that any one of us has been drooling, hoping, crossing fingers for is going to be targeted for re-signing by their current respective teams.......IF those teams GM's are on the ball. It's becoming quite clear that the QB position has become razor thin and bare. "Hitting" on that college QB is very clearly becoming a near necessity. Just thinking out loud when it comes to guys like Sellers or anyone else who might declare for the draft. Final thought as I just saw @Borat's comment on Mendoza... Dude, that fucking kid will get EATEN ALIVE in NY. I FEEL it in every fiber of my being. I've only gotten that "feeling" once or twice in my lifetime but I'm batting 100%. Not only that, Mendoza, for a FACT, will require this team burn major draft capital to move up. Capital that this team desperately needs to actually field a team around any QB they pick. I want Z-E-R-O to do with that kid in NY. Period. If he falls, then he falls but, I swear to anyone who will listen, if this teams takes a "flyer" on Mendoza and the very next pick of a WR or defender turns into a HoF'er, I'll lose my shit. As far as Moore is concerned, who knows. HOWEVER, I ALSO do not condone blowing a shitload of draft capital on a "who knows" either.
See...there, again. I agree with almost everything you said but, damnit...... NO TRADE UPS!!! PERIOD!!!
Well Sellers throws the ball down the field a lot so you generally have to hold the ball longer. True down field throws too, more catch and runs that gain a lot of yards on YAC. Missouri 2024 is definitely his best passing game ever, not Clemson (putting statistics aside). Moore throws it deep but they throw a lot of successful WR tunnel screens. My concern with Moore is - will he stand in a dirty pocket and navigate it? Will he step up in the pocket?He looked pretty bad in this regard against Indiana. He also didn’t hang in there at all when he saw a hit coming and deliver a strike. Go watch the cut up. I’ll try to find it. Oregon runs a lot of deep drops out of shotgun if it’s not a tunnel screen. He doesn’t really step up much and he’s stood behind a wall this entire year. I wonder if he’s one of the least hit QB’s in the sport? He’s one of the least sacked but QB hits would be interesting. To Mendoza’s credit, he stands in there and gets hit.
