QB Geno Smith ~ West Virginia
Mountaineers ~ 6024/216
Mountaineers ~ 6024/216
Regarding QuarterBacks
All other considerations aside, I've boiled it down to a mere three Attributes to which I lend the vast majority of crucial importance ~ maybe 80% of the whole picture ~ when I'm evaluating QuarterBack Prospects:
Motor > How Dedicated is he to Conditioning his body & Mentally Mastering this Great Game?
Accuracy > Projection of the Projection or Anticipatory Vision > How consistently well does he Lead his Targets?
Diagnostics > Precision & Speed > How Effectively & Rapidly does he Process his Progressions + Read & React?
Arm Strength is vastly overrated, and scrambling ability, while exciting, is ultimately worse than useless, because History makes it clear that Scramblers, over the years ~ and indeed, the same could be said about the thousands of QuarterBacks who've failed despite a great Arm ~ ultimately fail to focus all their energy on QuarterBacking.
Mobility, alike, is vastly overrated. Steve Young is the only Scrambler who ever won a Super Bowl, and he won it because he was on a great team, because Barry Switzer can't coach at the NFL level or the CowBoys would've rolled the Miners again in 1994, and because he eased up on the scrambling. He became a QuarterBack.
Mind you: I'd hardly suggest that Arm Strength isn't nice to have...But the temptation to let'er rip ~ and to relying on that Capacity ~ can have a crippling effect on developing those skills that most matter, deep in the Heart of Winter.
And often they have been.
Countless times, in fact.
And don't get me started on Scrambling.
Motor, Accuracy, and Diagnostics are what ultimately win Championships.
It's not as easy as simply counting the Rings, because Fortune & Circumstance play a large part in the Fates of Men. And it sure as Hell isn't racking up gaudy Statistic during the regular Season. It's the Capacity and the Will to do the thousands of little things that put one's team in the best position to win, day in and day out ~ and doing them well ~ that is the ultimate measure of any QuarterBack, albeit one ~ ironically ~ that's impossible to quantify.
It's the ability to Read & React with Speed & deadly Accuracy against the nastiest, wiliest Defenses on the Planet, deep in the Heart of Winter...and the Will to dedicate Years to intensive Training & Study in order to be able to.
That is what separates Tom Brady from the Pack ~ including Peyton Manning, thank you ~ and always has been.
Motor > How Dedicated is he to Conditioning his body & Mentally Mastering this Great Game?
Accuracy > Projection of the Projection or Anticipatory Vision > How consistently well does he Lead his Targets?
Diagnostics > Precision & Speed > How Effectively & Rapidly does he Process his Progressions + Read & React?
Arm Strength is vastly overrated, and scrambling ability, while exciting, is ultimately worse than useless, because History makes it clear that Scramblers, over the years ~ and indeed, the same could be said about the thousands of QuarterBacks who've failed despite a great Arm ~ ultimately fail to focus all their energy on QuarterBacking.
Mobility, alike, is vastly overrated. Steve Young is the only Scrambler who ever won a Super Bowl, and he won it because he was on a great team, because Barry Switzer can't coach at the NFL level or the CowBoys would've rolled the Miners again in 1994, and because he eased up on the scrambling. He became a QuarterBack.
Mind you: I'd hardly suggest that Arm Strength isn't nice to have...But the temptation to let'er rip ~ and to relying on that Capacity ~ can have a crippling effect on developing those skills that most matter, deep in the Heart of Winter.
And often they have been.
Countless times, in fact.
And don't get me started on Scrambling.
Motor, Accuracy, and Diagnostics are what ultimately win Championships.
It's not as easy as simply counting the Rings, because Fortune & Circumstance play a large part in the Fates of Men. And it sure as Hell isn't racking up gaudy Statistic during the regular Season. It's the Capacity and the Will to do the thousands of little things that put one's team in the best position to win, day in and day out ~ and doing them well ~ that is the ultimate measure of any QuarterBack, albeit one ~ ironically ~ that's impossible to quantify.
It's the ability to Read & React with Speed & deadly Accuracy against the nastiest, wiliest Defenses on the Planet, deep in the Heart of Winter...and the Will to dedicate Years to intensive Training & Study in order to be able to.
That is what separates Tom Brady from the Pack ~ including Peyton Manning, thank you ~ and always has been.
Geno Smith Scouting Report
Motor > Magnificent. Smith is a passionate, dedicated Student of the Game, relentlessly striving to improve.
Accuracy > Inconsistent. His Mechanics are raw as Pig Slop, and both his Drop and his FootWork are sketchy as Hell, wreaking Havoc on'is Accuracy. He's actually tremendously Strong in the Pocket, Poised & Patient as long as he isn't getting overrun by one'f the better Defenses ~ which's true of most NFL QuarterBacks, mind you!! But the dramatic drop off in'is Pocket Presence against the scarier Defenses gives me serious doubts, I'm afraid...
Diagnostics > Dubious. I have grave doubts about his Capacity to read Defenses at the next level. He executes extremely well against inferior Competition and on Quick Reads, but goes to pieces in the Big Games against more complex Defenses. This could prove to be a fatal fault at the next level, especially if he's rushed into Battle.
Prospectus
It's hard to be Objective about a Prospect with all the exposure ~ and all the seductive Propaganda coursing in dramatically divergent directions ~ about'm...But I shall endeavor to do my utmost...
Geno Smith is by all Accounts a passionate, dedicated Student of the Game. And he improved every single Year at West Virginia, despite having to learn a completely different Offense over his last two years, going from Under Center to The Spread, and undergoing the Coaching changes, as well.
That, in itself, is extremely impressive.
Frankly, I love the kid: He is a raging Workaholic, despite what that occasionally insightful but lunatic @$$ at Pro FootBall Weekly might say, and is clearly obsessed with becoming as good as he can possibly be...
It's just that I believe that his spectacular statistical success this Year has combined with the cataclysmic Vacuum of QuarterBack Talent in this year's Draft Class to propel his Market Value far beyond that which is warranted.
I am firmly convinced that if the only 3 QuarterBacks in a given Draft Class were a Kleenex, a Bucket of Spit, and a Rolled Up NewsPaper, they would nevertheless all be draftted by the end of the 1st Round.
...And someone would Trade Up for the Rolled Up NewsPaper.
Nature Abhors a Vacuum, they say.
I believe that Geno Smith has Potential, and when things are clicking, his Game is truly Beautiful. But based on the way he mentally locked up during those Disasters against Texas Tech and Kansas State, he is, in my extraordinarily unqualified and vapid Judgement, no more than a Potential Starter at this point, and warrants only a Day 3 Pick.
Geno Smith is by all Accounts a passionate, dedicated Student of the Game. And he improved every single Year at West Virginia, despite having to learn a completely different Offense over his last two years, going from Under Center to The Spread, and undergoing the Coaching changes, as well.
That, in itself, is extremely impressive.
Frankly, I love the kid: He is a raging Workaholic, despite what that occasionally insightful but lunatic @$$ at Pro FootBall Weekly might say, and is clearly obsessed with becoming as good as he can possibly be...
It's just that I believe that his spectacular statistical success this Year has combined with the cataclysmic Vacuum of QuarterBack Talent in this year's Draft Class to propel his Market Value far beyond that which is warranted.
I am firmly convinced that if the only 3 QuarterBacks in a given Draft Class were a Kleenex, a Bucket of Spit, and a Rolled Up NewsPaper, they would nevertheless all be draftted by the end of the 1st Round.
...And someone would Trade Up for the Rolled Up NewsPaper.
Nature Abhors a Vacuum, they say.
I believe that Geno Smith has Potential, and when things are clicking, his Game is truly Beautiful. But based on the way he mentally locked up during those Disasters against Texas Tech and Kansas State, he is, in my extraordinarily unqualified and vapid Judgement, no more than a Potential Starter at this point, and warrants only a Day 3 Pick.
Yank Rank: Potential Starter ~ Vastly
OverRated!!
OverRated!!
| Perceived Market Value Top 10 | Yankee Grade 4th Round |
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