QuarterBack Joseph Thomas Barrett ~ Ohio State BuckEyes ~ 6012/225
But I believe not only that Pocket Passing remains the Heart & Soul of successful QuarterBacking, but that the capacity of Speed QuarterBacks to master Pocket Passing can be and often is crippled by the Siren Song of Scrambling: A QuarterBack who has always had that "out" is far less likely to develop the skills that really matter.
Power QuarterBacks ~ The Men with the Golden Arms ~ are equally susceptible to falling Prey to the seductive allure of their own physical Talent: The more powerful their Cannons, the more likely I believe it is that they persistently depend upon that crutch as a Get Out Of Jail Card, and thus fail to develop a more comprehensive Skill Set.
And thus I perceive a Great Irony, one that continues, astonishingly, to elude most: The more explosive a Scrambler that a QuarterBack is, or the more powerful an Arm he boasts, the less likely that he is to achieve Greatness.
Conversely, it's the boring guys who consistently Move The Chains that give you the best Chance to win.
After New Year's Day, when The Only Games That Really Matter are played, History has been relentlessly savage to Power QuarterBacks and Speed QuarterBacks who failed to develop their Games: Once the weaker Teams have been eliminated, the PlayOff Defenses have invariably proven far too much for The Unprepared.
And if you're not prepared to compete after New Year's Day, why play at all??
In consideration of these thoughts, which, like many of my thoughts, fly in the face of what is amusingly considered to be Conventional Wisdom, this is how I break down the Criteria that I focus on, when evaluating QuarterBacks:
1 ~ Processing Speed
2 ~ Precision
3 ~ Pocket Presence
4 ~ FirePower
Processing Speed or Diagnostic Velocity is about how quickly and effectively one Reads & Reacts to the Rapidly Roiling Tactical LandScape. It's crucial at all 22 Positions, but utterly vital for a QuarterBack to succeed...or to even survive. Reading Coverages, working through Progressions, and selecting the best Receiving or Running Option.
Precision speaks above all to Mechanics: A QuarterBack's consistency with his Stance, his Set Up, and his Delivery. I refer to consistent Accuracy in the Short & Intermediate Zones, where the best Offenses all make their Bread & Butter. In breaking it down, I'm looking at Timing, Touch, and Trajectory: Leading Receivers to DayLight.
Pocket Presence & Poise Under Pressure is about Poise, or how one's Processing Speed and Precision stand up Under Pressure, and about one's Temporal & Spatial Instincts in navigating an often chaotic Pocket.
FirePower is a Category that I value, though not as much as others. I refer to Velocity and to DownField Precision, which I don't consider as crucial to Success as Short & Intermediate Precision. DownField Precision makes for tremendous HighLight Footage, but it's Short & Intermediate Precision that Moves The Chains and wins Championships.
Please note, if you will: I don't list 40 Speed among crucial Attributes at all.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Processing Speed
* Please Note: This is entirely about how rapidly the QuarterBack scans the Field and makes successful Decisions.
* Many College Offenses feature simple Offenses that make this challenging to evaluate.
* It is, nevertheless, far and away the most crucial Aspect of QuarterBacking.
Precision
* Accuracy ~ Placement that maximizes the Receiver's Advantage and minimizes that of the Defender.
* Timing ~ Being temporally In Sync with the Receiver. The Ball arriving precisely when the Receiver does.
* Touch ~ The right Speed for the right Play. Only throwing FastBalls when FastBalls are warranted.
* Trajectory ~ Being spatially In Sync with the Receiver ~ enabling him to catch the Ball In Stride.
Pocket Presence
* Processing Speed Under Pressure.
* Precision Under Pressure.
* Spatial & Temporal Instincts.
FirePower
* Velocity, irregardless of where he's throwing it: How fast is'is FastBall?
* DownField Precision ~ can he through the Bomb accurately?
That is presumably By Design of the BuckEye Offense, where he is evidently invited to Tuck & Run whenever his intended WideOut is covered, but I saw a number of Plays where the results were regrettable.
I could almost grade his Processing Speed as "Incomplete", such is the Dearth of Data with which to work, so far, except that there was Opportunity enough to evaluate'm based off'f those Plays where things broke down and he needed to improvise...And he too often seemed like he simply didn't know what to do: Like a Deer in HeadLights.
He is accounted to be very intelligent and to possess excellent Diagnostic Acuity. That may well be the case. But the BuckEyes run an Easy Read/Quick Strike ShotGun Offense that does very little to develop a QuarterBack's capacity to Work His Progressions, and therefore does very little to develop a QuarterBack's Processing Speed.
Barrett exhibits pretty shaky Processing Speed when the Bullets are flying, and the BuckEye Offense sure isn't helping him develop any. Cardale Jones seemed Years behind when he was drafted in the 4th Round last Year, and it seems as if Barrett may too fall Victim to Years of Development lost in an Easy Read/Quick Strike ShotGun Offense.
Precision: Mediocre. Impressive Mechanics, but his Timing, Touch, and Trajectory all need Work.
Pocket Presence & Poise Under Pressure: Marginal. Barrett is a genuine Hybrid/Dual Threat Zone Read QuarterBack, so his propensity to Tuck & Run is presumably very much By Design, but in terms of projecting him to the NFL, where he's gonna need to be able to rapidly read and effectively react to complex and deceptive Defenses, he seems to me to be Years behind. When he needs to improvise, he often does so hesitantly or poorly. And it's not gonna get easier.
FirePower: Mediocre, and without much Potential, as he simply lacks the FirePower.
Whenever I study QuarterBack Prospects of these Systems, I therefore Make Allowance for the reality that the Processing Speed that I'm viewing is both a product of the Prospect's intrinsic Processing Speed...and of Years spent without any effective Training in Working His Progressions, which of course develops Processing Speed.
In other Words: The Dear In The HeadLights might actually prove to be far quicker to read and react effectively to the Tactical LandScape in the Future, given the Opportunity to get some applicable Training.
But these Reports are of course about evaluating Potential/Risk, and Joseph Barrett, in my opinion, has give little reason to suggest that he is a very good Bet to develop the Processing Speed and Field Vision sufficiently to succeed.
Given that, and his otherwise mediocre Game, I'd say that he projects as a Developmental Zone Read QuarterBack, one with an outside shot at competing as a Starter in a few Years, and worth a Late Round Investment.
Thank you so very much, Draft BreakDown, without whom my Work would be virtually possible.
Market Value 3rd ~ 5th Round | Yankee Grade 6th/7th Round |
This is not is even remotely a Complaint, mind you, but rather a Warning: Caveat Emptor!!