czman
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History has shown us that there are some QB traits you cannot move the needle on with coaching, or at least not very much.
The ability to process the game faster than it is played is not something you can teach. If someone processes the game slowly, there should be no expectation that they will ever process the game quickly. Maybe they can get minuscully better.
Footwork, throwing mechanics, accuracy. These three are very intertwined. Players who are legitimately bad at these will never be good at them. You can probably move the needle a small amount, but it not much at all. These players have been throwing a ball for years. They can train all they want in the off season but mechanics tend to go back to what they are once someone starts getting hit.
Cutler was a great example of this. His mechanics would get worse and worse as he took hits. It is not just him all QBs do. Even ones with good mechanics to start with. You really can't legitimately fix these. If they are broken, they will never be good. No one should take a QB with the thought of fixing their mechanics.
Arm strength is probably the most consistently improvable traits in a QB. Almost all QBs coming out of college with less than great arms can gain 2-3 MPH on their throws. many can gain even more. Obviously all QBs start to lose arm strength if they play a long time and having a better arm to begin with means you can have a longer career before your arms falls off, but that is 10+ years down the line. A 10+ year starter for the same team is a good draft pick or a horrible origination.
Decision making is probably the most improvable trait, but it also probably takes the longest to improve. This means that the organization needs to be patient and the fan base needs to be patient. It can literally take 3+ years for a QB to move from bad decision making to average.
Since there are something's you cannot move the needle on or not very much they are the most important. If I am looking at a QB to draft here is what I want in this order:
Quick decision making.
Mechanics, footwork and accuracy all have to be average or better .
Arm strength and decision making are at the bottom. The order would go based upon how much time I really had and how patient my fan base/owner was. I would put decision making at the bottom if I had all the time in the word, as long as it was not just God awful decision making.
When you look at the best QBs over the last 20 years (alphabetical order):
Brady
Brees
Manning
Rodgers
They all were very quick to process the game coming out of college and had good mechanics. Most of their questions, if any, were about arm strength, height, athleticism. None of these guys were fix their mechanics.
I don't follow college at all and I don't pretend to know anything about this QB class. What I do know is a lot of people are talking about the fixable traits of QBs. The truth is there are not that many fixable traits. Draft a QB who can process quickly and has good mechanics. Keep him upright by getting him players that can generate separation. You have a chance. If you don't do those things you will get the QB beat up and they will never reach their potential
The ability to process the game faster than it is played is not something you can teach. If someone processes the game slowly, there should be no expectation that they will ever process the game quickly. Maybe they can get minuscully better.
Footwork, throwing mechanics, accuracy. These three are very intertwined. Players who are legitimately bad at these will never be good at them. You can probably move the needle a small amount, but it not much at all. These players have been throwing a ball for years. They can train all they want in the off season but mechanics tend to go back to what they are once someone starts getting hit.
Cutler was a great example of this. His mechanics would get worse and worse as he took hits. It is not just him all QBs do. Even ones with good mechanics to start with. You really can't legitimately fix these. If they are broken, they will never be good. No one should take a QB with the thought of fixing their mechanics.
Arm strength is probably the most consistently improvable traits in a QB. Almost all QBs coming out of college with less than great arms can gain 2-3 MPH on their throws. many can gain even more. Obviously all QBs start to lose arm strength if they play a long time and having a better arm to begin with means you can have a longer career before your arms falls off, but that is 10+ years down the line. A 10+ year starter for the same team is a good draft pick or a horrible origination.
Decision making is probably the most improvable trait, but it also probably takes the longest to improve. This means that the organization needs to be patient and the fan base needs to be patient. It can literally take 3+ years for a QB to move from bad decision making to average.
Since there are something's you cannot move the needle on or not very much they are the most important. If I am looking at a QB to draft here is what I want in this order:
Quick decision making.
Mechanics, footwork and accuracy all have to be average or better .
Arm strength and decision making are at the bottom. The order would go based upon how much time I really had and how patient my fan base/owner was. I would put decision making at the bottom if I had all the time in the word, as long as it was not just God awful decision making.
When you look at the best QBs over the last 20 years (alphabetical order):
Brady
Brees
Manning
Rodgers
They all were very quick to process the game coming out of college and had good mechanics. Most of their questions, if any, were about arm strength, height, athleticism. None of these guys were fix their mechanics.
I don't follow college at all and I don't pretend to know anything about this QB class. What I do know is a lot of people are talking about the fixable traits of QBs. The truth is there are not that many fixable traits. Draft a QB who can process quickly and has good mechanics. Keep him upright by getting him players that can generate separation. You have a chance. If you don't do those things you will get the QB beat up and they will never reach their potential
