NFL Draft QB Follow-Up

As I wrote before the draft, I didn't really believe any of the 2013 draft class was worthy of a first round pick.  The Buffalo Bills selection of Florida State's EJ Manuel in the middle of the round caught many by surprise, including me.  I wrote for JoeBucsFan.com that Manuel might be a good option for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third or fourth round, after Oklahoma's Landry Jones.  I based that opinion on mechanics.  Jones has solid mechanics, maybe the best in the draft, while Manuel is inconsistent with his.  Manuel has a bigger upside, probably the biggest in the draft and that is why the Bills reached a little bit with the former Seminole signal-caller.

Geno Smith became this year's Dan Marino/Aaron Rogers, though both Marino and Rogers were actual possibilities to go early in the first round and fell.  It sounds as if Geno Smith was being misled into believing that he was not only first round worth, but early first round.  I didn't see it, as you can read in an earlier posting right here at AmericasBestQB.com, and neither did any of the 32 NFL football clubs.  After publicly saying he wasn't going to stay in New York for Day 2 of the draft, someone talked some sense into him and he stayed for the New York Jets to get some photo ops on the big stage as they picked him up with the 39th pick, an appropriate landing spot and the best place he could go for an early opportunity to take over!

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a relatively surprising 3rd round pick of North Carolina State's Mike Glennon.  The tallest QB in the draft is slightly bigger than Bucs starter Josh Freeman and while he shouldn't push for playing time this year, if Freeman falters in his contract year, Glennon may get a prime shot to take over in Tampa in 2014!

USC's Matt Barkley probably didn't think he would last as long as he did, falling to the fourth round and the Philadelphia Eagles.  I think Barkley could end up a solid starter in the league, but doubt that he will ever achieve greatness.  The New York Giants added Syracuse's Ryan Nassib, thought to possibly go to his college coach's Buffalo Bills, but he will get a chance to learn behind Eli Manning, a pretty nice place to be.

The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up the aforementioned Landry Jones, where he will be given the proper development time to start fighting Big Ben Roethlisberger in a couple years, the way it should be done.

Overall, this year's average crop of slingers fell into some pretty good situations for success in the coming years.  Geno Smith may not be too happy about what he has gotten himself into or how early he will be getting booed in New York, as I'm sure Mark Sanchez is still surprised how fast the wheels have fallen off of his career that looked so bright not too long ago.

QB's Struggle At All-Star Competition

I love compeitions.  That is why I named my company America's Best Quarterback.  I wanted to develop a series of competitions for all QB's (young and old, pro, x-pro and amateur) to compete across the country and see who was the best.  We had a great even a few years ago, but just didn't have the abitlity to grow it the way I had envisioned. 

I happened upon a college All-Star competition this afternoon that pitted "teams" against each other.  The NFL prospect QB's (EJ Manuel, Jordan Rodgers, Mike Glennon, Ryan Nassib).  Each of the four had issues dropping a single ball into a large net only 20 yards away and each of them had problems for different mechanical reasons.

EJ Manuel opened his body up to the throw (his chest was facing the target before his started his throwing motion) so that he reach back behind his head too far.  Stay "sqare" to the target with your your front hip and shoulder pointed at the target as long as possible (like a golfer) for the best accuracy.  You can see in the photo that he does this in real football as well.  Opening up like this reduces his accuracy and power.  He seems to have enough natural power, but even though his college completion percentage was very good, in the NFL, this mechanical flaw will haunt him.

Jordan Rodgers completed the task faster than the others, but he too had accuracy issues.  He drops the ball on first movement and then brings the ball behind his head and back, pointing the front end of the ball to the sky, creating an elongated delivery and making it hard to bring the ball back down the target in time.  He should watch his brother's mechanics a lot more closely and mimic those, where Aaron Rogers keeps the front tip of the ball facing the ground much more often by keeping his ball on top of his elbow with a straight wrist (which is the best way to throw).

Mike Glennon embarrassed himself in this meaningless competition.  He threw the ball short of the target many times because he was throwing directly at it and not giving it any loft.  This was an OK strategy as the ball would have gone in the net, but he was short and didn't correct his error.  The reason he was short was because he kept throwing with a stiff left knee.  Like shooting a free throw in basketball with stiff legs, the ball will be very flat.  To get proper trajectory, the shooter should have some bend in the knees, which fixes balance.  QB's should always have bend in their hips and knees.  The front knee bends even more after release and then goes straight after the ball is well out of the QB's hand.

Ryan Nassib had very much the same problem as Jordan Rodgers, but even more so.  He takes the ball so far behind his head he almost touches the ball to his back.  It is very difficult to bring the ball around in time to make consistently accurate throws and when he meets NFL quality competition, he and others that throw like him, will find that they don't have the luxury to take that much time throwing the ball.  These type throwers either get hit while throwing more often than others or decide they can't make the throw and pull the ball down more often, which causes more sacks and broken plays.

Ultimately these manufactured QB competitions don't prove anything about how a player plays when there are 22 guys on the field, but they are fun to watch and do

uncover some mechanical issues for them to improve so that their transition to the next level will give them their best chance at success!

B.J. Daniels Era Starts Right at FSU

Matt Grothe's record setting career ended last Saturday for the University of South Florida and the mantle was passed to redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels today. His first start came at Florida State this afternoon and looks like he will someday be the record setting QB from USF.
Daniels looks to be faster, quicker and a better overall passer than Grothe. He ended the day only 8 of 22, but he is a do everything player and will surely take USF to even greater heights than they have before.
Florida State was its own worst enemy, turning the ball over a number of times, but USF made plays and beat the Seminoles today. It was no accident. The Bulls and Head Coach Jim Leavitt continue to dominate competition outside of the Big East and are now 4-0 this season. The challenge, as it has been every year, is to make it happen in conference play. With B.J. Daniels at the helm, that should be fun to watch.

Jumbo Errors For Jimbo Fisher

The Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles haven't had a great game in a while, but that changed last night after a back and forth see-saw battle finally tilted in favor of the Canes on the Noles field.
I loved the game, but was bothered by the clock management of the next head coach of the FSU. While current head coach Bobby Bowden looked more like a figurehead than ever before, Jimbo Fisher seemed out of his element in play-calling down the stretch as time was winding down.
The Noles wasted at least one if not two of their time-outs as they made wholesale substitutions with the clock winding to under :20 seconds and ran option with the QB, which was stymied earlier in the game as it was again for a loss of yards and kept the clock running down.
And on third down and :05 seconds to go, he called a roll-out! This limited him to only one play! He could have had two if he would have called a quick hitting play on third down. He should have rolled out on the final play of the game if third down wasn't successful.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it wasn't pretty watching FSU "fumble" around on the final plays of the great game that it was.