But the knock from many, you included, was that he lacked arm strength. He clearly does not have that issue.
It was a matter of ball speed more so than raw arm strength along with an accuracy issue, both of which are attributable to bad mechanics. If so, both are fixable, it'll just take time.
I agree that that's a fixable issue. But the knock wasn't on ball speed during games. It was on ball speed at the combine. People were blind pretending that those kids go into the combine and throw as hard as they can during the drills. Some may. Others, especially those that have other things going through their heads - like footwork, maintaining accuracy, mechanics, etc. - will not. That's why I always thought the arm strength doubters were ignorant. It's clearly there on tape. Tape is what matters. The combine is fun, but as we all know, completely overblown.
After 25 throws, to me it's clear, Watson has average arm strength. Over time he will improve the velocity of his fastball with better mechanics. And still accuracy, quick release, and anticipation are more important than velocity. What I didn't like: - Sailed seam throws (three times) - A couple throws were not tight spirals What I loved: - Poise in the pocket and on the move IMO he never bailed early, he bailed right when he should have and he didn't bail to run but to extend the play and kept his eyes up field. - Before the snap, reading the defense and diagnosing the blitz There are no highlights of him presnap, but he moved a confused Foreman on one play, to his side where he immediately was needed to pick up the blitz. And on a corner blitz, he read it immediately and hit his hot receiver before the safety moved over. - He was going through his progressions This will speed up over time, but some QBs *coughBrockcough* never even attempt this, and instead lock in on someone and hope they get open. - Smart, even when inaccurate, ball placement The ONLY pass a defender had a chance at getting his hands on was a 65 yard deep jumpball, thrown to the 10 yardline, with 5 seconds left in the 1st half--even if the safety would have made an incredible play to intercept it, there's no downside to making that throw. Every play made by Deshaun edit: added image and youtube link
I mean....he's still exhibiting those problems though, so it's odd to say that they were ignorant. I would say they accurately uncovered flaws in his game, he's not a very good passer at this point in his career. Watch what Trubisky did last night then re-watch Watson's throws. Not even close to the same level of arm talent. That said, it's fixable, so it's not the end of the world and once he gets his problems throwing the ball fixed, he could be special given the rest of his skillset.
Also I find it comical that Bobby point blank said that throw pictured above should have been intercepted. Apparently he expects safeties to have the hands and body control of Odell. And all the rookie QBs that Bobby hated in this draft looked great in their first game--Watson, Trubisky, and Kizer.
Good and bad to start. Overthrew a couple of wide open guys. Accuracy will be a focus in development. His pocket presence was fantastic though. It's clear he has mega-potential.
Looking at that play a few more times, it shouldn't have been intercepted, but the reason the DB was able to make a play on the ball was due to it being under thrown. If the throw hits the receiver in stride, it's an easy TD, but instead the WR had to slow down and wait on it and he misjudged it a bit. A better WR might have made a great play, but the DB would still have been there with a hand on it. One way or the other, it was a miss, but at least it was on a deep ball where you don't expect accuracy from most QB's. As to QB's looking "great" in their first game, only Trubisky truly looked great. Watson looked great when it came to just about everything other than throwing the ball, but he showed that he needs work in that department. Kizer was sort of an incomplete grade IMO. Sure he hit some receivers, but the throws weren't always that good, the receivers were just so ridiculously wide open. I think the Saints being absolutely trash defensively played a significant role in that. I want to see what it looks like when he's got a defender in the same area code as his receivers. That said, as of right now, it's looking like I was completely wrong about Trubisky and as such it's looking like I wrong about the draft class. I said there was no day one starter quality QB's and the things I saw from Trubisky last night absolutely suggest that he has the arm talent to be a day one starter.
All these guys look like they belong which is more than what could have been said about Goff last year. But we still need to see them with the starters vs the starters of defenses that have game planned against them. I would say all 3 deserve to take reps with the 1's this week.
I completely agree and this is all I wanted to see out of him in game 1 against the twos... I was excited about the pick and thought he was definitely the most interesting prospect we've ever had at QB. But now that I've actually seen him play against (some) NFL competition... I'm hyped. Whatever the opposite of hyped is, that's how I feel about Savage. Jesus... he looked like captain checkdown out there. Brock 2.0.
I think many if not most of us would rather see the team succeed than to be "right" about any particular issue. I know I would. Right now I see more potential in DW than Savage. But if Savage leads the team to victory after victory I will be elated. Remember, people who are doing football for a living are seeing the same things we are seeing.
Pancakes hasn't weighed 235 since the 7th grade! I will have to admit that my "rock" picture does kind of look like him. All kidding aside, I kind of like McClain, he is a character, not stereotypical.
I'm with you but I see it differently. If we start off winning with Savage, by all means, keep him in. I just see it as more time for Watson's development.
My QB rankings for the 2017 draft looked like 1. Trubisky 2. Mahomes Solid jump 3. Watson Big Jump 4.Kizer All have been impressive so far with Trubisky looking near perfect. That kid is the real deal. I expect the same from Mahomes, was painful to see the Chiefs leap in front of us and grab him. In DW4 I believe though. Trubisky and Mahomes are just on another level arm wise, didn't want any part of Kizer.
Some people who "are doing football for a living" are saying Watson>Savage. Others are ringing the warning bells and telling you that his footwork is bad, he held the ball too long and he was inaccurate. Lots of work to do.
I talked about ball speed. His ball speed was not an issue during his first game. Accuracy, yes. Ball speed, no. The fact that he only threw 49 mph, or whatever it was, at the combine, will never impede his career. It was the dumbest argument ever.
You can't say he's the real deal off one preseason game against 2nd and 3rd stringers BUT he showed that he definitely has an arm and should be in the league. A few more games and we'll see if he can be a starter.
I'm not sure your specific experience when it comes to sports where you throw a ball, but when people are super worried about accuracy, often they take a lot off of how they'd normally throw. It looks to be the case....and it doesn't make it any better. Him throwing slow was indicative of him having issues when it comes to throwing the football. You can think that's the "dumbest argument ever", but given that it has proven true, I'm not sure why you'd still think that. The good news is that the likely culprit here was bad footwork that can lead to accuracy problems or velocity problems (on top of when you are worried about accuracy you cause your own velocity problems) which is something that can be corrected. That said, he's not a ready to go prospect in that his arm talent is nowhere near NFL ready at this point, which is what people were pointing out.