I totally agree with you which is why the more I look at the more enticing Lamar Jackson is. I know he can compete with the best of them. And we have soo many picks.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...fl-trade-updates-bears-panthers-jalen-ramsey/ I don’t think Carolina has decided which quarterback it wants. Of course the GM, Scott Fitterer, and scouts who’ve investigated quarterbacks have their leanings. Of course coach Frank Reich and his staff have their opinions after watching tape and meeting the passers at the Combine. But 45 days out from the first round, this isn’t a done deal. It wouldn’t be smart for it to be a done deal. I’ve heard the same rumors everyone else has—that Frank Reich loves Florida QB Anthony Richardson. And he may be the pick. But I’m a bit skeptical. Nothing against Richardson, who is one of the most interesting QB prospects in the past few drafts. I wonder, though, about trading two first-round picks, two second-round picks and one of your five best players for a player with a high ceiling but with one year as a college starter. Trading to number one and choosing Richardson might turn out to be brilliant. But picking Richardson number one after dealing five prime pieces for him is a major risk. However, if Richardson become The Guy, I expect Carolina to consider a minor trade-down. This would be tricky. When teams make draft trades, the team trading up doesn’t usually admit who the player target is. In this case, the Panthers, if trading from one to, say, Houston at two, would have to be assured the Texans weren’t taking the quarterback Carolina wants. That would require some trust, obviously. Going much beyond two would be a chancy venture. Reich has never coached a short quarterback, and Bryce Young is 5-10. Is that meaningful? I give it a little weight. In Reich’s 17 years as a quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator or head coach, his starting quarterbacks in Indianapolis, Arizona, San Diego, Philadelphia and Indianapolis (again) have been 6-6 (Nick Foles, John Skelton), 6-5 (Peyton Manning, Kerry Collins, Dan Orlovsky, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Rivers again, Wentz again), 6-4 (Curtis Painter, Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, Matt Ryan), 6-3 (Ryan Lindley) and 6-2 (Sam Ehlinger). The 6-3 and 6-2 guys totaled six starts, and I suspect that starting Ehlinger twice in Reich’s last two games in Indy was not Reich’s idea. So in 17 years, all but six games Reich coached were started by quarterbacks 6-4 and taller. Reich’s a traditionalist. He played in an era with big quarterbacks. To stake the future of the franchise on a great player, but a 5-10 player, would be unconventional for him. However, Fitterer comes from Seattle, where the 5-10-ish Russell Wilson was a major outlier for a decade. Young has gotten rave reviews for his football smarts, and just finished two years with a demanding NFL QB teacher, Bill O’Brien, at Alabama. So never say never about the short QB. One other thing about Bryce Young that Reich and his staff will love and could sway them toward a 5-10 QB. There probably wasn’t a quarterback in college football last year who was as smart and resourceful as Young. Case in point: On most snaps at Alabama, Young called two plays in the huddle and decided which to use—himself, not with a signal from the sidelines—once he read the defense at the line. “That’s very NFL,” said one league quarterback authority who has studied Young. “I think that’s one of the reasons his height isn’t as big a deal as it might be—he’s dealt with figuring out the right play all the time based on what he sees from the defense, and I’m sure he factors in not getting in traffic with a bunch of 6-5 guys.” Two other points to consider about Young: He didn’t have many balls batted down. And Reich is not an inflexible person—if he thinks Young’s markedly the best prospect, he’ll be good taking him. Does Young’s size mean 6-3 C.J. Stroud has the best chance to be the pick? Two veteran front-office people I spoke with Saturday think Stroud makes the most sense, but those two men are not making this call. Stroud did play the single-most impressive game of any of the four first-round prospects (including Kentucky’s Will Levis) this year—putting up 41 points on Georgia in the college playoffs, throwing for 348 yards with four TDs and no interceptions—so that counts for something. Re Carolina: Anyone who scouts the quarterbacks comes away thinking Young and Stroud are good candidates for the top pick. The game has changed in the past few years. If you love Young the most, you’re going to deploy an offense that’s 97-percent in shotgun and let him be the smart guy at the line he was at Alabama. Stroud showed the ability to drive the football with confidence; clearly, he’ll be able to make every NFL throw, and he’s afraid of nothing. But then there’s Richardson. It’s certainly possible in the next six weeks the Panthers could talk themselves into the versatile Florida quarterback with the great arm and 80- and 81-yard college TD runs. I wish I could tell you a good gut feel on who Carolina will pick, but I can’t. As I say, I’m sure those who will collaborate to make the pick have leanings today. Leanings can change in 45 days.
Me and most of the football knowledgeable universe. There is a reason he signed the largest contracts ever.
Hahaha we couldn’t even out tank the bears this year.. it’s amazing you guys think with 11 draft picks and and all this cap space that we can somehow tank better than last year. Which was still a failure. But yea, let’s do what Carolina just did. Finish with the 9th pick and trade everything to move up to 1. Because trading 4 picks and a player for Williams is somehow less of a risk than just drafting a QB at #2 without giving anything up.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-03-13/carolina-panthers-quarterbacks-nfl-draft-analysis As he has done in years past, [Greg] Cosell opened his notebook for the Los Angeles Times and detailed what he likes and doesn’t like about the quarterbacks who figure to be selected at or near the top of the draft. He began with the 6-foot-4, 244-pound Richardson, who ran a scorching 4.43-second 40-yard dash and set a modern combine record for quarterbacks in the vertical leap (40½ inches) and tied the modern mark in the broad jump (10-9). He’s a physical specimen who has been compared to Cam Newton, who was taken first overall by the Panthers in 2011. Richardson was the full-time starter for one year at Florida, throwing for 17 touchdowns — he ran for nine more — with nine interceptions and a ho-hum completion rate of 53.8%. “We’ve reached a point — and I disagree with this — where people say a quarterback has ‘great traits’ because he can throw it hard and run fast,” said Cosell, producer and analyst on ESPN’s “NFL Matchup.” “If you talk to quarterback coaches, those two things would not be at the top of their list. They would talk about the more fine, subtle, nuanced traits of someone like a Joe Burrow [of the Cincinnati Bengals]. Being able to throw a ball through a wall and running fast, hey, that’s fine. They’re not saying that’s bad, but it’s not the definition of great quarterback traits. “Richardson might become a great player — we all hope he does — but at this point there’s no real nuance to his game and he’s markedly inaccurate. His ball placement is so erratic and inconsistent you just don’t know. He misses many easy throws.” Then again, the same was said of Josh Allen when he was coming out of Wyoming in 2018. His career completion rate there was 56.2%, yet he has flourished since Buffalo selected him with the seventh pick. He has completed 62.5% of his passes in the NFL and is regarded as one of the league’s best quarterbacks. “I spoke to a coach about Josh Allen and he said, ‘Hey, I knew he had a lot of issues coming out of Wyoming, but then I spent a half-hour with him and I came away knowing that he was going to be a great player just because of the kid,’” Cosell said. “Josh Allen has a certain mentality, just like [Philadelphia’s] Jalen Hurts has a certain mentality. That’s what you hope for. If Anthony Richardson has that mentality, maybe he gets there. And in four years we may be talking about one of the great quarterbacks in the league, just like we do with Josh Allen.” Cosell said there are elements of Young’s game that truly set him apart. “He has unbelievable spatial awareness,” he said of the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner. “He’s phenomenal at navigating bodies and space, and he has a great feel for where people are. He’s not a big-armed kid. He’s not a power thrower in any sense of the imagination, but he finds space to make throws.” Perhaps most impressive? The space between his ears. “He’s really intelligent,” Cosell said. “He’s a kid who will step right in wherever he’s drafted and he will learn that offense and be able to play on Day 1 with a very defined, clear understanding of the offense. He’s that kid.” The knock on Young is his size. He was measured at the combine as 5-10 and 204 pounds, but he’s believed to play at a considerably lighter weight. “I was told by someone who knows that he played in the national championship game a year ago at 169 pounds,” Cosell said. “We’ve accepted outliers in height, but those guys are 210 and solid. [Arizona’s] Kyler Murray is solid, and so is [Denver’s] Russell Wilson. Bryce Young is not going to weigh 210. “People say, ‘He’s been small all his life.’ Well, yes, he has. His game is tailored to compensate for that because of his great spatial awareness and his ability to feel and see. But you’re still playing at the highest level with bigger bodies and faster athletes.” Of the top four quarterbacks, it’s Ohio State’s Stroud who has the classic combination of size — 6-3, 214 pounds — and passing accuracy. “He’s a natural thrower of the football,” Cosell said. “He’s predominantly a pocket player. We saw in the [CFP semifinal] game against Georgia that he did move around and make throws that a lot of people were uncertain he could make. “He’s got the ability to throw with pace and touch, to make those throws that need to be layered and feathered. That’s being a passer. Being a passer is not throwing the ball through a wall. He makes the right kind of throws to the right receivers at the right times. Not every throw is a bullet. He throws easy. He doesn’t have a gun, but he can make every throw.” The way Cosell sees it, the most significant downside of Stroud are elements that are beyond his control. “There will be people — and it’s probably valid — who will question the Ohio State part,” Cosell said. “Because at Ohio State, for the most part, you’re in clean and secure pockets. Not a lot of contested pockets. Receivers are open and you can play comfortably. We’ve seen Ohio State quarterbacks get to the league and struggle a little bit.” As for Levis, Cosell likes what he saw from him in 2021 much more than last season. That’s when Levis was playing under Liam Coen, Kentucky’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who left to become offensive coordinator of the Rams last season. Coen since has returned to resume his old job at Kentucky. “Levis can play with rhythm, with timing,” Cosell said. “He’s got a compact, effortless, twitchy delivery. The ball comes out. And he looked very comfortable and smooth in 2021. “In 2022, with a new offensive coordinator, an offensive line that wasn’t very good, injuries at wide receiver, it was just a struggle all season. Levis did not look comfortable, … But the traits don’t change, and he has pretty high-level traits. “He’s a little stiff in his lower body. He does not have great pocket movement and that’s something he needs to work on. You can run designed runs with him because he’s big, physical and competitive. But he’s not necessarily a second-reaction player from the pocket.” Are there a lot of good quarterback prospects this year, or just a lot of teams that need quarterbacks and are poised to take them early in the draft? “More the latter,” Cosell said. “I don’t think there’s a quarterback in this draft that you would say is transcendent or special. I think they all possess certain things that you feel good about and feel you can coach and develop. Then the hope is that they get there.”
That's not the point. The point is Hou had the #1 pick firmly in their grasp, where they would have been in complete control and no other team thirsty for a QB would have the opportunity to trade up and jump ahead like Carolina just did. Lovie called an aggressive game, went for 4th and longs, 2 point conversions, didn't rest any starters, etc. to win a game that could end up hurting the franchise for the next 10 years.
12. Quentin Johnston, WR, TCU The Texans get a tall, long, fast wide receiver in Quentin Johnston (scouting report) to help their new rookie quarterback.
https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2023-nfl-draft-quarterback-prospect-superlatives STRONGEST ARM: WILL LEVIS, KENTUCKY BEST DEEP BALL: C.J. STROUD, OHIO STATE It was hard to look anywhere else for this superlative. Stroud led all quarterbacks in completions (63) and adjusted completion percentage (55.3%) on deep passes over the past two seasons. Even at the combine, Stroud’s deep ball shined. BEST POCKET PRESENCE: BRYCE YOUNG, ALABAMA He may be small, but he’s still one tough athlete. Young is so good at finding space in the pocket to work through his progressions. He’s willing to take a shot while delivering a strike when he needs to but will also dump it when nothing is there. Young converted only 12.5% of his pressures into sacks last season. BEST DECISION MAKER: BRYCE YOUNG, ALABAMA Young’s decision-making not only shines in his ability to create big plays but also in his ability to take care of the football. He posted a 2.0% turnover-worthy play rate in each of the past two seasons. That was the second-best figure in college football over that span. Of course, Young’s decision-making also shines through in his 93.0 passing grade over the past two seasons — tops in the draft class. MOST ACCURATE: TOO CLOSE TO CALL Over the past two seasons, C.J. Stroud has thrown the highest rate of passes charted as accurate (68.0%) while Bryce Young had the fewest rate of passes charted uncatchable (16.0%). Watching them throw for throw on tape, it’s near impossible to make a decision. Both should be above average by NFL standards early on in their careers. You be the judge: BEST RUNNER: ANTHONY RICHARDSON, FLORIDA BEST OUTSIDE OF STRUCTURE: BRYCE YOUNG, ALABAMA This one was the biggest no-brainer on the list. Young is as good as you’ll ever see from a college prospect in this regard. He led all quarterbacks over the past two seasons with 11 passing touchdowns and seven big-time throws on out-of-structure plays.
C.J. Stroud rockets to top of the first-pick betting odds. Now, multiple sports books have Stroud at -300, with Young at +300 and Richardson at +450.
All these qualities.....man, do the Texans need someone like him under the gun. This would be a turning point for the Texans to have someone like him to be the future leader of the franchise.
Wouldn’t be a “sexy” pick but I would be all for it…just don’t really want to draft guards in the first round in back to back drafts.
