I don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone really, but I was surprised at the extent some QBs aren't prepared. Deadspin linked an article from the Wall Street Journal with some insight from NFL execs and coords.
Deadspin
http://deadspin.com/college-qbs-are...JxnyozIeA.0&utm_referrer=http://deadspin.com/
WSJ
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-nfl-has-a-quarterback-crisis-1441819454
As the article reminds us, the purpose is to win in college, not prepare these players for the NFL game, but simple concepts like Cover 2 and Cover 3 are obscure to some of these players.
Oh, and then you have this gem from Farmer, thank goodness he wasn't hired to be our GM after what he did in CLE and his mentality here. Although he does have SOME merit or insight as to where the game is going, it is definitely not relevant in the immediate future, or at least won't be during his tenure in CLE. I don't see an NFL offense being shifted entirely around a late round draft pick. I do see the entire NFL shifting together to incorporate college concepts more and more though, collectively making these later round guys Farmer is mentioning higher on everyone's board.
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Unlucky 13 likes this.
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This is basically what we've done with Ryan Tannehill. He's a good runner, and good at throwing low trajectory laser beams. But his pocket presence is weak, and he's also weak at high arcing a deep ball into a bucket. Therefore, we replaced the pro style offense with a spread option / read option. And we replaced our deep bucket receivers (Wallace, Clay) with catch radius receivers (Stills, Parker, Jordan Cameron).
Our offense is now built specifically around Ryan Tannehill's strengths & weaknesses, which is why I expect a big year for him and the offense. On the other hand, slow-footed Matt Moore no longer fits (he belongs on a pro style offense). -
Not the the extent that Farmer is referencing though. He's talking about bringing in a new offense tailored for a 5th rounder that has known deficiencies reading a defense or making certain throws. Pretty much bringing in a Dennard Robinson and letting him read half the field only with the read option or take off and run with it. It won't work....yet. I don't think you can have sustained production with that type of player/offense in today's game.
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I think it can work for the first team that does it.
There are 32 NFL teams, and many don't have franchise QBs. Franchise QBs are rare & expensive.
On the other hand, there are a ton of freakishly athletic running QBs who are now bagging groceries at your local supermarket.
I've always felt that one NFL team should go all-in on the wildcat, get Tim Tebow type QBs for cheap, and run the ball downhill (with a throwing option). If your starting QB gets hurt, there are tons of unemployed running QBs that you can just plug in as replacements.
A big, downhill, Tebow-wildcat team would give most NFL defenses problems, since most NFL defenses are built to defend against a pass-happy league. -
I think it depends on the prospects they were talking too. This more and likely could have been lower tiered prospects because for all the crap Jameis Winston gets, I don't think reading defenses and understanding what a front is would be a problem for him.
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The college game has been dumbing down for a long time, sadly. Its a very real problem for football in general, and I'm crossing my fingers that a few coaches come along who help turn it in the other direction.
I have been a proponent of a NFL prospects system as an alternative to college football for the elite players for a long time. Not a MLB style minor league where teams control a player's rights, but an academy where players go there instead of to college to learn and practice for three years after HS, and then enter the draft from that point. I think that it would largely solve the league's quarterback problem in this regard, and would take only a fraction of the players away from college football, not hurting that sport. -
Thing is that system won't draw the elite players away from college, so the majority of the kids being drafted will be coming from the dumbed down college system as you put it, anyway. NFL Europe was a great idea to develop players. Sadly it didn't last. The CFL is helping a bit I guess, but other than that, there is nothing. Arena is way too different of a game to even consider any real development there.
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I think that it will if you pay them. Most of these kids don't want to actually go to college, they just want to make it into the league. Give them a head start on that track and 50k a year and I bet a lot of them jump at the chance.
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Where is the money coming from? Large TV contracts will continue to go to college - tough market to break. Without the TV contracts there is no money to pay for, or give exposure to the big time players to draw them. Also, College won't let this happen, they're too big and powerful.
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As if the NFL isn't swimming in dough? For example, just throwing out numbers, 50k x 500 players is 25 mil. If they put the whole thing as a big reality show and televise games each week on NFL Network, I bet that amount is a drop in the bucket for what they'd haul in with advertising.
I'm not suggesting trying to replace college football. Just an alternate system for some of the very best players, straight out of HS, where they are in an enviornment 24/7 that's controlled by the NFL, and learn the game and how to play, train, eat, recover, and handle themselves as professionals for three years before coming into the league ready to go as 20-21 year olds. I see a win/win that only puts the smallest of dents into the college football machine.