He has warts.
They all have warts.
Matthew Stafford had warts.
Mark Sanchez had warts.
Joe Flacco had warts.
Those guys all still have some of those same problems.
Mallett loses his accuracy and his decision-making when pressured heavily inside the pocket and forced to reset his feet or throw from bad leverage.
His arm is not naturally accurate or versatile, he needs his feet to get the accuracy on his passes.
With Newton you get the feeling like he could throw a pass on the money from the ground lying on his back.
Mallett's not like that at all, he needs his stance.
That means the way you get to Mallett is, you keep blitzing him, especially at the end of games, and you just hope you get to him.
One thing I'll add to that though is, if you don't get to him, watch out...because to a certain point at the end of the season I saw a graphic that said that when he plays from the shotgun against the blitz he completes 76% of his passes with a 10.5 YPA, 4 TDs and 0 INTs.
That's a tremendous blitz-beating record.
But, when you get in there on him and he hasn't found a target, he's a Greek tragedy.
The guy never threw the ball away and he often played like a selfish player, would try and do something crazy and risky with the ball.
He would allow his frustrations to show on the field and some of his teammates don't particularly like him.
His anticipation is average at best.
His short ball placement is below average, probably because like I said, his arm by itself without his feet is not naturally accurate, and short ball placement is a lot less about feet and more about arm.
When it comes to screens to the running back, he's probably the worst screen thrower among the draftable QBs.
He's not accurate from different leverage or different platforms.
He didn't make a whole lot of touch throws in his career, the up-and-down throw over the linebacker and under the safety.
He appears to be actively improving his touch, though.
He has slow feet, like Chad Henne.
There are rumors that Mallett either has done cocaine or actively still does.
It's important to note those are JUST rumors though, I specifically was told by someone in the know that even though a lot of people are SAYING it, absolutely nobody has anything substantive on it and nobody will confirm it (yet).
And when that one group came out with what they claim is a source that supposedly has seen Mallett do coke and weed, the guy I'm talking about told me specifically that he's met the people with that draft site, that they're NOT reliable at all, and do not believe what they say.
This was all told to me by a guy that has him dinged on his own draft board because of the rumors, but he made it clear there's zero confirmation to be had out there.
Now that I'm done ripping the guy to pieces I'll say that his ability to read a defense, see the field, stand tall in the pocket and deliver strikes is special.
Special.
Nothing short of it.
He's accurate at distance.
He's improved his touch, especially outside shoulder placement.
He beats the blitz by recognizing it and delivering the ball into the defense's weakness.
He can take a beating.
I don't care what weapons he had, his production in the SEC as purely a passer that had no dual-threat capability to keep the defense thinking, was special.
The things that rub people the wrong way about his personality...tell me that Tom Brady and Ben Rapistberger don't make you want to puke every time you hear them speak.
Tell me that Ben Rapistberger and Mike Vick are not two of the most loathsome creatures in the NFL, that they have spotless records of working hard and being team leaders, etc...that they haven't won a ton of games, won playoff games, gone to conference championships, and even won Super Bowls while actively being described as NOT hard workers and 'uncoachable' (actual term used by a Pittsbugh coach to describe Big Ben to a friend of mine).
I hate to minimize intangibles and the things I criticize about Ryan Mallett...and all of the negatives I've listed about him are what have him firmly BEHIND Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton on my board...but at some point if you've got the talent to play the game, you show the ability to process the field, process a defense, manage your own offense...you can go out there and murder a bunch of dogs, have a human shot at your birthday party, and then when you get in the playoffs you'll have people cheering for you and other NFL players flocking to you, even congratulatory phone calls from the President of the United States.
There are no substantial questions about Newton's ability to throw the ball.
Period.
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