Exploring the fatal flaws of the top five quarterbacks

Posted by Mike Florio on April 3, 2018, 12:18 PM EDT
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There’s no clear consensus as to the manner in which the top incoming quarterbacks will be drafted. For now, however, there’s a loose consensus as to the members of the list of the top five.

Tuesday’s PFT Live included an effort by co-host Chris Simms to identify the fatal flaws for each of the top prospects.

So here’s the assessment from Simms of the biggest areas of concern regarding Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, and Sam Darnold — which is the precise order in which Simms has ranked the top five quarterbacks.

Feel free to give Simms your own brand of specific feedback either as to his ranking of the top five quarterbacks in the comments.

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13 responses to “Exploring the fatal flaws of the top five quarterbacks”

  1. This segment makes your head hurt. Simms starts out saying that Allen’s problem was he had a bad line in college. Then a minute later decides that Rosen would be the least likely to be able to overcome a bad line in the NFL. Huh? He already admitted Allen couldn’t overcome a bad line even in college.

  5. so your number #1 guy has a 56% completion rate, less than 2k yards throwing in a football season but you have Darnold at #5? Hahaha. Josh Allen was not playing the Alabama’s of the world, he completely struggled against Nebraska, Iowa and Oregon, 3 very average conference 5 teams, where he threw 1 TD for 9 Int’s in those games combines. It wasn’t his offensive lines fault, his footwork is lazy and he just plainly overthrows/underthrows receiver’s. He struggles with play speed and making consistent decisions against faster and better defenses. He scans the field too slowly and as a result, he stares down his receivers. He isn’t even close to being a first round pick, let alone the top QB in this QB draft. Being big and having a rocket arm means nada, zip, zero. Dinosaur scouts need to go extinct ASAP. I do not care that the ball comes out his hands so nicely, I care about accuracy, pocket awareness, decision making, anticipation throwing, feel for the game, ability to vary throws based on where his receiver is… none of the traits Allen excels at. All these QB’s have things they need to work on but none have the basic flaws Allen has. Darnold throws Int’s but so did Watson, Jameis and Luck, they are aggressive QB’s who get too aggressive, that can be coached up, accuracy and being slow with your ability to see the field cant. Allen is closer to Hackenberg and Boller than he is to Matt Stafford

  6. Buyer beware on Sam Darnold: Overhyped, had the best personnel and resources to work with at USC and was a turnover machine despite all the advantages.

  8. Mayfield is the only one who’s got something. The others are experiments.

  9. Mayfield and Rosen are likely starters, either next year or the year after. On the right team, each may become a star. Darnold may develop into a starter in a few years, maybe even an All-Pro, but he is at least 2 years away. Anyone who drafts him has to be patient. Jackson has to go to a team/coach who will structure the offense around his skills. This is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Allen is unlikely to become a quality starter ever. There may be a few decent backups that are drafted in later rounds, including Rudolph, White, Lauletta and Falk.

  10. tvguy22 says:
    April 3, 2018 at 1:12 pm
    1983: best QB draft ever

    2018: worst QB draft ever?

    —

    I’m with you tvguy2. This might be the most (or best) hyped class ever, but I really don’t see people talking about this class 30 years down the road like they do Marino, Elway, Kelly.

  11. I wonder what they would have said about Brady lol. As far as I am concerned they can all throw obviously, but nobody is talking about the boring stuff like work ethic. Just about on every fail the work shy are normally the ones who become busts. I can’t believe players suddenly change either way when the get to the NFL. Some young players do mature and don’t get into trouble, but work habits imo hardly ever change. There is a mammoth amount to digest especially for QB’s and for me they lose it mentally especially as some are thrown in from day one. Just to play at the level they have at college shows they can toss it around so why can’t they adjust, it has to be they are overwhelmed and if they can’t study they are doomed. Technique, athleticism, I think is the least important trait, only because surely they have proven this or not from all the hours of film and I would hope NFL coaches at least can see from that, they can hone their skills.

  13. In no particular order:

    1. I think Jackson didn’t run the 40 so people wouldn’t get excited about him as a receiver.
    2. The reason I am one of the people discounting Darnold is his consistent tendency to have disappeared in big moments and big games. He reminds me off Ryan Miller, who could do everything a great goalie can do, but who always gave up one more goal than his counterpart in the biggest games. Or to choose a football parallel, as Bill Walsh once said of Steve DeBerg: He plays just good enough to get you beat.
    3. When your primary concern about a QB is that he doesn’t move like Lamar Jackson, that is a sign you’re looking real hard for something to complain about. That said, I think the second mentioned concern about Rosen is the greatest concern about Rosen. Durability questions are important.
    4. Mayfield and height. You say that Wilson and Brews are outliers, but how many guys that height have really been given a shot? I can count 4. Grossman and Manziel stunk, but you could see those coming a mile away.

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