Originally posted by kansasninerfan:
Originally posted by Cisco0623:
Did he hit anyone in stride from what we saw?
that is actually what I came to this thread to see. If people noticed what I noticed. He did leave a few balls shorter than I would have liked to see. The long snag over the middle. WR had 2 hands away from the body where he waited for the beautifully thrown ball to come down so he could snag it. Just a bit short. He did have a couple others outside that were very close to in stride. Maybe they were backup WRs he hadn't worked with? Justin Fields was throwing to Freshman he hadn't worked with in his 2nd pro day and absolutely nailing them in stride.
I like Lance. I won't be mad if he is the pick. But to me, the only thing he MIGHT do better than Fields is get rid of the ball a little faster and work through his reads. And that is debatable and I believe can be taught in an NFL system. I am more sure than ever the pick has to be Fields.
I don't have an issue with ball placement at pro days, especially when you're not throwing to your main WRs. I just think people need to keep the same energy for each prospect.
End of the day I sure hope we don't use pro days to make our decision at #3 unless we actually have two or more guys with the same grade and need something to put one over the top.
Lance for me personally cannot answer the concerns I have for him at a pro day. However that can be said for Mac Jones or even Justin Fields.
My concerns for the 3 QBs
Justin Fields:
Can he stop himself from playing hero ball? Can he learn to protect himself when running better, can he throw the ball away when plays aren't there to be made?
- Impossible to tell but I believe the NFL helps people grow from those things very quickly. There is no reason to fluff up your stats for the Heisman run or blow teams away to impress voters to get you into the playoffs. You play to win games. I think he can easily address this concern and live to play another day.
Can he learn to play better vs pressure, specifically can he identify the blitz and get the ball out quickly either as a throw away or throw to his blitz beater if available on that play.
- This is scheme/coaching related to me. I've heard nothing about Fields which tells me he cannot come in and grow as a QB mentally and improve reading defenses to identify the blitz and playing within the system to hurt teams looking to go blitz happy. This is also trust in Kyle. Harder to play vs blitz/pressure when your offense relies on option routes by the WRs and you're frequently looking to hit things deep. We know Kyle loves him playaction and the core of his offense isn't going deep.
Can he process quicker post snap?
- This is similar to the issue above and I think this is another coaching/developmental aspect that I have no reason to think he cannot handle very well. We've seen him go through his reads to make big plays. We've seen him get the ball out quick on plays that were open. We've seen him learn from mistakes and not make them again. There are enough examples of him doing those things where I feel confident he'll develop and improve at them on amore consistent basis with NFL coaching/time.
Trey Lance:
Can he improve his accuracy on longer throws?
- Possible, we know he's working on his mechanics but until you see it on the field with rushers coming at you it's hard to feel super confident about it. For every Josh Allen there are countless of QBs whose accuracy never improved enough once hitting the NFL
Will the jump from FCS to NFL impact him?
- Impossible to tell. We obviously have the Carson Wentz comparison, Joe Flacco and others who have made the jump and played very well. I can't think of anyone who had as few pass attempts to Lance and made the jump to be drafted that high but doesn't mean he can't but it's still a concern that cannot be answered without seeing it happen. It also leads to another concern
Will his running style translate to the NFL?
- Impossible to tell but he runs physical. We see him running over and bouncing off guys frequently. For a guy whose bread and butter really was the run if he plays the same way he played at NDSU can he take a beating of the NFL? Those guys aren't going to be as easy to bounce off of.
Will he avoid running as much in the NFL?
- Impossible to tell but overall Lance looked to run when things broke down more often and with good reason, because he could. I'm pretty sure he'll look to run less because he'd take more of a beating but it's still a habit he'll have to work on.
Mac Jones concerns
How will he do if he has to bring a team back down in the 4th quarter?
-Impossible to tell. We simply don't have the visibility of him doing it. I believe there is only one game where we come even close of him doing it is Auburn in 2019 where Bama f'd up the game tying FG late. He had some moments to get excited about like actually pickign up a 4th and long with his legs! But it was also a game where he threw 2 pick 6s and still failed to get the go ahead score with 1st and goal situation. We can't make the assumption that he can't do it...but it's certainly hard to say he can with any confidence given you just so rarely saw him play with a deficit.
How will he do if he's ever hit repeatedly in a game?
- Impossible to tell but this is the biggest question for pocket passers. We know first hand that getting to them is easier. How many pocket passers have been ruined so to speak by getting hit over and over again and starting to see ghosts, starting to feel pressure that's not there? We saw it first hand with Jimmy. Some guys can take a beating and keep on ticking. However we've never seen Mac deal with that to know how he'll react.
How will his lack of arm strength impact his abilities in the NFL?
- Is he Tom Brady? Or is he Kirk Cousins? Or is he AJ McCarron? There's no question the kid is very accurate, he threw a damn good deep ball at Bama. Question becomes as windows get smaller and defenders get faster and you're not playing with the best team in the league where your guys are just that much better than the rest will his arm become an issue?
