Slimm's 2015 Quarterbacks (Seniors) | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Slimm's 2015 Quarterbacks (Seniors)

Trickett has improved his stock from a skinny non-factor in terms of NFL potential to a skinny late rounder/UDFA in my estimation. He has a little bit of arm talent and improvements in his skills are evident.... but so are the concerns as a pro prospect.

Nobody talks about him because he's about the 4th or 5th best NFL prospect on the offensive side of the ball for West Virginia. There's two WR's and two offensive lineman that are better prospects.
 
Rakeem Cato and Shane Carden are the best senior quarterback prospects in the class. I've believed that for a while.

I've said this before, I like Clint Trickett as a guy that sticks around on a roster as a backup for years. Very good football IQ and his arm talent is significant. There wasn't any shame in his being beaten for a starting job by Jameis Winston, who is the best quarterback in college football.

Connor Halliday deserves better than to be stuck playing under Mike Leach. There once was a time when playing under Leach would be considered a blessing for a quarterback, because in only 7 games he has put together statistics that would take an entire NFL season for some quarterbacks to put together. But quarterback evaluation has gotten more sophisticated than that and so teams aren't going to reward him for coming off the season with 750 attempts, 5700 yards and 48 touchdowns. They're going to look at the tape and they're going to find the bad throws that probably owe more to how unbalanced and unstable Mike Leach's system and entire team are. They're going to see poor body language at the end of the Stanford game and perhaps gloss over the two dozen hard body shots he took in the game that led up to that poor body language.
 
We will have to agree to disagree on Connor Cook. I have seen him quite a bit. If he has a clean pocket, sure he is fine. But in the face of the pressure, he is erratic. That's the problem with projecting college to pro. And he doesn't play the best competition to begin with. There are so many mis-matches at the college level, it's hard to project in many cases. With Cook, I don't like the idea of him having to face a tough NFL front 7. Maybe he could develop in time into something adequate but I am not picking this guy with any pretense that he can be an NFL franchise quarterback. Look at Cousins. People liked him and I could see that one coming too that he was not the answer. Cook may be more gifted than Cousins but he lacks consistency.
 
Cook is going to be fine. He's making NFL quality throws in an NFL style offense where most of these QB's aren't. No quarterback likes pressure... they all look uncomfortable when faced with it. The difference is very few of 'em can look as good as Cook when they're NOT pressured.

He's much better than Kirk Cousins. We talked a lot about Cousins around here prior to the draft that year and I was convinced he wasn't that good. Said so many times how turnover prone he was, and how he would routinely make throws while at Michigan St. into the most bizarre of coverages that left me baffled. Throws that you'd only expect out of an inexperienced young quarterback. Not an experienced Senior.

Cook doesn't turn the football over. He makes better decisions and better throws than Cousins ever did. He's taken that program higher than Cousins could because Cook doesn't have the multiple turnover games that Cousins had. Cook has only had 1 multi-interception game in his career. That was on the road at Oregon this year. Kirk Cousins had 7 multi-interception games.

Furthermore, Cook is throwing the ball downfield. Although Tony Lippett is one of the most underrated Senior WR's in the country.

I'm not a huge fan of Rakeem Cato, but I do like the running style of Devon Johnson. I've had him as my #2 underclassman FB for a while, as that's where I project him in the NFL. Reminds me a little of Mike Alstott coming out of Purdue. You can probably let him run a little bit from single back sets in the NFL similar to how Tampa used to do for Alstott.
 
I just can't wrap my mind around not liking Rakeem Cato. The game is so slow for him. He's out there directing traffic during plays while dealing with pressure, finishing off those plays with great throws rolling right or rolling left (especially left). He regularly uses his eyes to draw defenders to the flat so that he can throw to the sticks, or uses his eyes to freeze guys in the middle so he can throw to the outside. He's got a great deep ball, good footwork and shoulders. He's got an NFL arm. He doesn't just have speed, he's got exceptional elusiveness. And when he starts scrambling he ALWAYS keeps his eyes lifted looking to make the play using his arm first. And he's made some pretty fantastic throws, first downs and touchdowns that way. He's exceptional at avoiding hits whether it be making a decision to go out of bounds or give himself up to the ground on 1st/2nd down, or using his great body control and awareness to get small and soften the blow on 3rd down or end zone plays. He's second only to Jameis Winston on 3rd downs, no matter how you want to measure it.

He is what people thought they were getting in Robert Griffin.

But I at least agree that Devon Johnson looks pretty unique. There are some other seniors on that team worth looking at as well, Eric Frohnapfel and Chris Jasperse on offense, Darryl Roberts on defense. Everyone knows to watch out for Tommy Shuler already, I think.

Incidentally the Dolphins have just made their 3rd trip out to Huntington this year to take a look at Marshall players, for any interested. They visited in camp, were at the Miami (OH) game and are out there now to look at tape.
 
MiamiDolphin618 said:
Very good comp for Carden. He reminded me of Pennington but I like the Dalton comp as well. I think he ends up a 2nd round steal for someone
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I don't mind a Pennington comparison either for Carden as I've considered it many times. Chad Pennington should typically be the first quarterback that pops into your mind watching a QB this accurate. He keeps his yards/attempt up around nearly 8.5 and still maintains elite accuracy. His receivers don't generate separation but he does have a few good ones. They can catch the football. Carden just has to throw dimes to all areas of the field because they're covered. He does this consistently. That's why they beat better teams.
 
It's interesting we discuss Shane Carden and Rakeem Cato because those two will be neck and neck for the automatic "Group of Five" bid to play in the Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl or Fiesta Bowl. Either Marshall goes to one of those bowl games, or Eastern Carolina will go, but not both and it's hard to imagine at this point that some other team from the "Group of Five" goes there instead of one of those two.
 
ckparrothead said:
I just can't wrap my mind around not liking Rakeem Cato. The game is so slow for him. He's out there directing traffic during plays while dealing with pressure, finishing off those plays with great throws rolling right or rolling left (especially left). He regularly uses his eyes to draw defenders to the flat so that he can throw to the sticks, or uses his eyes to freeze guys in the middle so he can throw to the outside. He's got a great deep ball, good footwork and shoulders. He's got an NFL arm. He doesn't just have speed, he's got exceptional elusiveness. And when he starts scrambling he ALWAYS keeps his eyes lifted looking to make the play using his arm first. And he's made some pretty fantastic throws, first downs and touchdowns that way. He's exceptional at avoiding hits whether it be making a decision to go out of bounds or give himself up to the ground on 1st/2nd down, or using his great body control and awareness to get small and soften the blow on 3rd down or end zone plays. He's second only to Jameis Winston on 3rd downs, no matter how you want to measure it.

He is what people thought they were getting in Robert Griffin.

But I at least agree that Devon Johnson looks pretty unique. There are some other seniors on that team worth looking at as well, Eric Frohnapfel and Chris Jasperse on offense, Darryl Roberts on defense. Everyone knows to watch out for Tommy Shuler already, I think.

Incidentally the Dolphins have just made their 3rd trip out to Huntington this year to take a look at Marshall players, for any interested. They visited in camp, were at the Miami (OH) game and are out there now to look at tape.
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I'll just say I wasn't sure what people thought they were getting with Robert Griffin but I wasn't a big proponent of it.... for whatever that's worth. Cato is a great college quarterback. I'm not a great subscriber to his game translating to the next level that's all. I understand if someone doesn't agree to an extent... but I don't understand foaming at the mouth for him either. We're going to disagree here so we'll move on...

Jasperse is a terrific player. One of the best centers in the country in my opinion. He's better than most of the centers that I've evaluated to this point.

Frohnapfel is a kid that made it on to my Senior TE list prior to the season. I grade him as a late round/UDFA but reminds me a lot of Zach Sudfeld coming out of Nevada a few years ago.
 
ckparrothead said:
It's interesting we discuss Shane Carden and Rakeem Cato because those two will be neck and neck for the automatic "Group of Five" bid to play in the Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl or Fiesta Bowl. Either Marshall goes to one of those bowl games, or Eastern Carolina will go, but not both and it's hard to imagine at this point that some other team from the "Group of Five" goes there instead of one of those two.
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Right now I'd give it to East Carolina fairly easy. Marshall hasn't played anybody and won't play anybody. Running up 40 points a game in C-USA is only going to account for so much. East Carolina almost went on the road and beat South Carolina.... hung 70 on North Carolina and beat Virginia Tech on the road. The resumes aren't even close.
 
Tannenballs said:
Where would you play Brandon Bridge at?
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Probably at tight end. He's not an accurate thrower of the football but has a lot of athletic ability for his size. I don't see a problem with taking the time to develope him as a quarterback, but he'll always struggle with accuracy. The best you'll have is a backup quarterback in my opinion. I'd like to see what his potential is at using what his gifts are, which is his size and athleticism. His gift is not throwing the football.
 
TedSlimmJr said:
Probably at tight end. He's not an accurate thrower of the football but has a lot of athletic ability for his size. I don't see a problem with taking the time to develope him as a quarterback, but he'll always struggle with accuracy. The best you'll have is a backup quarterback in my opinion. I'd like to see what his potential is at using what his gifts are, which is his size and athleticism. His gift is not throwing the football.
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I watched a cut up of him and liked him as an UDFA, but the accuracy was definitely an issue.
 
TedSlimmJr said:
Right now I'd give it to East Carolina fairly easy. Marshall hasn't played anybody and won't play anybody. Running up 40 points a game in C-USA is only going to account for so much. East Carolina almost went on the road and beat South Carolina.... hung 70 on North Carolina and beat Virginia Tech on the road. The resumes aren't even close.
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You have to give it to the team that goes undefeated, especially as they're beating everyone by 30+ points. They can't control their schedule. They had Louisville on the schedule but Louisville ducked out. Meanwhile I watched East Carolina live at Raymond James Stadium barely escape with the W against a bad South Florida football team, and then last night they barely escaped against a bad UConn team. The way they're playing I think the chances are pretty good ECU is going to take a second loss anyway.
 
Tannenballs said:
I watched a cut up of him and liked him as an UDFA, but the accuracy was definitely an issue.
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There's too much emphasis on the aesthetic at that position, lately. But there have been plenty of guys like Brandon Bridge who are huge, athletic and have strong arms. They come and go. Ask Barrick Nealy.

If you're going for a little-known quarterback who fits the aesthetic and might actually be worth the gamble then I think you go for Colorado-St. Pueblo's Chris Bonner. For such a big, tall guy his feet are actually pretty nice. He's got some execution moxie to him as well, and of course a good arm.

And I know the scouts are onto Bonner.
 
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