I'm not necessarily the one taking a lead on our Christian Ponder piece. But I think you could make the case that as we get closer to the Draft, Ponder belongs in a Top 4, rather than being the guy that is on the outside looking in on a Top 3.
There are many schools of thought on drafting a quarterback. I tend NOT to adhere to one school of thought, as there are just too many guys that break the rules. I tend to be a unitarian that way. But there are tons of people that do have strong beliefs that it needs to be this way or that, they have their preferences and that will draw them to different quarterbacks in this class.
I would say there are schools of thought, valid ones, that would bring multitudes of people to each of the four quarterbacks Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Mallett and Christian Ponder. There are no shortage of people that look at the diversity of talent in Cam Newton, the multiple threat, his manipulation of defenses and ability to think quickly, his game management and the fact that he won huge and did it with the weight of the team on his shoulders, the very large amount of distance he crossed in terms of advancing himself as a passer in a very short amount of time, and they're going to say this is the best QB prospect in this draft. This is the guy with the ceiling, this is the guy that gets off the bus and intimidates you, this is the guy you have to develop a very specialized game plan in order to defend. Various scouts and personnel people have told people like Tony Pauline and Rob Rang that they have him as the top QB in the Draft. If you're a guy that cares about physical talent, tends to think that character issues get a little overplayed, thinks that a multiple threat is actually valuable to an offense, and doesn't care about experience nearly as much as coachability? You like Cam Newton.
Meanwhile, you have guys like Mike Mayock, Charlie Casserly and Michael Lombardi absolutely pounding the table for Blaine Gabbert. There's a lot to like there. In addition to looking more natural as a thrower, more natural with his footwork than a Newton, he has the big arm and the accuracy to make all the throws. He struggles with the deep ball but history has shown that guys with that weakness can improve it considerably with pro coaching and if provided receivers that can run under a ball. He's a superb athlete that can throw on the run and make plays happen. Players that played against him regard him as extremely talented, hard to defend. If you are a guy that cares a lot about physical talent, but also cares a lot about character issues, Blaine Gabbert is probably your guy.
On the other hand, what if you're a guy that cares a lot about physical talent, thinks that character stuff gets really overplayed and that what really matters is that you can play pro football with great talent, but you also care a lot about conventions like experience, coming from a pro style offense, making pro style reads and throws that translate to the pros? If that's you, Ryan Mallett is your guy. And sure enough you have people like our own TedSlimmJr, who as a guy that has coached quarterbacks for a long time I respect a lot, rating Mallett the best. I see that K.C. Joyner recently penned an article claiming that Ryan Mallett is the best.
More recently we have guys like Wes Bunting stepping up to the plate and being bold enough to say wait a minute, what if for you the top issues you care about, the things you want in a player, are all those intangibles that scouts keep SWEARING to you are the most important when it comes to a quarterback making it in the pros? Things like toughness, outstanding intelligence, leadership, fighting through adversity and winning ball games with your arm, etc. What if that's all very, very important to you? And what if what's also important to you IS that you have pro style timing, throw with anticipation, can make pro style reads and operate a pro style offense, etc. If that's the case, Christian Ponder is your guy, and that's what Wes Bunting has been thumping for a while now. If you value things like intangibles and character, then you're probably not going to tend toward Newton or Mallett. If you value the pro translation you're going to be against Newton and Gabbert. That leaves you on Ponder.
The guys that are missing from all this are Jake Locker, Colin Kaepernick, Ricky Stanzi, Andy Dalton, T.J. Yates, Greg McElroy, etc. No matter what kind of person you are when it comes to evaluating QBs, no matter what you tend to value (with reason), I don't think any combination of things is going to take you to one of those guys as the BEST of the class. And that's why I think there will be four QBs taken in the 1st round this April, and they will be Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Mallett and Christian Ponder. And, the order in which those guys go, could surprise many people.
