Most rookies need work on their mechanics. Mark Sanchez needs work on his mechanics, too. He's got a crouch and bend in his delivery that needs ironing out. Pat White is no different, he needs to work on consistency in his foot work and apparently his arm slot.
Hey, let's face it, he was a running QB in college. He was use to throwing the ball on the run, using his legs to pull defenders forward and then hitting them up with a good throw over top. That doesn't result in a guy having consistent mechanics because you end up throwing the ball from all different angles, from all different leverage, etc. It's something he is going to have to work on, getting those dropback pocket mechanics to be consistent. I think one important thing is he has the ability to use those perfect dropback pocket mechanics and he's shown that at the college level as well as in workouts at the Senior Bowl, Combine and Pro Day. So, there's hope that with time and repetitions, those perfect dropback mechanics won't be so hit or miss anymore or something he has to think about, it'll just come natural.
But keep a couple of things in mind:
1. He's not here to drop back in a normal pocket and deliver footballs. That's Pennington's job. And if Pennington gets hurt, it becomes Henne's job. If White still isn't far enough along with his dropback passing by 2010 to be trusted to be Henne's primary backup, they'll snag some pure dropback guy to be Henne's backup and if Henne went down it would be a shared job between the new guy and Pat White.
2. White's here to run the ball and to deliver the football on the run and from a moving pocket (ie. the WildPat). That's something he did exceedingly well in college. Maybe the best I've ever seen, over such a long period of time. Vince Young did it well, but really only for one year. Young had sub-60% completion and about as many TDs as INTs for his other two years. Pat White's been doing it well for literally three years, with over 65% completion in each of his last three seasons, and significantly more TDs than INTs in each of his last three seasons as well. All this is just to say, he's got a lot of experience in a spread-option type setting where he is asked to run around and find people sneaking out the back door to throw the ball to, and he's done it very well. I doubt the Dolphins are worried about that part of his game. The key is, it's not something you're going to see during OTAs and Mini Camps, because OTAs and Mini Camps are purely teaching environments where they are trying to teach Pat White more about doing the things he did NOT do so much at the college level. When we get into preseason games he'll continue to focus on dropback passing, but I suspect he'll also have the handcuffs off as far as his scrambling goes and I really suspect he will look better.
3. I have never spoken to one of the West Virginia coaches but it would not at all surprise me if this guy is not a great practice player. He has always seemed to 'turn it on' when the real bullets are firing at their hottest and heaviest. He's a gamer. No doubt about it. He's the only guy ever to win four bowl games as a starting QB. He got voted MVP of three of them, and then he went and won the Senior Bowl and got voted MVP (and team captain) of that game as well. I suspect he's never really going to look fantastic in practice, but that he'll be able to dial it up in the clutch. There is some room for that. Joey Harrington looked great in practice, always. His mechanics were fundamentally sound and deadly consistent, and his accuracy was fantastic. Get him into the game and he's Joey Checkdown, can't hit a moving target with good ball placement to save his life.
