Thursday 19 November 2009

Mel Kiper: Spiller or Suh for Heisman

Also discussed - Tim Tebow and Jake Locker's draft stock.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tough call for Locker. I would like to see him stay at UW, but if he comes out, I would love to see him in a Seahawk uniform holding a clipboard for 16 games.

TJ

Rob Staton said...

I haven't had any access to Washington games this year, so Locker is one of the 'big name' prospects I haven't been able to form an opinion on. It's a very tough call as emphasised in the conversation had between Kiper and McShay. How do you turn down millions of dollars to spend another year of your life learning - yes - but earning nothing to do so whilst knowing it only takes one serious injury or a bad run of form to seriously harm your stock.

I mean - people are saying now that Locker is raw and it almost justifies some errors he makes. If he's making the same errors next year, people suddenly start to ask questions. He can't fall back on just being a bit inexperienced in his senior season.

This is a quarterback's league and there are plenty of teams in need of a QB. It wouldn't surprise me if one of Locker or Ryan Mallett declared for that very reason, because aside from Sam Bradford I'm not sure there's another quarterback out there that warrants a top 10 pick. If they sense an opportunity is there to go in that range, they might take it. Having said that, I know Mallett would benefit tremendously from another year at Arkansas and I can only assume Locker's in the same boat. Teams might be put off drafting them highly for the same reasons some of us think they should go back to school. It's difficult for them to judge.

kearly said...

As a lefty myself I can't believe it took me this long to notice that Tebow is also a lefty. Its fitting though, as some of the most mobile QB's in NFL history were lefties too (Young, Vick, Brunell). Not sure if that is just a coincidence or not, but that fascinates me as lefty QB's are extremely rare in the pros (probably less than 10%) and yet they are so well represented among mobile QBs.

Regarding Locker, I agree that his decision to declare is one of the more interesting ones I've seen in a long time. Its funny how everyone agrees that he shouldn't declare, but if he does "then damn, he's a top 10 pick!"

I've watched every game Locker has played which means I've probably seen more snaps of him than McShay and Kiper combined at this point. Locker has monster potential and checks every single box you look for.

Character: Terrific guy, 10/10 character wise. Turned down offers from top schools to play for his beloved UW dawgs even though they were/are terrible. I've never seem him lose emotional composure on the field and he's extremely quiet and humble off of it. Stress and difficult game situations do not shake him. Is usually very clutch in late game situations- reminds me of Jake Plummer at ASU. Very strong mentally. Losses have added up but never effected him. Not just the best player at UW, but the unquestioned leader that everyone looks to. Not as fiery as Tebow, but gets an A+ for leadership. This is why I suspect he'll be a Husky in 2010. Not for himself but for his teammates. I don't even think he'll struggle with the decision. That's the type of guy he is.

Arm- Arm-strength is very good. His accuracy is below average overall, but is improving. Has a very fast throwing motion but seems most accurate when he takes an extra second to lob the ball on his deep passes. When he takes that extra second, I haven't seen him miss a deep pass all season. He may not afford that extra second in the NFL though.

Legs- Locker has been injured with smaller injuries constantly, so we've only seen his true speed in maybe 30% of his games. When he's totally healthy though, I have no trouble believing his alleged 4.4 forty. He's also a very instinctive runner and is extremely smart about when to make cutbacks. His rookie year, running wise, was more impressive to me than Tebow's. The downside is that Locker is just "ok" at avoiding sacks despite his strength and athleticism, and if Locker has one lone fault is that he sometimes panics at "imagined" pressure. Teams shouldn't draft him thinking he's Ben Roethlisberger.

He's not ready for the NFL, and I suspect that even this time next year people will still call him raw. You make a good point about the mistakes he's made and how they may not fly when he's a senior, but its important to remember that this is only his first year with a real QB coach. Before this season he was basically a Masoli-type RB at QB. Even if that isn't considered- teams will be absolutely blinded by Locker's monster talent and insanely high ceiling. Barring a disastrous injury, the very lowest he'd go in 2011 would be top 10 or top 15, and if the Huskies so much as make a bowl game and Locker only modestly improves, he'd be the favorite to go #1.

bob said...

I don't want to think of the day when Matt isn't our QB anymore.

I know this won't happen (we've already won too many games to get Suh), but in my perfect world we'd be able to draft (assuming there's no trades.

1. Suh
1. Spiller
2. Johnson (LG, Ala)

I think we need improvement on both lines (Suh/Johnson) and a genuine playmaker who can take it the distance on any play.

I am also high on Casey Knips with our 4th rounder (think Michael Roos, without quite being that good... even smaller school than E.Wash). You can say his school is too small, but I guarantee if the DI teams could go back in time 5 years... they sure as heck would be recruiting this kid very hard and then we wouldn't be saying he was just a small school kid.

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