Wes21

It means the clown that was hired to perform at his birthday party noticed that his teammates didn't show up.

What's interesting is the Detroit Lions staff (Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes) have been giving answers that let people know that personal character isn't at the top of their list. They use the term football character. And if they are a little rough in the personal character department, that's something they will try to help them with. But they feel like football character is the priority.

It used to be the norm for the top prospects to skip parts of the combine. Matt Stafford for instance didn't throw at the combine, even though he would have shined throwing next to the other prospects with his cannon arm. Then for the last decade or so guys have chosen to compete. I think the mindset might have changed recently (for whatever reason) and agents are now advising their clients to sit out some stuff at the combine. That's not just at QB. It will be interesting to see what becomes the new normal. In Young's case I think his arm is simply not on the level of the other 3 top guys. So if I were advising him I wouldn't want him on the same field as those guys either. Especially when he's carrying some extra weight to fake the weigh in at over 200 lbs. LOL

This answer is the ultimate cop out. Why discuss ANY prospect EVER? They all have good plays and bad plays, so what's the point? Am I doing it right?

I am not happy with Bryce and I am eager to see him play for someone else. However, I will say that Anthony Richardson's tape progresses thru the year as well. What I see on film early starts to iron out as the year progresses. Heck, in the Tennessee game he seemed to iron some stuff out during the game. After spending some time watching Bryce and realizing he's not all he's cracked up to be, I'd rather have AR if that's the kind of QB we want. I feel like if Bryce were 6'-3" people would spend more time critiquing is actual game and see some of the issues. But since he has that one huge flaw its all anyone wants to talk about.

So Nick Saban is going to tell me this guy isn't open, and Bryce should try to run for the first down? I didn't realize Bryce was just a victim of bad coaching, and that's how Nick told him to play football. But hey, it was a nice run!

You are basically saying he didn't bother looking at read #3 and just locked onto his 1st or 2nd read. Then he scrambled around until he could get the ball to his 1st or 2nd read. That's not a good thing. And certainly not good for a guy who people claim is an other wordly processor of information. I can excuse it if it was a one off. But its all over his film. That's the problem. I doubted CJ as well. I only bothered going back to the film because we traded up to the #1 pick. I found out a few things. One, I found that he is still growing and evolving as a QB. So some of my initial criticisms have ironed out over time. But secondly, I found the kind of film you want to see from a guy that has question marks about working out of rhythm and out of structure and always throwing to wide open guys. The film is there with him working out of rhythm. There is just less of it. But its there. So as I go thru the film and see the progression, to me the Georgia game was just an extension of what he had already shown and what he was growing to become. He was just forced to do alot of it that game due to the defense he was playing. I liked Bryce until I watched the film. It sounds great that he's a playmaker. But its problematic when the guy is not seeing the field and not hitting the open receivers like he should. He's turning down too many throws to run around and play hero ball. I am reminded of a play from Anthony Richardson in the 2021 season that his coach commented on. At first blush people were excited about it because the line didn't block for poo, noone one was open and AR made a great play to make something out of it and get 20+ yards on a run. After the game when asked about it the coach said something to the effect of "you guys get excited about those plays, I don't. He missed the protection call and that's why the pass rush was in his face. Then he missed the hot AND the primary on the same play. Then he took off running and you guys think its great. He's got alot to learn." That's how I see Bryce right now. Part of his spectacular plays are because he's missing reads. I don't cherry pick every single play. I understand that if we are not in the QB room, we don't have the full story of what was actually going on. But what I am seeing on film is eye opening.

Kyler Murray runs like a toddler who is running from his parents because he has something he is not supposed to have. And since someone gave me that visual last year, I have passed it on so neither one of us can unsee it.

The thing that sticks out to me about Stroud is how easy he makes things look. It can definitely lull you to sleep and just assume he's throwing in rhythm to wide open guys all day. I had a similar assessment of CJ until I started digging down into the film. CJ anticipates throws and puts the ball on the money in situations where guys like Bryce are turning down throws. CJ also seems to prefer subtle pocket movement that buys him a little more time to make a throw, rather that the much cooler looking run around stuff Bryce does.

Here is a kid that smokes the defense and Bryce makes the throw from a clean pocket. Stroud would put this on the money and the kid would walk in for a TD and everyone would say it was an easy pass and catch. I marked where Bryce put the ball with a green dot. Here is another one that is an easy pass and catch for Stroud. The kid settles in the zone and is open. Bryce turns down this pass to scramble around and throw a more difficult pass for a touchdown.

What you just said is certainly the narrative of the season and Bryce Young's situation. I ran with that until we jumped up to the #1 pick. That's when I went back and actually reviewed the film. The film tells a different story. Bryce was turning down open throws and I have been posting play after play where it has happened. I will give some more examples. On this play there are 3 different guys that are different versions of "open." I'd say the guy standing at the far sideline is the hardest throw to make. However, if you look at CJ Stroud's game film he would already be in his throwing motion at the point where I snapped this pic. One of the receivers would have caught it and it would have looked like an easy pass and catch. On to the next play. Bryce didn't throw it to any of these guys. He threw the ball away and the announcer said "nobody was open so Bryce just gets rid of it."

After watching the film I have the stance that Bryce makes his supporting cast look worse than it is. When he turns down open throws in structure to play out of structure, it makes it seem like noone was open. And since he's holding onto the ball so long, it makes it seem like the line can't block because the pass rush gets to him. There are plays that CJ throws a dime on time for an easy completion and Bryce in a similar setup turns down the throw and starts dancing around before trying to throw a hero ball.

What I am seeing on film is different than the narrative of the two QBs. With Stroud I am seeing a QB who processes information so quickly that he rarely has to play out of structure. But when he is forced to play out of structure, he can do it effectively. So I am confident in Stroud's ability to do both while I question Young's ability to operate within structure.

The film disagrees with this. One thing that has come to light for me rewatching all of the games is that one of Stroud's strengths is to process information quickly and efficiently, which allows him to execute more plays "in structure" than Bryce Young would under the same circumstances. And when the play reaches a point where its impossible to stay within structure, Stroud shows on film that he is fully capable of moving effectively AND making accurate passes on the move. I thought Bryce Young's ability to play out of structure was a feature of his game. The film says otherwise. Playing out of structure IS his game. He literally turns down open throws within structure to run around out of structure. If you could create an alternate universe where you dropped CJ Stroud at QB and then Bryce Young at QB to run the exact same play against the exact same defense, the 2 guys would often make it look completely different. CJ has the ability to make it look like the receiver was open and the pass blocking was on point. So of course it was a completion, it was easy. Byce can take that same play and make it look like none of his receivers are open and that the pass protection was bad, so he had to improvise and make a heroic play. Or as I said in another thread...CJ has a knack for making things look easy while Bryce has a knack for making things look harder.

QBs have to work thru windows. Many of the lineman are taller than the QB. Tom Brady confirmed that even he has to work thru windows and not "over the line." I find the chart interesting. Each QB is unique in their skill set, delivery, decision making and the offenses that they run. Some offenses simply lead to more batted balls than others. However, I do see a little bit of something. I have heard that there is generally a sweet spot when it comes to being a QB that is somewhere around 6'-2" and 6'-3". Its just tall enough to buck the downsides of being short and just enough to buck the downside of being tall. Its interesting to note that the super tall QBs on the far right have a higher than normal batted ball rate in 3 out of 4 cases.

The more I review film the more I see this differently. It seems like Stroud is the one processing information really quickly and getting the ball to his playmakers while Young misses alot of initial passes and is forced to dance around and make something happen after that. I am actually alarmed at how much he does it.

Exactly. This is fun to pass the time with but isn't based on reality. And if it is, we will be taking that deal.

Taking it outside of the organization and at a different position... ...Patrick Willis talks about how instrumental Takeo Spikes was in his career.

TE is different. You just learned something today. You are welcome. LOL https://www.drafthistory.com/index.php/positions/te

Do you remember what we gave up to trade for Olsen? Travis Kelce was a 3rd round pick. That is a theme with the TE position. I would love to have a conversation about this. But you have to be honest about what we are talking about.

More of a common theme from Bryce. He took a sack on this play. WTF?

Yes. Are you going to take one with pick #1? Using that pick on a TE is a bad use of resources.

Bryce Young is not Brees. He is a smaller, more experienced Anthony Richardson. That is going to go over like a lead balloon, but that is what I am seeing on film. Its the hot take version, but I hope it makes people take a deeper look into what they think about the kid.

Using super early picks on positions like TE is something the Detroit Lions would do. Friends don't let friends become the Detroit Lions.

Wilson is short. Bryce is small. This is like trying to compare Barry Sanders to Floyd Mayweather.