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That was rank speculation topped with a helping of stupid.
That was rank speculation topped with a helping of stupid.
https://twitter.com/albertbreer/status/1372906496137236480?s=21Albert Breer @AlbertBreer
One scouting term that comes up a lot with BYU QB Zach Wilson—what a “loose” athlete he is. That’s on display here.
And Brady is super stiff. So what?
Don’t be surprised if the tide of opinion turns very quickly on BYU QB Zach Wilson. Last month’s wunderkind has been more under the microscope in the draft media. From what I’ve gathered, he’s already had that treatment from the NFL teams and we’re just catching up. Wilson is much less a lock to be a top-5 overall pick than widely assumed, though it only takes one team to believe. The notion that he’s superb in 7-on-7 but not necessarily 11-on-11 came from the NFL, not the media.
https://twitter.com/movethesticks/status/1375467475903541255?s=21Daniel Jeremiah @MoveTheSticks
Zach Wilson
6021 214 9 1/2 inch hand
https://twitter.com/albertbreer/status/1375455710968942600?s=21Albert Breer @AlbertBreer
Settle down, Jets fans. Your traveling party for Zach Wilson's Pro Day at BYU: GM Joe Douglas, HC Robert Saleh, OC Mike LaFleur.
Remember, the limit for each team is three guys.
BYU QB Zach Wilson
“I remember in 1999, Andy Reid came to Philadelphia, where I live. I got to know him. At that time, six quarterbacks were being juggled as possible first-rounders. So what Andy did was, he put a different quarterback on every day in his office. He’d just have it up on his screen all day, even if he wasn’t working on them every moment.
“He’d look up there and Donovan (McNabb) was up on the screen one day, another quarterback (from that draft class) the next day, and so on. So that’s how I do it with quarterbacks. I just put them up there and watch them.
“And I can’t stop watching Zach Wilson. Whether it’s the arm talent. Whether it’s the head-and-shoulder fakes. Whether it’s the mobility. Whether it’s the flick of the wrist. He absolutely captures your eye. Period."
BYU QB Zach Wilson measured 6-foot-2, 214 pounds during Friday's pro day.
One of the knocks on Wilson -- or one of the potential knocks on Wilson -- was that of size. His measurement on pro day should put an end to all that jazz. At 6-foot-2, the BYU gunslinger is three inches shorter than Trevor Lawrence. But he actually has a pound on T-Law's pro day measurement. Wilson is expected to run through a session of 60 throws (or thereabouts) on Friday as he looks to lock in a top-five pick. We've seen Wilson mocked as high as the No. 2 pick with the Jets. One little statistical nugget on that. Per ESPN's Evan Caplan, if the Jets do draft Wilson with the second overall selection, they would be the first club in the Common Draft Era (1967 onwards) to select quarterbacks with top-three picks twice in a four-year span. New York picked Sam Darnold with the No. 3 pick in spring of 2018. Darnold could very well end up traded in the coming weeks, traded to open up the path for Wilson.
SOURCE: Matt Miller on Twitter
Mar 26, 2021, 12:57 PM ET
Were Darnold goes has become more intriguing to me now then what the Jets will do at 2.Unless he has fumbled the zoom meetings and the in-person interview today, it feels like he is a near mortal lock to be picked at #2 overall.
He was very impressive. Liked the range of speeds and trajectories. Makes me wonder if he isn’t better talent than Lawrence. Certainly a closer debate now after that throwing session. Jets probably take him. Deal Darnold.Saw a clip of Wilson from his pro day. He rolled to his left and hit a guy in stride throwing across his body 50+ yards downfield like he was playing catch in his backyard. Filthy. Like quarterback p0rn.
Ted Nguyen
@FB_FilmAnalysis
After watching a ton of Fields and Wilson, they both miss reads and need development. But there are far more examples of Fields getting through his progressions on straight dropbacks. Yet Fields is the one being labeled as a "one read QB" whatever that means.
7:18 PM · Mar 26, 2021·Twitter Web App
Fields is super accurate and throws a mean deep ball, too, according to PFF. I didn't mean to talk down about his abilities. I don't know much about QBs and how they read progressions, either. I was just posting as context behind the assertions and their fallout. There's sort of a thing on Twitter almost condemning that tack on things. Waldman and Bloom wanted him to speed up, or they seemed to say it the other night on their Audible podcast, which was the podcast they expressed serious doubts about Wilson, too. I can only say what I've seen on Twitter and in other places with certainty. I'm not a QB evaluator.I'm not gonna pretend I know d about f when it comes to analyzing QBs, but that ball he throws looks pretty sweet. I'm a buyer. Planning to pursue him and Wilson above Lawrence at their respective prices.
ETA: Fields' sweet balls are to what I was referring. I realize now this is the Wilson thread, but I did mention him as well, so I shall leave my exceedingly insightful post here. And I suppose what I said really applies to both anyway
ZACH WILSON'S PLAN
Former NFL quarterback John Beck—now a coach at Tom House and Adam Dedeaux’s acclaimed 3DQB outfit in Orange County—can still remember hanging out in the parking lot of Golden West College with Zach Wilson last summer and how manageable the goals, at the time, seemed for the BYU junior as he prepared to head back to Utah for fall camp.
“We were just standing by our cars talking about being smart, making good decisions, not taking unnecessary hits, you have the ability to make the big play, know when to use it—all that just to have a solid, consistent junior year,” Beck said Friday, as he waited for his order at a Shake Shack at Salt Lake City International. “To be here, it’s pretty magical.”
At the time, Wilson was just focused on winning his job back for the season, after Cougars coach Kalani Sitake swung open the doors to a quarterback competition. Wilson had started six games as a true freshman and nine as a sophomore, but he’d been banged up and BYU didn’t play particularly well down the stretch in 2019.
Beck figured then that Sitake was just challenging Wilson, and Wilson would wind up winning his spot back (he did a month later). And he thought Wilson was positioned nicely to show all the talent that Beck first saw in the quarterback as an 18-year-old. But in no way did Beck figure that eight months after that interaction, he’d be in BYU’s field house, with the eyes of the NFL trained on Wilson, who was ready to serve up this personal mic-drop moment: a jaw-dropping throw to cap his meteoric rise into the world of pro football.
In a way, the throw was a perfect display of Wilson showing what he could do, a year after having to grapple with what his coaches at BYU might have thought he couldn’t do.
“There were days he was pissed,” Beck says. “He’s a human, he was pissed. But it motivated him, and he was super driven, I loved the way he approached that offseason—it was very much I believe in myself, I believe I’m just gonna work my tail off, and I’m gonna go out there and earn it again, like I’ve always done. We’ve had that conversation many times.”
By now, you know the story. Wilson commuted from Utah to Orange County during the pandemic. The time he’d normally have spent with his teammates was freed up for him to work on his own game, and he picked up a job at DoorDash to finance his newly-nomadic lifestyle. And Beck watched Wilson refine all the jumps that Wilson had made in their three years together.
Wilson was actually first introduced to Beck in April 2018, after he’d enrolled early at BYU (he graduated high school the previous December). Wilson’s uncle had a nephew named J.D. Neeleman who was the quarterback at Lone Peak High in Utah and had started working with Beck. Neeleman’s dad had said to Beck in passing, “I have a nephew that would really love to know about this. I’m gonna talk to his dad.”
Soon thereafter they met. And there they were together, less than three years later, in Provo—with Wilson the very likely second pick in the draft.
And if all this seems a little too Disney-movie-ish, there’s more. Just before the workout, news of the Niners-Dolphins trade broke. Beck didn’t tell Wilson about it until afterwards, but he smiled when it went down, as he thought it might after hearing rumblings that a deal was in the works. Why? Well, he’d geared Wilson’s pro day script—which had more than 60 throws and incorporated a lot of play-action and keeper-game throws, as well as downfield drive and off-spot throws—to play on tenets of Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
He did it because the teams picking second and fourth run that scheme, and because he had insight into it, having played for Shanahan in Washington in 2010 and ’11. And with the deal, the teams with picks two through four were running that offense, with Shanahan himself in the mix.
In other words, what Beck and Wilson put together was more or less built on the mission statement of whichever company he’ll wind up working for, even if the Jets were to pass on him. Even better, as Beck sees it, getting to one of said companies would be a perfect result.
“It’s the perfect fit,” Beck says. “They want somebody who can get the ball out quick, make quick decisions go through progressions and know where and why. He can do that. Once he processes it, does he have to move off the spot and deliver an accurate ball? He can do that. In play-action game, can he get out on the edge and throw on the run? He can do that. In the keeper game where they want to take their shots, can he pull up quickly and get the ball downfield in a split-second? He can do that.
“I just think what Zach brings to the table, and what that offense is asking of the quarterback, is such a great match.”
There’s no question that Wilson needed to grow over the past few years to get here. His arm, Beck says, has gotten stronger, through a combination of simple physical maturation and work (specific throwing routines, weighted-ball exercises, etc.). Conversely, they’ve also worked on Wilson’s ability to rein it in, and not take unnecessary risks with his body and the ball, gains that showed up during BYU’s 11–1 season.
All the same, Wilson’s changed Beck’s mentality a little, too, getting him to think bigger. Part of that has been being ready for the potential (probable?) result that Wilson lands in New York, and everything that comes along with that. In fact, Beck told me he’s planning to line up two friends of his—Chad Pennington and Josh McCown, a pair of former Jets QBs—to talk to Wilson about the challenges of playing in America’s biggest market.
“Zach looks forward to opportunities like that. He has traits to handle the big stage,” Beck says. “I think he wants those moments. He’s human, like we all are. And New York can be tough. But he’s been working on the tools to handle those things for a long time, and I think he’ll have the right people in his corner to help him through the ups and the downs, if that’s the market he’s gonna be in. Because there’s gonna be those.
“He’s well aware of that. When you play football, there are ups and downs, and if you’re gonna have ups and downs in that market, you have to know the reality of it.”
Another reality: Last summer, Beck didn’t see himself being in this spot, getting ready to board a flight back to California after Wilson turned heads, again, and pulled into pole position to go second overall in the draft.
And it wasn’t just that one throw, either. Which is where we’re going next….
And now to Wilson, whose workout was scripted for about 60 throws, but wound up around 70 after he asked Beck for a couple do-overs.
NFC exec 3 on Wilson: “He ended up being bigger than I thought he’d be, and that was the No. 1 thing people worried about. He was 215 pounds, his hands measured out, he was fine with all that stuff. On the field, he was really impressive. He’s an easier thrower than I realized, very smooth motion. Where some guys have a hitch or a windup, the ball jumps right off his hand.… He’s an easy thrower on the move, you can tell he’s a natural athlete. The arm strength is excellent, the accuracy was good. He got in a rhythm where he was really hot. He also missed a couple. Walking away, if you’re [Jets GM] Joe Douglas, you feel better about it, that, ‘Yup, this is the guy.’ From a pure physical standpoint, he’s all good. You have a little medical question, because there’s so much unknown this year with everyone, he had the [2019 surgery on his] shoulder. But I don’t think that’ll be a big deal.”
AFC exec 2 on Wilson: “It was really good, he’s super talented. He throws so easy, he has a really quick delivery, he can throw from all angles and zip it if he needs to. The arm strength—if there was any question I had, it might’ve been there, and he certainly answered it. There were some throws, on each sideline, you could tell where he didn’t really rip it on tape. I’m not as worried about that now.… Could it have been better? Sure, he missed a couple. But from a talent stand, it was really impressive.… [Seeing his stature] was good. He’s not a skinny-legged guy, he’s not frail, he’s put together. I’d heard the heaviest ever been before this was 205. He was 214 at pro day, and it looked good. And he has a bigger lower body than people thought.… From a tape standpoint, he wasn’t as good as [Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers] coming out. But that’s easy to say now. Some of the ability to throw from different angles, and with a release that quick is similar to those guys. Rodgers is probably more appropriate. Remember, people weren’t super [excited] with Rodgers’ arm either, which seems crazy now. So is he as talented as those guys, as an athlete? Maybe. Is he gonna be a great generational quarterback? I don’t know.”
AFC exec 3 on Wilson: “He threw it well. He missed a few, I think he was pretty pumped up going in, so that might’ve been it. He can really throw it. It’s easy for him. He can throw across his body, on the move, to his right, to his left.… You could tell he had some nerves early, but he was poised enough to get it together. If you’re comfortable with the guy and his leadership—and I think that’ll check out—he’s really good. A BYU kid going to New York, he’ll need a little work, of course.… He looked better [physically] than I thought he would. He’s over 6’2”, and he’s not a rail, he’s got a good lower body. And you can tell he’s gotten stronger since the season.”
The Athletic's Ted Nguyen said there's "more of a boom-or-bust factor" with BYU's Zach Wilson than he had expected before analyzing the prospect's game tape.
Nguyen credited Wison for making reads quickly and delivering throws not many pro quarterbacks could make, but pointed out Wilson's poor footwork and overaggressive approach. Wilson's inconsistent footwork led to many off-target throws in his final season at BYU, even against weak competition. Nguyen said in the NFL, Wilson might not have the clean pocket he had through much of his 2020 season behind one of the nation's top offensive lines. He called Wilson a "project" and said the "team that drafts him will have to be patient and comfortable in its ability to develop him." A willingness to sit Wilson during his rookie campaign, Nguyen said, could aid his development as a passer. Whoever ends up taking a chance on Wilson likely won't be in position to give the QB a red-shirt season. NBC Sports Edge's Hayden Winks has Wilson going to the Jets with the second pick in the upcoming draft.
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New York Jets
SOURCE: The Athletic
Apr 3, 2021, 2:50 PM ET
Really, lack of top competition and a huge one year, having done nothing before, usually convinces me to stay away. Not always and it can work out, but those are huge red flags.
Also, Jets.-OZ- said:Really, lack of top competition and a huge one year, having done nothing before, usually convinces me to stay away. Not always and it can work out, but those are huge red flags.
Yeah, no.Meyer may decide to rest his nfl hopes on Wilson. Given what we see