[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

All I can say is watch his film. If you get wide angles of plays, you'll see him start throwing a ball when a receiver gets to an open window. That's not when the throw has to be made for the receiver to be open, especially in the NFL. As a QB you have to read the defense, process their coverage shell, and know the play your team is running well enough to know that, for example, against a Cover 2 Zone, the 15 yard post is going to be open in MOF, and that the ball has to be thrown to MOF WHEN THE RECEIVER IS MAKING HIS CUT for the throw to be open. Lawrence waits for the receiver to be in the MOF spot to throw the ball, resulting in a PBU.

If you watch Lawrence and Mac Jones back to back, it's night and day difference. You can freeze frame film on Jones and watch when he throws a fade. The INSTANT Jones sees the DB turn his back to run with the WR, ball is coming out and perfectly placed back shoulder 15-25 yards downfield. That throw is like clockwork for him with how consistent he is with it. Pick any fade he threw, you'll see it every time. Another great example is the crosser TD to Devonta Smith in the NC game. OSU ran Cover 3 and had a single high safety, Jones probably knew right away based on the look that he wanted Devonta. At the snap, Jones immediately begins looking left, drawing the safety that direction and away from MOF with his eyes. That left Tuf Borland to cover Devonta Smith, which meant all Mac had to do was loft one in over the top where Borland could never get to it and just let Devonta run under it, which he did. Those little things I'm describing are the difference between Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf.

Now, none of this is to say that Lawrence can't learn this stuff, he seems to have the right character and talent to burn to be able to do it, but he's also had 3 years at Clemson to improve this stuff, and he just simply hasn't. That's a huge red flag to me, and I don't understand why it's not a cause for concern for most evaluators.

No need to get defensive. I wasn't arguing with you.