https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...t/69943803007/
[/QUOTE] INDIANAPOLIS – Colts general manager Chris Ballard is saying there isn’t a quarterback in the 2023 NFL Draft he likes enough to trade for the No. 1 overall pick to get him – not yet, anyway – but I’m not hearing that. I’m hearing him say two words:
Bryce Young.
Colts coach Shane Steichen is saying he’s barely looked at the quarterbacks in the class. He’s been busy, I’ll give him that, seeing how he got the Colts job less than two weeks ago and since then has been interviewing candidates for his staff and meeting players in person and reaching out to others by phone. He says he’s “just going through the process now of really diving into guys,” but I’m not hearing that.
I’m hearing him say two words:
Bryce Young.
As for Colts owner Jim Irsay, we don’t have to accuse him of lying – not that I’m accusing Ballard or Steichen of lying, at least not as far as you know – about the quarterbacks in the 2023 draft. With our own ears, without having to listen between the lines, we all heard him say this on Feb. 14, the day the Colts introduced Steichen at a news conference:
“The Alabama guy doesn’t look bad, I tell ya,” Irsay said, not naming him by name, but still, talking explicitly about these two words:
Bryce Young.
The draft starts April 27, which means plenty of time for subterfuge and bluffing and outright deceit, but the Colts aren’t masking their intentions at all. They want Bryce Young, and they don’t care how short he is. They want Bryce Young, and they don’t care who knows it.
How, beyond the blurting of Jim Irsay, can I say such a thing? Because almost everything they’ve said about their next quarterback points to Young – I’ll show you in a minute – and they’re either leaning so far the other way they’re about to fall over, or they’re saying what most people seem to believe anyway: Bryce Young is the class of the 2023 quarterback class.
There’s a phrase for what we’re seeing here, when the simplest explanation is generally the correct explanation. Pretty sure it’s called Occam’s Razor. Though this being the Colts, maybe I’m thinking of Murphy’s Law.
Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks for an open receiver Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, during the College Football Playoff National Championship against Georgia at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Shane Steichen, Chris Ballard keep mentioning size
Someone asked Chris Ballard what he looks for in a quarterback. He mentioned arm strength and accuracy and the ability to read defenses – “process information” is the cool lingo, a phrase you’ll see a lot in the coming weeks – but then he said something nobody was asking him about.
“I think we’re seeing today they come in all different shapes and sizes,” he said.
And he said: “We’ve had guys that are under 6 foot be successful.”
Someone asked Shane Steichen what he looks for in a quarterback. He mentioned arm strength – “cut it through the wind,” he said – and accuracy and toughness, but then he said something nobody was asking him about.
“Obviously guys come in different shapes and sizes,” he said.
And he said:
“We’ve seen guys that are 6 foot in the Hall of Fame.”
Guys who are 6 foot? Or guys who are even, as Ballard was saying, under 6 foot?
Who on earth could they be talking about in the 2023 quarterback class?
Bryce Young not big, is great
Bryce Young is this year’s anomaly, and there’s always one. It was Kyler Murray a few years ago, everyone obsessed with his size. Lamar Jackson’s accuracy was a question, once. Baker Mayfield’s maturity. Johnny Manziel’s dedication. Now it’s Bryce Young, who will be measured later this week but seems to be a shade under 6 feet, and several pounds less than 200.
When’s the last time an NFL team used a first-round pick on a quarterback in the 5-11, 190-pound range? The quarterback was Richie Lucas. The team was Washington. The year was 1960.
So this doesn’t happen, but then, look at the game. It has changed. Also, look at the possibilities. Purdue’s Drew Brees didn’t get picked until the second round in 2001 because, at 6-0, he wasn’t tall enough. He broke the NFL career passing record in 2019. Imagine how much better he’d have been at 6-3!
At 5-10, Kyler Murray is actually shorter than Young. Same goes for the 5-11 Russell Wilson, but both are considerably heavier, and therefore able to take the pounding better than Young. It does sound logical. I mean, a quarterback who goes 6-4, 240 pounds ought to be bulletproof.
But Andrew Luck retired at age 29. Kept getting injured.
Size doesn’t matter as much as ability, and Steichen says the Colts want a quarterback with the “it” factor. Ballard says they want a quarterback with the maturity to handle being the face of the franchise from Day 1, a quarterback who can handle success without letting it go to his head. They were saying those things Wednesday without naming names, but though if they had dropped a name, it would have sounded a lot like Bryce Young. [/QUOTE]