10 thoughts on how Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson stack up for Colts
https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...e/69973852007/
Quote:
Ten thoughts from the NFL combine and what we learned about the Colts and their pursuit of the top quarterbacks:
1. It was a whirlwind of a week for teams at the top, from talk of quarterbacks to the trade options to get them. Those talks encircled Alabama's Bryce Young, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Florida's Anthony Richardson, Kentucky's Will Levis and, to a lesser degree, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker.
Of course, the Colts were part of that as they search for their sixth Week 1 starter in six years and an end to the carousel that finally gave way during last season's 4-12-1 finish. There's no need to hide that fact, so they didn't. Blunt emotion is general manager Chris Ballard's style, and Shane Steichen's is passionately talking about football, and they know what they can create if each of them believes the other's top choice is right. Franchise-wide unity on a quarterback decision, like Andrew Luck had, is rare but powerful.
Why organizational alignment is everything
2. That's what it will take to empower Ballard to make the trade he has yet to make, up for a starting quarterback in the draft. He said there's a way to know: "That we were just convicted that this is no freaking doubt the guy.” That's what the Kansas City Chiefs had when they traded up for Patrick Mahomes, and they're now the team the Colts and the rest of the AFC are chasing. It's also where Ballard hails from, during the Alex Smith days.
Until he's all the way there, he's going to play the trade game like he always has, pivoting around for leverage.
"Like, this is what’s great right now," Ballard said. "Everybody has just automatically stamped that you’ve got to move up to (No.) 1 to get it right. I don’t know if I agree with that, I don’t. That’s going to be the narrative. That’s OK. Y’all have to write something, have to keep the news flowing. But I don’t necessarily know if that’s the right course of business. ... Who's to say we won't get one at four?
He loves to hold the upper-hand on teams that are desperate, like he did on the Commanders with Carson Wentz. This is a new place for Ballard, because when it comes to quarterbacks, the teams trading up never have the upper hand. They have to pay a premium to beat the competition.
It's a big part of why he has yet to drafted a starter. But that's about to change.
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard and coach Shane Steichen will spend the next several weeks scouting quarterbacks to select with the No. 4 pick in this year's NFL Draft.
3. He could use a nudge from those around him. That will need to start with Steichen, the 37-year-old quarterback developer who acknowledged they need to do this together. "Sometimes that’s probably one of the hardest jobs is predicting the future of these young guys. What can they be, what their capabilities are," Steichen said. "I think all these guys in this draft have talent and then how do you elevate their talent as coaches and putting them in positions to succeed."
The two worst-kept secrets out of Indianapolis from those in the know were that the Texans are high on Young and the Panthers are looking to trade above the Colts for a quarterback. Indianapolis might not have to go to No. 1 specifically, but it won't be able to take the second quarterback where it currently sits. Not in this economy.
4. Steichen is busy right now, logging in-season hours to hire a new staff and scout the quarterbacks he's watching throw, but he was able to squeeze 20 minutes in to meet and greet with fans at Sun King Brewing. He launched into stories about the play designs from his best game as a quarterback at UNLV and how Phillip Rivers once deciphered the Steelers' defensive signals in a Monday Night Football game.
"He is all ball, which I like," Ballard said.
He's a man who used to let himself into his high school stadium on Saturday nights, forgoing the parties for the still-night imagination that passing plays could bring.
"He will talk football and he will talk football and he will talk football," said his high school coach, Chris Jones.
You don't have to worry about whether he'll make a case for his favorite quarterback prospects to Ballard. If anything, he might not let up.
More:Empty stadiums, audibles and obsessions: How Shane Steichen found his love of football
5. It was interesting to hear Ballard say he'd be watching the players' media interviews to gauge how they'll handle the league. Though the drills and measurements get the most attention, the interviews are the second-most valuable part to teams behind the medical evaluations. A 15-minute press conference with a massive media scrum can show how those answers distill in public form, which pulls at one of the biggest traits in a quarterback: awareness.
The Colts are looking to end this carousel with a talented, long-term quarterback who can also be the face of the franchise, a blend of tangible and intangible traits. Their past two starters have only had one or the other, as Wentz was all tools and Ryan all demeanor. The drills and tape show the traits they want to chase in the AFC, and the interviews show the person they'll decide whether to invest in a league run by quarterbacks.
How C.J. Stroud won the NFL combine for quarterbacks
Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud was a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist before declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft.
6. It's hard to think anyone but Ohio State's C.J. Stroud was the winner of the week. Whereas Young came off nice and timid in his interview, and Richardson brash and youthful, and Levis confident and positive, and Hooker collected and selfless, Stroud walked a line between them all. He was ready for every question and fired up to show how he's thought through them. I wondered if he was going to put a helmet on halfway through.
"No matter what room I step in," he said, "I want to let them know that I control the room."
I decided to go right at the question football evaluators had most about his game: Was he capable of using his legs more than he did at Ohio State, where he threw for 8,123 yards but ran for just 136?
"I didn't really do it a lot in college and I feel like I should have," Stroud said. "It's something I do regret. I feel like I could have done it a lot more. ... I have used my athleticism and not only in the Georgia game, where I did it a lot. I've had tough third-down runs. I've had tough fourth-down runs.
"But there were times I didn't run the ball when maybe I should have. I feel like that's something that I learned and that's what football is about. It's about stepping back up to the plate and going back and working hard and fixing those problems. That's something I plan to fix and I'll show them my athleticism. I've done it before on film, but since people don't think I can do it, I'm going to do it again."
That's growth mindset, coachability, confidence, awareness and accountability baked into a single answer to a one-sentence question in a scrum. Those are traits he'll need to fire at a moment's reflex in the NFL.
7. Of course, actions matter more than words. On Saturday, when all the hype was about Richardson and his record-shattering running and jumping, Stroud dug in on his biggest strength, which is throwing the ball.
The two started fairly strong on out and slant routes, but Stroud maintained his ball placement and accuracy as Richardson's tailed off. These are just routes on air with players they've never thrown to, but Stroud's second-biggest question behind athleticism was how he'd connect with receivers who aren't All-Americans like Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. This was a step. The mechanics were so clean in comparison to the younger Richardson and resembled those of an ace pitcher in their throw-by-throw consistency.
If he can answer more of the athleticism questions with drills and throws on the run at his pro day, he could become the one prospect of these four without a glaring concern. He'll start to look like the kid who lit up Georgia for 382 total yards and four touchdowns in his final college game, a cross between Rivers' pocket delivery and Justin Herbert's extension.
His fit with Steichen and Ballard grew a good step this week.
Anthony Richardson is jaw-dropping but needs a plan
Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson threw just 17 touchdown passes in his lone year as a college starter but could be a top-five pick in this year's NFL Draft due to his elite measurables.
8. The headline, of course, was Richardson, who met his soaring pre-draft hype by setting a combine quarterback record with a 40.5-inch vertical jump and tying one with a 129-inch broad jump. By running a 4.43-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-4 and 244 pounds, he surpassed Cam Newton for the best athletic combine performance for a passer ever.
He foreshadowed it in his interview the day before, where he said he grew up calling himself "Cam Jackson" for a blend of Newton and Lamar Jackson. He also brought up Mahomes and Herbert. Those kinds of self-made comparisons could rub some the wrong way after he failed to have any of their college careers, but these drills showed the athletic ability is right there with them. What stood out was how effortless he threw the ball, barely bending his knees to launch passes 40 yards in warmups.
The Colts must decide: Is Anthony Richardson's historic upside worth the gamble?
The concerns became present, too, from his streaky accuracy and mechanics to his youthful view of a position he's only played for 13 college starts. He described his game as being able to "run over people, jump over people, run past people, throw the ball pretty well," in that order. When I asked about his biggest question for evaluators -- that 53.8% completion rate -- he took a different approach than Stroud.
"I can definitely get better at delivering the ball and helping my guys out. But I can't catch every pass. If I could, I would, definitely," Richardson said.
Why didn't Bryce Young throw?
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy after leading the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in 2021.
9. It's like Richardson is a Madden create-a-player built to oppose everything Young is at an event like the combine. With a 65% career completion rate and a Heisman Trophy and a 20-4 starting record at Alabama, Young is the rare player with almost no questions about his play, much like Joe Burrow. The question for him is all about how historically small he could be.
He spent the past six weeks bulking up until he weighed in at 204 pounds at 5-10 1/8 and then sat out throwing and running drills rather than test on the new weight. If he throws at his pro day, he likely won't weigh the same. In the end, he's a tiny quarterback, and teams have to decide if he can be a special enough thrower, pocket manipulator and leader of a franchise to be worth that risk, especially for a trade up.
Bryce Young: He weighs in at 204 pounds, but questions about his size aren't getting smaller
This felt like a missed opportunity of sorts. I would have enjoyed seeing him in a competitive throwing environment with Stroud and Richardson as the two showed off their contrasting accuracy and arm strength. Teams that had Young at No. 1 on their boards likely still do, but the other two have closed some gaps.
Where do Will Levis and Hendon Hooker fit in?
Kentucky quarterback Will Levis has a propensity for highlight-reel throws and troubling turnovers, making him a difficult evaluation ahead of this year's NFL Draft.
10. Levis showed plenty of who he is as well, for good and for bad. His interview was confident -- "I've got a cannon and I want to show it off" -- and he showed a sharp understanding of the two variations of pro-style, play-action offenses he ran at Kentucky. He laid out the foot and shoulder injuries that sapped his mobility late last season and the core and lower-body training he's undergoing to make it more sustainable.
The cannon of an arm, the pro-style understanding and the growth mindset to keep sharpening the physical frame are why some compare him to Josh Allen when he was so raw coming out of Wyoming. In their final two seasons, Levis threw 41 touchdowns and 23 interceptions and Allen threw 44 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. Levis had better accuracy, but his pocket presence is a concern.
Will Levis: Kentucky QB Will Levis has 'cannon,' but Colts need to know he can limit mistakesHendon Hooker: Peyton Manning protégé Hendon Hooker's the sleeper quarterback of the NFL draft
Levis' profile is a giant mixed bag, and that showed in the throwing session, where he launched the ball 65 yards but struggled with the touch to hit new receivers in stride. Finding the right team fit for him was one of the most challenging discussions of the week, because he's sharp enough to play right away but needs work within any system. The model is Josh Allen, and the question is whether anywhere has a Brian Daboll and Stefon Diggs to be able to pull that upside out of him in what could be a multi-year process.
Miss out on the top choices and Tennessee's Hendon Hooker is an intriguing second-round fallback, a plan made possible by the success of Jalen Hurts. Hendon redefined Tennessee football in the face of immense pressure, throwing 58 touchdowns and five interceptions while also beating Alabama. With a Peyton Manning connection, an experienced mind and a radiant personality, he'll connect with the Colts' top decision-makers. He's just a better fit for a team that can afford to wait to draft a quarterback.
|
Last edited by JAFF; 03-08-2023 at 07:55 PM.
|
03-08-2023, 07:53 PM
Linear Mode
