Obsessedsportsnut's Blog

The NFL draft is less than a week away, and speculation is swirling on the fate of all the QBs in this draft class: Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, and Jimmy Clausen. The biggest question of this draft has to be: “Where will Tim Tebow get drafted?”

If you’ve remotely been following college football for the past three years, you would know that Tim Tebow is arguably one of the greatest college football players of all time. He was a three-time Heisman Trophy finalist, winning it in 2007. He lead Florida to two national championships. He won the Maxwell Award twice (best football player in the country). His trophy and awards list goes on and on and on. He was a dual threat qb, throwing for 88 TDs and running for another 57. In 2007, he set the record for most combined TDs in a season (55).

You would think that after being called one of the greatest college players to have ever played, Tim Tebow would be the top draft pick in the draft this month, go on to be an immediate starter in the NFL next season, and have a productive career in the NFL in the future.

To the shock of many, Tim Tebow isnt the best QB in the draft this year, and some would argue that he’s not even in the top 3. There are some analysts that think Tebow shouldn’t play QB in the NFL and would be better suited being a Tight End or a Halfback.

WHAT?! One of the best college players ever might not even play his position in the NFL? What’s going on?!

Before I move on, take a short quiz for me. For these next 5 players, read their stats and tell me when they got drafted and how their career is doing right now.

1. Timmy Chang – 5 year starter at Hawaii. Completed 1377 out of 2436 passes for 17,072 yard and 117 touchdowns (3rd most all time). Holds the record for most offensive yard (16,910), most career passing yards (17,072), and most career plays from scrimmage (2,587).

2. Graham Harrell – 3 year starter at Texas Tech. All time leader in touchdowns (134), and 2nd in passing yardage to Timmy Chang. Won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which is awarded to the best senior QB in the country. 2008 Gator Bowl MVP and was 4th in the Heisman Trophy voting.

3. Troy Smith – Heisman Trophy winner in 2006 from Ohio State and AP Player of the Year. Consensus All-American. Voted the best Big 10 player of the decade this year. One of the best dual-threat (runner and passer) QBs of all time. Finished his career with 54 passing TDs and 14 rushing TDs.

4. Jason White – two time Heisman Trophy finalist from Oklahoma, winning it in 2003. Two time winner of the Davey O’Brien Award, awarded to the best college football player. Winner of the Maxwell Award in 2004.

5. Eric Couch – Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award winner from Nebraska.

Ok done? How did you do?

1. Timmy Chang went undrafted. He tried to play in the CFL (Canadian Football League) but couldn’t make it there.
2. Graham Harrell went undrafted, and is currently playing for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.
3. Troy Smith was drafted in the 5th round by Baltimore, but is serving as the backup QB to Joe Flacco.
4. Jason White went undrafted in 2005. Gone from football.
5. Eric Couch was drafted in the 3rd round by Saint Louis as a wide receiver. He went on to play as a safety in NFL Europe.

Chang, Harrell, and White weren’t drafted at all…even through 7 rounds! Heisman Trophy winner Couch wasn’t even drafted as a QB. And Smith…one of the most exciting QBs to have played this decade is currently sitting as a backup to Flacco, who went to Delaware, a Division 1-AA school.

This clearly shows that success in the college game does not necessarily translate to success at the NFL level. To understand why, there is only one thing you have to consider: the college offense vs the pro offense.

The College Offense

In the college game, a lot of schools run gimmick offenses, where the QB is often times in the shotgun position, meaning that the QB stands up 5 yards behind the center, as opposed to right behind him (with his hands often touching the center’s thigh/butt). A lot of college teams to use this to either run a spread offense or an option offense.

In an option offense, dual threat QBs have the option to either run with the ball, pass, or handoff to the RB. Troy Smith at Ohio State played out of the option offense, since he was dangerous running or passing. Smith would get the ball 5 years behind the line of scrimmage, see what the defense gave him, and then have the “option” to either run with or pass the ball. Other option QBs who were successful in college were Vince Young and Tim Tebow.

In a spread offense, again the QB would stand in an shotgun formation 5 yards behind the center. The spread offense is a passing-based offense, with 4 or 5 WRs playing at a time, and is dependent on quick, short, precise routes run by the WRs. By standing 5 yards behind the center, the QB would have enough time to see what WRs are open and get the ball to them quickly. Timmy Chang at Hawaii and Graham Harrell at Texas Tech both played in spread offenses, and were able to set numerous passing records. The offense is solely on the passing game, so obviously they were able to set great numbers.

The NFL offense

However, the successful teams in the NFL run a pro style offense, and you will rarely find a successful team running the spread or option offenses. A pro style offense has the QB directly behind the Center, two WRs to the sides, and a RB and Full back behind him. As the QB drops back, in those three seconds, he has the choice to either handoff to his RB or throw a pass to his WR. The defense facing a strong team will have to respect the run and the pass, so in those few seconds as the QB drops back, they are unsure what’s going to happen.

Pro-style QBs are often called “pocket passers.” Most of these QBs operate in the “pocket,” the area that a QB’s lineman gives for protection. As a generalization, they are not the most mobile QBs and wont beat you while running. If you take a look at the QBs who have won a Superbowl in NFL History: Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, John Elway, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw…they are all your traditional pocket passers.

The Two Most Important Skills Sets in a NFL QB

1. Good arm strength/throwing mechanics – Throwing mechanics is very important…however a lot of college players lack the fundamentals of a pro QB. For example, the biggest knock on Tim Tebow is his poor throwing mechanics. See the following video for an explanation.

2. Good footwork – This is one of the biggest issues with QB’s making the transition from college to the pros. With more and more QBs operating out of the shotgun formation, a lot of QBs lack the necessary fundamentals in their footwork that is necessary in the pros.

In the NFL, with the QB mostly under the center and not in a shotgun, the QB must do a 3-step, 5-step, or 8-step drop to give himself room away from the line of scrimmage. The following video at 0:18 shows Steve Young doing a 5-step drop. Note: even though he almost trips, its the most clear example of a drop I could find.

Most college QBs lack the fundamental footwork to achieve these drops…simply because they are not required to do so at the college level.

The Transition Between College and the NFL

Mainly because of footwork and arm strength, and to an extent lack of familiarity/experience in running a non-spread or non-option based offense, there are many great college QBs who have never been able to make the jump to the NFL. Often times, these QBs aren’t even given a chance to succeed. Also realize that the college game is set up such that an amazingly freakish athlete, a la Vince Young and Troy Smith, can still dominate other teams…based on his athletic prowess alone. Not to say that these athletes aren’t talented…they are…its just that when they get to the NFL wherever everyone is very good…their athleticism wont be enough succeed. They need strong fundamentals to make that next step.

The 2010 Quarterback Class

Sam Bradford. Colt McCoy. Tim Tebow. Jimmy Clausen.

This 2010 QB class might be the most hyped up class in recent years, not because of talent, but because of name recognition. I still think that the 2004 NFL draft class was one of the best QB classes (Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger) in a while.

Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame) is the most NFL ready QB out of the four, mainly because he played in a pro style offense under Charlie Weiss (ex offensive coordinator of the Patriots and Jets) while at Notre Dame. He has the arm strength and footwork necessary to be an immediate started in the NFL.

Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) might not be as “NFL ready” as Clausen, but I believe he has greater potential to be a greater QB than Clausen. At Oklahoma, he showed that he had a great arm and great leadership qualities. The biggest unknown is whether or not his season ending shoulder injury during this junior year will have any affect on his throwing.

After Clausen and Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow are the two biggest unknowns. The biggest knock on Colt McCoy is his toughness. He’s by far on the smaller side for QBs. How he’ll be able to deal with the grueling hits in the NFL will go a long way to see if he’ll have a productive career. He has the arm strength and the smarts to succeed. I dont quite know if he has the toughness.

Tim Tebow is probably the biggest question mark this entire draft. He is by far the most athletic athlete out of these 4 QBs but he also lacks the most in fundamentals. At Florida, he was able to pretty much will his team to win and most of the time, he used his insane body to run the ball and crush opposing defenses. However, his throwing mechanics was poor and his foot work was severely lacking. But the one trait that Tebow has that none of the other 3 can match is his insane dedication to his position. This offseason, he wanted to prove his critics wrong, so he worked with a bunch of NFL QB gurus and worked on his throwing and footwork. From what I saw on film from Gruden’s QB Camp, he has improved tremendously! His throwing release is much quicker and his movement on the 8-step drop was insane. It’s one thing to show these changes when you dont have 300 LB lineman after you. How he’ll respond in actual games will be interesting.