How does RG3 compare to other QB prospects coming out of college over the past 10 years?

[Darth Tater]

No. That year, the QBs class were rated as crap. 49ers had top pick and needed a QB. Decision came down to Smith or Rogers. Thats why he could have gone 1st overall. No other team needed or felt QB class was good, and thus, Rogers, 2nd QB taken, drop so far down.

Yep, Rogers had major question marks about his release, durability and elusiveness.

[CRobi21]

i cant imagine that these points werent considered by the 'experts' who all seems to drool over him, unless i missed some who think hes not very good??

There seem to be a small number of experts on here who havent watched a single game of his that seem to think hes not very good.

[Darth Tater]

I think that's some revisionist history. People were shocked over and over again that teams were passing on Rodgers. When he was finally picked, commentators immediately compared it to Marino's epic drop down the draft board.

Also, Alex Smith was supposed to be incredible. Who knows? Maybe he was amazing all along, and we just didn't know it until last year when he finally had a coach.

No, you are being revisionist. Most people were not shocked that Rodgers fell once SFO went with Smith. Rodgers while considered by some to be a high first rounder was thought to be the project he turned out to be. Rodgers success was a product of having good coaching and getting to watch Favre operate for 3 years.

[U C S D SkinsFan]

I think Luck is the rated the best prospect since Manning and some say Elway. RG3 is in the top 5 or 10 I'd say since Manning as far as talent and potential. A lot of the QBs that busted didn't bust b/c they didn't have talent... a lot goes into it. I think the situation they went to, like poor coaching, bad OLine, no talent around them, plays a big part. Honestly, I think RG3 fits our system PERFECTLY and has one of the better coaches in the league to teach him. Shanahan is considered an offensive genius and his track record speaks for itself. I think no other QB, other than Luck, fits our system and team better than RG3 the last 10-12 years.

[bowhunter]

Great question!! How far back does Kipers rating/ranking go?

[ArmchairRedskin]

For Shanahan's offense Griffin has to be the single best prospect to come out the draft in the last ten years, easily. His mobility, intelligence, drive coupled with his strong arm and long ball accuracy is unmatched by any other QB. I'd say we hit the jackpot with this pick. Cam, Luck and Rodgers come close, but Griffin has the better overall package for this offense.

[Rufus T Firefly]

I'd say 1-Luck, 2-Eli, 3-Bradford/Griffin tie.

I have to give Eli a bit of an edge even though I'm not sure his upside wasn't as high because he was virtually bust-proof. When he came out, you weren't sure if he would be really great, but you knew he wasn't going to be bad.

[spjunkies]

There is just SOMETHING about Eli that is off to me. I know he has proven himself with 2 rings, but I still don't want him as the starter for my team

[HailToTheRedskins14]

Definitely behind Luck and Stafford for me. I'd say he's behind Newton too (or at least he was for everybody else, I was really down on Newton but it was only because I hate Auburn).

And people can say Bradford if they want.

So 4th in recent history? And maybe behind Matt Ryan too (who I was also down on).

1) Luck

2) Stafford

3) Newton

4) Bradford

5) Matt Ryan

6) RG3

Those are just using names of somewhat successful QB's, I left out the busts.

---------- Post added March-10th-2012 at 05:34 PM ----------

For Shanahan's offense Griffin has to be the single best prospect to come out the draft in the last ten years, easily. His mobility, intelligence, drive coupled with his strong arm and long ball accuracy is unmatched by any other QB. I'd say we hit the jackpot with this pick. Cam, Luck and Rodgers come close, but Griffin has the better overall package for this offense.

I'd say Stafford has a better longball. Vick has the mobility. Luck has the intelligence and drive.

Let's not go overboard. In reality he's the 2nd best QB this year.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

I'd say 1-Luck, 2-Eli, 3-Bradford/Griffin tie.

I have to give Eli a bit of an edge even though I'm not sure his upside wasn't as high because he was virtually bust-proof. When he came out, you weren't sure if he would be really great, but you knew he wasn't going to be bad.

Going by memory, I'd say Luck, Palmer and Eli were the three most highly rated.

After that, I think you're just splitting hairs.

[ArmchairRedskin]

I'd say Stafford has a better longball. Vick has the mobility. Luck has the intelligence and drive.

Let's not go overboard. In reality he's the 2nd best QB this year.

I'd say you're wrong about Stafford. I've seen Stafford's deep passes. He gets bailed out by Megatron a lot. I think Griffin is more accurate for sure. And I said Griffin has the best overall package. Meaning combination of all traits compared to any other single prospect coming out.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

I'd say you're wrong about Stafford. I've seen Stafford's deep passes. He gets bailed out by Megatron a lot. I think Griffin is more accurate for sure. And I said Griffin has the best overall package. Meaning combination of all traits compared to any other single prospect coming out.

True, but he also throws a lot of those deep balls because the guy he's throwing to is Megatron.

[ArmchairRedskin]

True, but he also throws a lot of those deep balls because the guy he's throwing to is Megatron.

Calvin has to win a lot of jump ball situations whereas Griffin puts it in places where the receiver can easily make a play on it and the DBs are at a disadvantage. It's not like there weren't better spots to place the ball for Stafford. I'd say Matt Barkley compares to Stafford in that regard. Woods also bailed his throws out a lot.

If you look at Stafford's scouting reports from college, they usually mentioned that he didn't catch his receivers in stride, that he either overthrew them, or had them reaching back and breaking stride. Much like Barkley.

[Rufus T Firefly]

Going by memory, I'd say Luck, Palmer and Eli were the three most highly rated.

After that, I think you're just splitting hairs.

Dammit, I forgot Palmer. And you're probably right about those 3 being a level above the rest (that's not to say that level is a LOT higher though). But I'd say there's more than 'splitting hairs' in figuring out where the rest rank, though.

[PleaseBlitz]

A shotgun spread offense IS one of the most sophisticated systems and the QBs that come out of it are THE most pro-ready. The problem is that since they are the most ready, you don't really know if they'll get better. Further, in such a sophisticated system designed such that no matter what the defense does, it is very likely wrong, is the production a result of technique or skill?

Not all shotgun spread offenses are the same, or even similar. Baylors shotgun spread offense was not sophisticated. Some are, like Ok St or Oregons, but Baylors is not like that at all. I have NO idea where you are getting the idea that shotgun spread offense QB's are the most pro-ready. That is totally wrong.

[Conn]

There is just SOMETHING about Eli that is off to me. I know he has proven himself with 2 rings, but I still don't want him as the starter for my team

Its the derp in him.

[Ghost of]

Um, I always thought that Big Ben and Rivers were absolute lock-solid sure things. Big Ben was a GREAT college QB. I don't know how he fell. To me, with his size and mobility and arm and college production, he was just a great prospect. Rivers was a certain good-to-great NFL QB to me. He isn't the athlete that some of these guys are but he was a fantastic college QB with production all the way through.

I think another issue is that QB scouting has improved and the value of the position has increased since the 80s and even since 99. So, the guy who fell in a draft many years ago may still have been regarded as a GREAT pro prospect. Alex Smith and ROdgers were (and I remember this at the time) part of a perceived "great" QB class.

Also, the people mentioning Stafford--really? He was definitely worth the #1 pick but I always thought there were serious questions about his completion pct/accuracy at Georgia and that he had the "tools" but did not always have the performance at Georgia to match.

[Darth Tater]

Not all shotgun spread offenses are the same, or even similar. Baylors shotgun spread offense was not sophisticated. Some are, like Ok St or Oregons, but Baylors is not like that at all. I have NO idea where you are getting the idea that shotgun spread offense QB's are the most pro-ready. That is totally wrong.

Because shotgun spread QBs ARE more pro-ready. If you don't agree you must not know how they work. Baylor's shotgun spread offense is among the most sophisticated.

[Hooterman]

I'll post this, and you can filter by position, so it's easy to see all the QBs that have been drafted for pretty much ever:

http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft

Anyways, top QB drafted since P. Manning has been:

2011: Cam Newton; 2010: Sam Bradford; 2009: Matt Stafford; 2008: Matt Ryan; 2007: JaMarcus Russell; 2006: Vince Young; 2005: Alex Smith; 2004: Eli Manning; 2003: Carson Palmer; 2002: David Carr; 2001: Michael Vick; 2000: Chad Pennington; 1999: Tim Couch

And for the sake of fairness, since sometimes the best QB wasn't taken first, let's throw the names McNabb, Brees, Brady, Rivers, Big Ben, Rodgers, and Cutler in the mix.

I'd argue that RGIII is easily a better prospect than Russell, Young, Smith, Carr, Pennington, and Couch. For the rest, I don't really see anyone who wildly outclasses him honestly, it's a matter of potential vs. reality. RGIII has as much potential as anyone I think. Someone posted a side-by-side of RGIII's senior year vs. Peyton's. RGIII beat him by quite a bit. Now, this isn't to say he's going to be better than Peyton, by that logic Case Keenum would be #1 overall, but he clearly has incredible potential and talent on par or close to anyone who's come out since Manning.

Edit: robotfire beat me to it. I took too long to post, lol.

Thanks for posting the link to the draft records. I love looking at the Redskins history of first rounders. Look at the years between 1969 and 1990, we had 2 first round picks. We had some pretty crappy teams early on there but I'd say we did pretty well for the most part over that period of time.

[Ghost of]

Are people forgetting Cutler? I think he was a better pure prospect than Stafford. Him playing for Vanderbilt was held against him a bit but he had a cannon arm AND he was highly mobile coming out. I think since Shanahan drafted him and he was considered VERY gifted as a passer and more accurate than Stafford, he has to go up there.

[Destino]

he was the 3rd best passer in that conference behind Weeden and Landry Jones.

The only stat in which they are better than RG3 is total yards and they both threw 160 passes more than RG3 did.

Yards

Weeden 4727

Jones 4463

RG3 4293

Yards per attempt

RG3 10.7

Weeden 8.4

Jones 7.9

Touchdown and Interceptions

RG3 37:6

Weeden 37:13

Jones 29:15

Completion Percentage

RG3 72.4%

Weeden 72.3%

Jones 63.2%

QBR

RG3 189.5

Weeden 159.8

Jones 141.6

RG3 was far and away the best passer in that division. It wasn't even close and notice I didn't include a single rushing stat.

[Conn]

Thanks for posting the link to the draft records. I love looking at the Redskins history of first rounders. Look at the years between 1969 and 1990, we had 2 first round picks. We had some pretty crappy teams early on there but I'd say we did pretty well for the most part over that period of time.

That's because pre-modern era FA, there were not IR rules in place to stop us from stock-piling younger talent in a way that would be against the rules now, while we brought in vets to "win now". That's what we did.

[PleaseBlitz]

Because shotgun spread QBs ARE more pro-ready. If you don't agree you must not know how they work. Baylor's shotgun spread offense is among the most sophisticated.

Im sorry, but you are really off base on this. I know EXACTLY how they work, as my college team has been running a version of the spread since 2001, both Rich Rodriguez' version and our current version of the Hal Mumme/Mike Leach Air Raid. College football is basically my religion, and both of your contentions are flat wrong. First, your contention that the most pro-ready QB's come from spread offenses is wrong, CLEARLY the most pro-ready QB's come from PRO-style systems. This seems pretty obvious. Who are the NFL QB's right now from spread offenses? Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Rothlisburger, Alex Smith, and Cam Newton is what i come up with. Pro-style QB's you have both Mannings, Carson Palmer, Matt Sanchez, Tom Brady, Jay Cutler, Chad Henne, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Drew Brees, Matt Stafford, Matt Schaub, Rodgers, Matt Ryan, and many more.

And as to Baylor's system being complex, did you WATCH any Baylor games. Geez, do 5 seconds of research and you'll find references to how simple the system is. Didnt you see RGIII getting grilled at the combine about how unsophisticated that system is?

http://www.hogshaven.com/2012/3/5/2844940/rgiii-to-d-c-part-ii-the-baylor-spread-offense

NFL Scouts and Pro Analysts have criticized Baylor's offense due to it's simplicity. Griffin has repeatedly opposed this argument, though I can't say that I agree. A large part of the Baylor offense is comprised of WR screens and zone read QB runs. There are also virtually no progressions (RGIII would disagree).

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Two-future-NFL-draft-picks-pace-Baylors-offense.html

Griffin doesn’t play in what I would call a complex offense

I can keep posting links like this all day, but it really shouldnt be necessary.

[santanathegreat]

Does anyone have a good sense of what his weaknesses are?

[PleaseBlitz]

The only stat in which they are better than RG3 is total yards and they both threw 160 passes more than RG3 did.

Yards

Weeden 4727

Jones 4463

RG3 4293

Yards per attempt

RG3 10.7

Weeden 8.4

Jones 7.9

Touchdown and Interceptions

RG3 37:6

Weeden 37:13

Jones 29:15

Completion Percentage

RG3 72.4%

Weeden 72.3%

Jones 63.2%

QBR

RG3 189.5

Weeden 159.8

Jones 141.6

RG3 was far and away the best passer in that division. It wasn't even close and notice I didn't include a single rushing stat.

Oye. How many of those teams did you actually watch a game? Stats, as usual, don't tell the story. Weeden in particular was a FAR better passer than RGIII, and he would be a clear top 10 pick if he wasnt 28 years old. The Ok St. offense actually required him to throw downfield and hit medium-range passes. Baylor's offense barely requires any reads, it is 80% dinks and dunks. I would love to see RGIII's advanced passing stats like passing not including YAC.

I understand that everyone is excited about the new toy, but RGIII sure has become a much better player in the last 24 hours around here.