FAREWELL to the NFL Dwayne Haskins QB Ohio State

[skinny21]

13 hours ago, RandyHolt said:

 

The thing i think the sit em staff ALL overlook. It's ok to yank his ass if he shows he is not able to handle the heat. It really is. Players get benched across all sports and survive just fine. Getting benched isn't all that far away from never playing, in the demoralization scale. I bet many athletes would say never playing is worse.  At least one gives no doubt front line experience on what needs work.  No one expects him to play all year and dominate. No one, not even him.

This is a fair point - benching Haskins isn’t automatically dooming his career.  Of course, you’d have to wonder what that would do to fan optimism.  You’d wonder if a new coach in 2020 (if that happens) holds that against him.  Speaking of which...

13 hours ago, RandyHolt said:

 

So lets say we sit him. Next year, new coach, overwhelmed in a new offense facing the same struggles cough inexperience... do you just blindly play him because he sat a year? Or, sit ANOTHER year, or wait until "week 4", panic trade, or ?  Meanwhile watching other teams drafting QBs, while we are afraid to play our own, or somehow unable to find a way to use him to his strengths.

 

There is no guarantee our next coach will like Haskins. Arizona didn't want Rosen. Jay didn't want 3 IIRC.  Jay in limbo is a BIG factor in his development.  Jay wants to win and that points to Case near term. I fear a bad crash and burn, because, us. Trent. WR..1.   I can't be the only one that thinks signs point to Jay not being here in 20.

What Haskins gains from sitting (at least in theory) is a chance to work on his fundamentals in a nonpressure situation.  He gets some opportunity to play with, go against and adjust to NFL NFL speed.  He gets a chance to watch film on NFL defenses, including learning about opposing schemes and players, and their tendencies.  He gets a chance to adjust to new personnel.  

 

My son has been playing this typing game.  It gave him a quick primer on hand placement and how to access the different characters.  Then it threw him into these races that decide how much money he gets to spend on getting upgrades and new cars.  So winning became the main focus for him.  Unsurprisingly, his fundamentals went to crap.  

 

Not a perfect analogy of course, but this would be both a major concern for me in terms of starting Haskins, but it also points to what he gains even if he switches coaches - solidifying his fundamentals.  

 

Throw Haskins in early and you risk 1) him overthinking - because he’s worried about the play call, protections, his footwork, defensive scheme, down/distance, personnel, etc. - and 2) a regression of his tweaked fundamentals because the focus is now on winning as opposed to solidifying/improving those fundamentals.  

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those saying he needs to sit... I just want to make sure the fundamentals are sound before putting him into the fire.  I’m far more concerned with perfecting, or at least significantly improving this than making sure he has the playbook down.  The latter is (in my mind) much easier to work on/improve in-season.  

[RandyHolt]

1 hour ago, Veryoldschool said:

 

Do actually think  the reason Griffin was passed by in DC was Jay didn't like him?  I suppose they didn't like Griffin in Cleveland and the rest of the league just didn't like Griffin so he sat home until Baltimore liked him as a backup but since Baltimore drafted the kid from Penn State maybe Griffin is going to be looking for another stop this summer.

 

I think your rush on the field and draft a new guy if he isn't lightening in a bottle coming out of the blocks approach is crazy and I hope the Skins have more sense.

 

 

How do you know what he can handle, if you don't know what Jay asks him to know, and do?

 

You glossed over "he is likely facing a new coach sooner than later" factor, and the likely chance of thus learning an entirely new playbook.

 

It's ok, you are veryoldschool, and we already know the old school approach to grooming a QB. Sit.

[RandyHolt]

18 hours ago, skinny21 said:

....

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those saying he needs to sit... I just want to make sure the fundamentals are sound before putting him into the fire.  I’m far more concerned with perfecting, or at least significantly improving this than making sure he has the playbook down.  The latter is (in my mind) much easier to work on/improve in-season.  

 

Good post as per usual, and good analogy.

 

One pushback, he is likely so raw that we are looking at years before him getting to a place that fundamentals are sound enough to lead us to the promised land.  I think its actually delayed by not playing. Sure, I admit I am selfish and want to see him sooner than later, but think Jay can cut off at the pass any and all fan revolts, by communicating. 

 

He could tell fans "I will be looking to get him into a game late, to get his feet wet. This does not mean he is our starter". Set very low expectations to the fans. Tell us he is raw and needs to gain experience, blah blah. That sort of cuts things off at the pass. No pun intended.  Not that it ever happens, but QBs league wide are still failing to meet expectations and coaches sit by and pump the fans tires more often than the brakes.

 

Its a really tough spot for Dwayne, for Jay needs to win.

[skinny21]

57 minutes ago, RandyHolt said:

 

Good post as per usual, and good analogy.

Thanks

57 minutes ago, RandyHolt said:

 

One pushback, he is likely so raw that we are looking at years before him getting to a place that fundamentals are sound enough to lead us to the promised land. 

Maybe so, but I’d argue there’s a big difference between sound enough ‘lead us to the promise land’ and sound enough ‘to not regress if thrown into the fire’.  Particularly since the former is heavily reliant on the team around him.  Mahommes is the example du jour of footwork improving greatly with a year on the bench.  

Now, improving his footwork does not automatically make him better vs interior pressure - arguably his biggest  weakness - but it gives a foundation for it (as well as throwing on the move, etc). 

57 minutes ago, RandyHolt said:

 

I think its actually delayed by not playing.

You may well be right, but again, I’d argue that playing him when new footwork etc. is, well, new to him... could actually hurt/slow his development.  

You’ve made the point that installing a lot of concepts Haskins is already used to would take a lot off his plate, and I agree with that point (though the terminology would still be different).  I still think he’d have a lot on his plate though which could lead to that regression I’m talking about.  

57 minutes ago, RandyHolt said:

Sure, I admit I am selfish and want to see sooner than later, but think Jay can cut off at the pass any and all fan revolts, by communicating. 

 

He could tell fans "I will be looking to get him into a game late, to get his feet wet. This does not mean he is our starter". Set very low expectations to the fans. Tell us he is raw and needs to gain experience, blah blah. That sort of cuts things off at the pass. No pun intended.  Not that it ever happens, but QBs league wide are still failing to meet expectations and coaches sit by and pump the fans tires more often than the brakes.

 

Its a really tough spot for Dwayne, for Jay needs to win.

Good points, and I agree with this idea.  Jay could even pump up Haskins’ attributes (as he has) while also talking about the need to solidify good fundamentals before playing him.  He could even play him, see how he does with his footwork/fundamentals and decide playing time depending on the outcome. Personally, if he shows off improved fundamentals but doesn’t play well, I wouldn’t necessarily bench him.  I’d probably only bench him for regression of those fundamentals or for safety reasons.  

 

Of course, all of my points are assuming there is a heavy focus on tweaking Haskins’ footwork, etc.  Additionally, I’m not trying to claim I’m right about this, just offering a little food for thought in regards to the ideas  that sitting him is a waste and that he’ll inherently learn better by actually playing.  

[Mooka]

2 hours ago, skinny21 said:

Throw Haskins in early and you risk 1) him overthinking - because he’s worried about the play call, protections, his footwork, defensive scheme, down/distance, personnel, etc. - and 2) a regression of his tweaked fundamentals because the focus is now on winning as opposed to solidifying/improving those fundamentals.  

 

3) Getting broken in half.

 

Haskins only started 1 season, he lacks game time experience. I've seen clips of him completely missing blitzers on his blind side, m; not a good situation with our star LT possibly holding out.

 

I predict we'll see Dwayne week 6 or 7 when the schedule softens up. That's assuming the offense struggles under Keenam. 

[RandyHolt]

I remember years past, that weeks x through x will be our toughest weeks, yet we did worse in our softest weeks.  Facing top ranked stout DLs the first 3 weeks... only to see the drop-off of "lessor" DLs in subsequent weeks be basically non-existent. Every team is loaded with an awful lot of beef up front.  Regardless, I do think its good to look at the schedule when trying to pick a slot to slide the kid in. 

 

For some reason week 4 often gets blindly thrown out there. I guess that's the time most every starter has thrown a pickle which is what opens the inevitable door.  The door will open. My wild prediction: It won't be when he masters his footwork. It will be when the guy in front of him makes enough mistakes.

 

Or when the  starter leaves, like Smith and Mahomes. Mahomes footwork isnt why he didnt play. It was that Smith didn't make enough mistakes in his Reid aided career year.  Until the playoffs haha oops too late. Outside of fleecing us, I still think Mahomes was better for that team yes even as a rookie.  I don't think KC fans were crying when Smith left. Andy missed out on a cheap year of Maho's top notch service, and logged another choke on his playoff resume.  He dumped Smith so fast the playoffs were still on going.

[bowhunter]

Here's the thing we need to keep in mind about experience.. Everyone can get it.  It's not a God given talent. It's actually the easiest thing to get if they let you. Shawn Lauvao has a lot of experience. Chase Roullier does not. But there's only one way to get game experience. Everybody has a first day

[xxprodigyxx]

10 hours ago, RandyHolt said:

He could tell fans "I will be looking to get him into a game late, to get his feet wet. This does not mean he is our starter". Set very low expectations to the fans. Tell us he is raw and needs to gain experience, blah blah. That sort of cuts things off at the pass.

haha, i don't think you understand how fans work. as a user on this forum you should know how unnecessarily deep people read into things.  they'd probably read into the low expectation setting as "jay hates dwayne...time to trade for fitzpatrick."

[MEANDWARF]

Like the kid, but sacrifice Case and Colt until the ol is established.

[RandyHolt]

Casey Jones, and Curt Knight?

 

If Trent does not return, it may be a long time before our OL is established. Quick passes FTW.

[max21]

This is off topic but where the hell can I buy a Nike Haskins jersey? I don’t like the Pro Line and I only see the Nike draft day jersey which I assumed would be shipped with the number 1

[TSO]

On 6/17/2019 at 12:31 PM, Alcoholic Zebra said:

 

I take you think pre-season priority #1 for the team is re-sign Scherff?  If you had the choice for letting Scherff contract stuff wait until after the season and giving Trent some more money to make him happy (if that'll do it), ...or extending Scherff now and then trading Trent.  Which would it be?

 

Sorry I didn't get back to you on this until now, been busy.

 

To answer your question... I don't know right now, honestly. I don't think anyone can really know right now. Here's what I do know: 

 

1) Haskins absolutely excelled at sensing edge pressure in college. He was really, really good at it. Like, it's a severely underrated aspect of his game since the vast majority of people talk about his arm talent when praising him and not that. But will that translate to the NFL where everything happens that much faster? I don't know. 

 

2) He wasn't good at all handling interior pressure the vast majority of the season (and that's what I think the scouts who harp on that are exclusively focusing on)... but something did change for him there right around the Maryland game (which said scouts seem to ignore). To my eyes, it was literally the 2nd half of Maryland where you could see the change. What I find fascinating is that the MD game is where Ohio State started having him run the ball more... so my amateur opinion is that the contact he got from those runs prepared him more, or "toughened him up" so to speak, and made him less "panicky" when he got pressured up the middle. Total speculation on my end. But he started actually manipulating the pocket more and even made some nice throws outside of the pocket when he had to, which is something he just wasn't doing previous to that. 

 

So, first, the question is what actually translates from the above to the NFL? I'm of the mind that, normally, whatever you excelled at in college is going to take, at the very least, a slight hit as you adjust to the NFL's pace (more often than not it's a big hit). And it might never improve after that, either. So making personnel decisions right now based off of the above is difficult in my mind. There is going to be a learning curve for Haskins and even if his sense of edge pressure does translate, it might be a while before we really see it. 

 

Secondly, the question is whether or not the improvement he made towards the end of the season in terms of handling interior pressure, manipulating the pocket better, and being more accurate outside of the pocket (versus just panicking and not really looking down the field) continues to occur. Does he regress there? Is there something fundamentally wrong about his feet that ends up making it impossible for him to ever really get good at that? That might be the case, but then does he start using his size to his advantage more and have guys bounce off of him (something he, unfortunately, didn't do in college much if at all)? There are many ways this can go. 

 

But let's just say, for argument's sake, that what he excelled at in terms of sensing edge pressure translates and he just never improves much at handling interior pressure. Then, yes, it is absolutely necessary for Bruce to prioritize the interior Oline and place less emphasis on the Tackle position. This is actually what the Saints did when they first brought in Drew Brees. It's not the end of the world if Haskins never improves there so long as you build and manage resources properly (something we have been awful at under Bruce).

 

We'll start to see the signs during training camp and then into the preseason of what translated and what hasn't. And even then the questions will remain since, if he looks good, it'll likely be against lesser opponents and, if he doesn't, it might be because he's thinking too much trying to figure out a new offense. So it'll be hard to gauge on our end either way... but that's why the guys in charge of personnel get paid the big bucks, they've got to sift through all of that and figure it out quick. it's really going to be fascinating. 

 

This isn't directed at you... but this goes back to what I constantly harp on in terms of roster construction and how important the synergy is. It's why I'm so hard on Bruce. People think personnel acquisition is just about acquiring talent. That's such a ridiculously narrow view of it, it's no wonder why coaching gets so intensely focused in on instead. It's the easiest surface-level target. The owners and their upper-level management hires are shielded by them simply by default. There is this dance involved with resource management and depth that is incredibly intricate and requires expertise beyond what most laymen often consider. How positional groups benefit from each other, how players within those positional groups benefit each other, what kind of players and type of skill sets are needed to complete a positional group, how important it is to get as much multi-dimensional depth as possible so they can fit into multiple roles were anyone to get hurt, etc... 

 

A fun, hyperbolic but nonetheless telling, example of this would be, say, acquiring a bunch of Desean Jackson's at WR while having a large, power-blocking Oline with speedy RBs who like to get outside and, finally, a QB with an average arm but accurate in the short to intermediate game. Let's assume they all have that name like Djax and are known to be productive. That'd be "acquiring talent", right? No one is going to say the individual WRs aren't uber talented, or those individual Olinemen stink, or the speedy RBs can't play, or that QB isn't franchise material. But then imagine how limiting that's going to be for an offensive scheme? How easy it'll be for defensive coordinators to deal with (play your Safeties super deep and stack the middle against the run since you know they can't block outside). Ignorant fan who has little to no idea about the one-dimensional nature of the personnel then trashes offensive coach who was given these tools. Claims of "he can't adjust or adapt" are thrown out there with ease while completely omitting just how impossible it is to do so when, were you to play to the strengths of your WRs, you'd be giving D coordinators a simple solution to take them away with a QB who struggles to get the ball out that far that quickly. Were you to play to the strength of your RBs, you'd be wasting the skill sets of your Oline while your WRs fail to help on the outside. Were you to play to the strengths of your Oline, you'd be wasting the skill set of your RBs and WRs. 

 

There are a million permutations of the above that happen all the time in the NFL. The executive who understands all of this recognizes these things and assembles talent that feed off of each other all while managing resources at a high level with the cap and draft picks. This is what the Redskins under Snyder have missed on during his entire tenure. Either that gets fixed or we're going to stay on the cycle of coaching changes (whether or not they’re “patient” with them) that simply don't matter in the long run. 

 

So back to the Trent/Scherff/outside or interior Oline thing. If Haskins's skill set translates, does Bruce prioritize spending on Trent (or just generally spending high on Tackles as is the norm), thus making the resources available for interior Oline tighter? Let's say we draft an elite college tackle... no one will say that isn't "acquiring talent", but is it assembling talent that meshes within a positional group and elevates the other's skill sets dependent on said positional group? Nope. But here's what will definitely happen... the coaches will get trashed for it. Probably the QB, too. And on and on we go. 

 

[volsmet]

Did I just read someone claim that two DeSean Jackson’s would be easier to defend than one? 

 

Haskins struggled mightily against interior pressure v Washington. The leap he made in that game was his reads v zones, the area he struggles with the most, but also became what I enjoyed watching him process the most.

 

Other than those two points, great post from @thesubmittedone

 

[HTTRDynasty]

Good post @thesubmittedone. I’d definitely be a fan of going the Patriots route. Great guards and so-so OT’s. Brady is incredible at sensing pressure from the edges, but has only lost in the SB when facing great interior pressure (though he’s still generally great at avoiding it). Hope Haskins can develop his nascent skill there. 

 

PFF, so YMMV:

 

The NFL's best offensive guard tandems ahead of the 2019 NFL season

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-the-nfls-best-offensive-guard-tandems-ahead-of-the-2019-nfl-season

 

1. JOE THUNEY & SHAQ MASON, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Was there any doubt that the Dante Scarnecchia-led duo would take the top spot here? Mason, New England’s right guard, ended the 2018 season ranked first among all offensive guards with an overall grade of 85.0 — the third straight season which he finished with an overall grade north of 80.0. More impressively, however, was how good he was in both facets of the game. By earning a pass-blocking grade of 80.2 and a run-blocking grade of 80.6, Mason gained access to a very lucrative club — he’s now one of only 25 offensive guards in the PFF era who has managed to achieve 80.0-plus grades in both facets.

As a pass-blocker, few were as efficient as Mason. He allowed only one sack, six hits and nine hurries from his 503 pass-blocking snaps, and his resulting pressure rate of 3.2% ranked tied for ninth among the 75 guards who played at least 200 pass-blocking snaps last year. As a run-blocker, he was a clear step above the rest. His 14.2% impact run-block percentage ranked first among guards, and his 80.6 run-blocking grade was over five points higher than the next closest player at the position.

Thuney was the unsung hero of the 2018 Patriots offensive line. He ended the season with a pass-blocking grade of 85.3 — the sixth-best mark among offensive guards last season and the best mark by a Patriots offensive lineman since Brian Waters (86.4) in 2011. All told, he allowed zero sacks, five hits and 21 hurries from 727 pass-blocking snaps on the year, which made him only the second Patriots lineman in PFF history to play over 500 snaps and not allow a sack (the other player being Dan Koppen, a center).

 

Colts have finally learned as well.

 

2. MARK GLOWINSKI & QUENTON NELSON, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Last season, the Colts offensive line finally gave quarterback Andrew Luck the chance to flourish — and flourish he did. First-year offensive guard Quenton Nelson was a huge reason for that. He just allowed 23 quarterback pressures from a monstrous 684 pass-blocking snaps on the year, and his resulting pressure rate of 3.4% was good for 13th among the 75 guards who played at least 200 pass-blocking snaps last year. As a run-blocker, he was one of the league’s best. His 13.4% impact run-block percentage ranked fourth among the 63 guards who played at least 200 run-blocking snaps, while his 73.7 run-blocking grade was good for third.

Thanks to his teammate’s remarkable rookie year, Mark Glowinski was cast in somewhat of a shadow last season, but the reality is that Glowinski was a vital piece to the Colts’ offensive puzzle. As a pass-blocker, Glowinski allowed just 11 total pressures from 329 pass-blocking snaps — he was one of only seven guards who played more than 300 pass-blocking snaps and didn’t allow a sack — and his resulting pressure rate of 3.3% was good for 12th among the 75 guards who played at least 200 pass-blocking snaps last year. Like his teammate, he also made his mark as a run-blocker; his 13.3% impact run-block percentage ranked fifth among the 63 guards who played at least 200 run-blocking snaps.

 

 

 

... Cowboys and Giants are both in the top 5 as well

[TSO]

1 hour ago, volsmet said:

 

Did I just read someone claim that two DeSean Jackson’s would be easier to defend than one? 

 

 

That’s what you got from that? 

 

See, I can gif like you bro.  

 

1 hour ago, volsmet said:

Haskins struggled mightily against interior pressure v Washington. The leap he made in that game was his reads v zones, the area he struggles with the most, but also became what I enjoyed watching him process the most.

 

Yeah, he definitely did in the 2nd half of that game when they started blitzing up the middle, which I went over in my post here:

 

 

Nonetheless, he was more effective at handling interior pressure starting right about that 2nd half against Maryland through Michigan, Northwestern and then Washington until that 2nd half. 

 

So, like I said in that post, my hope is that it was more of a “letting off the gas” thing than it was Haskins really regressing there again. The reason I have that hope is it did seem like the entire Ohio State team relaxed once they were up big in that game. Who knows, though, it’s definitely a legitimate question. 

 

But that is why I’m not going to mention that 2nd half against Washington every time I talk about Haskins’ improvement with interior pressure. It’s a qualifier I feel is unnecessary since the improvement was real to my eyes and occurred over a longer period of game time, if that makes sense.  

 

It could end up as further evidence he just sucks at it and that improvement was due to something else that was more anomalous than anything, so maybe I’m wrong to downplay it. But that’s how I felt after I had watched the entire season chronologically without much background noise as to what happened. That last half just felt more like the exception to his improvement with interior pressure than the other way around. 

 

8 minutes ago, HTTRDynasty said:

... Cowboys and Giants are both in the top 5 as well

 

It’s funny, because Daniel Jones will absolutely NEED good tackles if he’s going to survive. My God was he particularly bad at sensing edge pressure. Like I’ve stated before, he might bust on that alone.  

[Skinsinparadise]

I was listening to Cooley on 980.  For what it's worth he said:  he gathers they like Haskins' intangibles (i presume it was mentioned to him) as to how he interacts with teammates. He said he knows the personalities and style well of the multiple people he talks to in the building and they'd be the type to gush to him if there were things to gush about.  And to that point, he can tell they think neither Keenum or Haskins have been quick to pick up the offense.  I'd have to listen to it again but I took it as he seemed to be implying not to count out Colt.  He explained what he meant by surprising which is that if either Haskins or Keenum were a quick study on the offense he'd hear the gushing of wow this dude is more than expected but he hears none of that when he brings either one up. 

 

With Haskins I can understand since he's a rookie but Keenum, too?  I like Colt as a dude but I don't have much confidence in him as a starter.  Not that a have a ton in Keenum either.     

 

I have some confidence in Cooley's take on what he hears and sees at the QB position in part because I recall all the gushing from beat guys about RG3 in the 2014 camp about how much he's grown and looks on fire, etc -- Cooley was the one dude who put cold water on that saying he doesn't know what all those people are talking about, he watched 3 days of camp he said and it was same old same old and he made no progress. 

[JoggingGod]

Hot take: Cooley’s opinion is completely worthless

[RandyHolt]

If true It is disappointing to hear they are struggling with the playbook. I blame Jay.  This time off should be all about simplifying the playbook, instead of having the media pump up McCoy's tires.

[Commander Wolffe]

1 hour ago, RandyHolt said:

If true It is disappointing to hear they are struggling with the playbook. I blame Jay.  This time off should be all about simplifying the playbook, instead of having the media pump up McCoy's tires.

 

Good point but I think that's what this break before camp is all about. Throw everything and the kitchen sink at them initially and then make adjustments based on talent, acumen and personnel. 

 

I think the first two weeks of camp are crucial. (per usual)

[RandyHolt]

22 minutes ago, SkinsFootball said:

 

Good point but I think that's what this break before camp is all about. Throw everything and the kitchen sink at them initially and then make adjustments based on talent, acumen and personnel. 

 

I think the first two weeks of camp are crucial. (per usual)

 

There is plenty of time to get things sorted out but as you say those first 2 weeks are crucial for him to see where they are.

 

I would like to think Jay should be able to measure the ability to grasp playbook, within OTAs, and not need to quiz them a month from now only to learn, yeah, they are still as smart as they were  a month ago.  

 

I think there is only so much a football player can get from reading a playbook, they need to run those plays to properly drill it.

 

I do agree its wise for Jay to test the waters early, in case any of his QBs are a genius or know most of the concepts and plays from previous coaches etc.  But he needs to be ready to quickly purge to find the sweet spot of too many plays, and too few.

 

Pure speculation but if Case is struggling to digest Jay's playbook and concepts, they tend towards the more complex side.

[NickyJ]

7 hours ago, JoggingGod said:

Hot take: Cooley’s opinion is completely worthless

Homesickness. Of. The. Knees.

[mistertim]

I think Jay is trying to throw as much at them as possible just to get a handle on where they're at (IIRC this has actually been alluded to by Jay in pressers) but it would be dialed down some once they get into TC and things like that. I also think it's important to remember that Jay hasn't really shown himself to be one of those super flexible coaches who will completely adapt his system to whatever his QB does well. Yes he'll tweak it some but he's historically been pretty set on his system and the way he runs in. That doesn't mean it's a bad system (he's actually a really good play designer IMO), but it's still complex and will take a while for someone to completely absorb. Especially a rookie with only one year of starting experience in college.

[Skinsinparadise]

20 hours ago, JoggingGod said:

Hot take: Cooley’s opinion is completely worthless

 

I notice over the years Cooley's take isn't greeted warmly sometimes on the board if it isn't positive.  But the dude has ended up right a lot.  Not every time but most of the time.   

 

I know I was at odds with him at the time when he weighed in at different times about RG3 and Doctson.  In retrospect, he was right but it annoyed the heck out of me at the time.  In his defense in this case, he's not weighing in with his opinion on either Haskins or Keenum, he's just saying what he's hearing from people he knows at Redskins Park.   And what he's saying isn't ground breaking one way or another.   It's mild stuff that people can take or leave.  In your case, you want to leave it -- that's cool, to each their own.  I only included it because I recall from other conversations on other subjects some are interested in what he says.

[JoggingGod]

 The issue is that he thrives off of hot takes with not much to back them up, like saying Haskins is a 3rd rounder because he gets rattled up.

[Skinsinparadise]

1 hour ago, JoggingGod said:

 The issue is that he thrives off of hot takes with not much to back them up, like saying Haskins is a 3rd rounder because he gets rattled up.

 

I can see people not loving Cooley’s takes but he doesn’t just throw crap against the wall.  he does go into massive detail typically when he does film study. I recall reciting much of what he said on the draft thread about all the QBs he studied in the draft not just Haskins. I wouldn’t call them hot takes myself but instead it was him offering a detailed opinion after watching 6 games or so of each player.

 

i feel a bit bad for the dude because I rarely see him challenged when he takes a homer like positive take on a player, which is what he typically does. You get a lot more positive takes then negative takes from Cooley, he has many man crushes on draft picks and FA signings. I see Cooley challenged typically when he doesn’t love a pick or FA signing.

 

And for my taste I am glad Cooley is willing to take some heat from fans by on occasion not going 100 percent with a homer view about everyone. I like Larry Michael and Redskins Nation but I don’t want Cooley to run his opinions the same way.

 

 I am interested in Cooley’s honest opinion. And he has been right a lot so I take his opinion seriously albeit I don’t always agree with it.

 

And I am not saying you or anyone else is looking for him to be more Redskins Nation like.  I am just saying I noticed he is willing to take grief from Redskins fans by being willing to go against the grain from time to time.   And I get his opinion isn’t the be all and end all. But I think there is a reason plenty of Redskins fans quote Cooley on Twitter, etc and that’s because the dude while is far from perfect does talk to people at Redskins Park and is no dummy when it comes to film review.

 

And while I’ve disagreed pro and con with him about players, I know the dude knows football and he knows the Redskins scheme.  He doesn’t diagram plays with Jay every week on the coaches shows and on Redskins.com for no reason.