The NFL Scouting Combine ended Tuesday in Indianapolis, igniting a bonfire of excitement, predictions, speculation, questions and maybe even a few answers.
The word is that there were more than 300 players strutting their stuff for a week under the microscopes of NFL scouts, coaches and general managers. The players were showing off their speed, agility, strength, earlobes, teeth, tattoos, hairdos and probably even a few hair-don’ts.
Now the gurus of pro football are all back in their offices. They’re behind closed doors, no doubt wringing their hands, biting their nails and debating which players at what positions can make their teams better as they prepare for the April 22 draft.
And the gurus won’t always agree. One will be convinced that a player is the second coming of Jim Thorpe, and the guy across the table will recommend that the same player pursue a career in the used-car business.
Still, they’re all looking for players who can run straight or sideways through a steady rain without getting wet, deadlift their school’s library, catch BBs in the dark and give a running back a hole through the Great Wall of China.
It is pretty common knowledge that the NFL has become, almost officially, a quarterback league. If you’ve got a guy who can’t read a defense any better than he can read an inscription on the wall of an Egyptian tomb, you’re in trouble. Therefore, many NFL teams are wringing their hands, desperate for a guy who can part the sea of mediocrity and lead them to the Promised Land—the playoffs.
Of course, the Super Bowl champ New Orleans Saints (with Drew Brees), Indianapolis Colts (with Peyton Manning) and Minnesota Vikings (if Brett Favre doesn’t retire) are not on that list.
Which brings us to the Buffalo Bills, a 6-10 team last season because their offensive line couldn’t block high grass and their quarterbacks were consistently inconsistent. Which, by the way, is why Terrell Owens didn’t light it up for the Bills, now his former team. Anyway, the question around here is whether the Bills will stand pat and rely on Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick or Brian Brohm.
The Bills met with Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen during the combine. But, of course, they did not commit to pursuing him or any of the other 18 QBs auditioning in Indy.
Part of the problem is that too many coaches and scouts use the wrong stuff to evaluate quarterbacks. They get all excited if the guy has a rocket arm, throws tight spirals and has a high score on the Wonderlic Test—whether, for example, he knows the difference between easy and difficult.
Teams also have a tendency to judge a quarterback by how he handles himself in practice, when hitting him is a no-no and 2,000 pounds of aggressive opponents is not trying to crush him. If you ever watched ex-Bill J.P. Losman, you know what I mean.
Well, I have a few suggestions about how to find out what a quarterback is really made of. Of course he can throw the football; if he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be in the combine or, later, the draft. It’s what a guy has inside that makes him a great player. If you doubt that, ask some “expert” about Joe Montana.
The bottom line is that if your team is going to win, you need James Bond at quarterback, not Barney Fife.
Start by putting him in a high-stakes poker game—Texas hold ’em or whatever—with his own money on the line. If he’s a nervous wreck, scratch him off your list. But if he remains calm, cool and collected—if it’s obvious that there’s ice water in his veins as his chips pile up—he might be your guy.
If he passes Test 1, it’s time to apply more pressure—such as putting a board between two buildings at maybe the 10th floor and having him walk from one to the other. Yeah, put a net at ground level, just in case he gets rattled, but don’t tell him it’s there. If he looks down, forget him.
Or you might work out a deal with a local bank, tell him how to pick the back door lock around midnight and see if he can open the vault. Sure, it’s a setup, but don’t let him know that.
OK, so these are borderline ridiculous. But if a team can’t find out what a guy has or doesn’t have inside, mentally and emotionally, it’s a crapshoot.
Too bad teams can’t give a quarterback the ball on his own 15-yard line with less than three minutes to play, down by four points in a must-win game. That’s when he shows whether he’s 007 or Deputy Fife.
Rick Woodson’s column appears each Friday in the Rochester Business Journal print edition. His book, “Words of Woodson,” is available at www.authorhouse.com/bookstore. Listen to his weekly program, “The Golf Tee,” at 9 a.m. Sunday on WHTK-AM 1280 and FM 107.3. 3/5/10 (c) 2010 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or e-mail service@rbj.net.
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