Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2016 6:12:11 GMT -6
I can't believe I'm posting this but there's been so little else to post about I figured I might as well before some one else does......LOL
Scouting Bears' QB of future: A look at 3 top prospects for 2017 draft
QBs
Brad Biggs Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune
The most unlucky number is believed to be 13, a digit that portends such calamitous events there is a word to describe the antipathy it causes — triskaidekaphobia. With all that in mind, the fact the Bears haven't selected a quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft in 13 years is richly ironic. That player was Rex Grossman in 2003.
If the Bears want to change their fortunes, if they hope to get lucky in the future, it might be time to face their fears and dip into the quarterback market with a first-round pick.
For a league with a shortage of bona fide starting quarterbacks and a problem developing players at the game's most important position, the best prospect in the country might be a young man who did not start his first college game until this fall.
NFL talent evaluators are making their way to Tobacco Road and the campus of the University of North Carolina, where Mitch Trubisky, a redshirt junior and former Ohio Mr. Football, leads the 17th-ranked Tar Heels. Trubisky has come out of nowhere to emerge as an intriguing pro prospect.
Trubisky has surpassed Miami's Brad Kaaya, according to NFL scouts, and some prefer him to Clemson's Deshaun Watson with draft preparation ramping up as the college football season winds down. Watson was considered a potential No. 1 overall pick before the season and Kaaya has been on NFL radars since his freshman year in 2015. It's fair to wonder if Trubisky can become the Carson Wentz of the 2017 draft, a little-known prospect poised to be a high selection.
Add Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer to the mix with Trubisky and Watson and you have a look at the top three quarterback prospects in the nation, according to a variety of talent evaluators ranging from general managers to area scouts who spoke to the Tribune.
There's no telling if Trubisky will forego a final year of eligibility at North Carolina or if Kizer, a redshirt sophomore, will enter the draft, but there is a good chance they will at least submit their names to the NFL College Advisory Committee, which projects the round underclassmen will be selected in if they leave school early. Clemson announced this week that Watson, a junior, is headed to the NFL.
While the Bears haven't drafted a quarterback in the first round since tabbing Grossman with the 22nd overall pick in 2003, they traded their top picks in 2009 and 2010 to the Broncos to acquire Jay Cutler. Halfway through his eighth season with the team, some wonder if this will be Cutler's last. The 33-year-old is signed through 2020, but the Bears can get out from under his contract with a $2 million salary-cap hit in 2017 if they decide to release him.
General manager Ryan Pace said when he was hired it's a good idea to add a quarterback every year, but that is hard to do. The Bears haven't chosen one in two drafts directed by Pace. They took three players in the fourth round this year before the Cowboys selected quarterback Dak Prescott. They are one of 31 teams to miss on the former Mississippi State star. In the last seven years, the Bears have used three picks on quarterbacks: David Fales, sixth round 2014; Nathan Enderle, fifth round 2011; Dan LeFevour, sixth round 2010. None panned out.
The Bears explored a possible trade up in 2015 with the Titans to draft Marcus Mariota at No. 2, but talks never went far. It didn't help that Pace's roster had a lot of deficiencies. A franchise quarterback can cover a lot of weaknesses and considering Cutler's age, the Bears need to look to the future regardless of what they do with Cutler.
If the draft was held this weekend, the Bears (2-6) would hold the No. 4 pick. The roster is healthier than it has been since training camp and the team believes success is ahead in the second half of the season. Simply going 4-4 the rest of the way could drop the Bears out of the top 10.
The reality is it's a roll of the dice with quarterbacks unless you go 2-14 and have the No. 1 pick with Cam Newton or Andrew Luck staring at you. There will be plenty of competition for quarterbacks as the Browns (0-10), 49ers (1-7) and Jets (3-6), currently projected to have top-five picks, have acute quarterback needs.
Here's a look at the top three prospects.
Mitch Trubisky
North Carolina, redshirt junior, 6-2, 220 pounds
2016 stats: 247 of 350, 70.6 percent, 3,004 yards, 22 TDs, 4 INTs.
The skinny: The challenge in evaluating Trubisky is he has made only 10 starts, including Thursday's 28-27 loss at Duke, which dropped the Tar Heels to 7-3. When I told one scout who covers the East Coast I passed on a trip to Clemson to see Trubisky play against Georgia Tech on Nov. 5, he said, "You made a good decision. This could be the guy this year."
Trubisky doesn't do anything great, but he's really solid across the board and his intangibles are top-notch. What does stand out is he's very accurate, having completed 70.6 percent of his passes. Before throwing two interceptions against Duke, his only other two picks came Oct. 8 against Virginia Tech in driving rain from Hurricane Matthew.
In the 48-20 win over Georgia Tech, Trubisky completed 20 of 32 passes for 329 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 44 yards, scoring on an 18-yard draw when he correctly diagnosed a run/pass option. On third down, he completed 9 of 11 passes for 85 yards, beating six-man pressures on two occasions. He's particularly poised under pressure and Pro Football Focus ranks him No. 2 in the nation in adjusted completion percentage under pressure.
"He understands it," Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora said. "He studies it. A lot of those six-man pressures and zero blitzes, he knew that we were going to be OK in some and he knew in some we were going to be short a guy. So he got the ball out quick and he took it where it needed to go."
Fedora coached Grossman at Florida, and Trubisky is bigger. He's listed at 6-foot-3 but Fedora said he's 6-2, 220 pounds. The coach believes he has larger hands than Grossman, whose ball security was knocked because of his small hands.
"Rex has a rocket for an arm," Fedora said. "Mitch is probably a little more of a student of the game. Rex used his natural ability. Rex had such a strong arm that he believed he could make a throw threw between two guys that far (spacing his hands wide enough for a baseball to get through). Mitch won't try that. That's not a knock against Mitch or Rex."
Fedora's spread offense has Trubisky in the shotgun, and a lot of the passes come off play-action fakes. The challenge is translating that action to what a quarterback is required to do in the pocket in the NFL. But you can see how he sets up and delivers the ball with the arm strength to make throws to the far boundary from the wide hashmarks on the college field. He's decisive in his decision-making.
Scouts thought North Carolina might turn to Trubisky last season when Marquise Williams was benched in a sloppy win over Delaware, an FCS team. One scout said Tar Heels wide receivers were pining for a switch, but Fedora went back to Williams and the school rolled off 11 straight victories.
"I am having the time of my life," Trubisky said. "There is nothing I would rather be doing. I mean, the three years I waited went by fast. This is all I am worried about now. I am living in the moment and just trying to make the most of it."
As far as the Wentz comparison goes, Trubisky has thrown 475 passes in college with two games and a bowl appearance remaining this season. Wentz threw 612 passes at North Dakota State, missing nearly half of last season with a wrist injury.
What they're saying: "Golly, 10 starts?" a general manager said. "You'd like to see more of him, but he definitely has the tools. There is no doubt he is a talented kid."
"He has a good command of the offense for having been a backup for so long," an area scout said. "He has some touch on his passes. He looks like a pro. I don't know if they didn't know exactly what they had (before this season). All of those receivers wanted Trubisky to be the guy last year. They were screaming for him.
"When you watch his feet, he still sets up like a pro. He's able to set his feet and reset them quickly and fire the ball and do all that. Throw the offense away and just watch technique. Also his accuracy and his touch. Those are the things in my opinion, guys might be able to get a little more accurate but if you're not accurate and you don't get the ball out, a lot of times you can't teach that."
The future: North Carolina surely hopes Trubisky returns for another season, but his three top wide receivers are seniors and there's no telling if Fedora will get an attractive job offer after the season. He's 39-23 in his fifth season at what is considered a basketball school, and he pulled off upsets at Florida State and Miami this season. During the Bears' Monday night victory against the Vikings on Oct. 31, ESPN analyst Jon Gruden discussed Trubisky as a top draft prospect, the kind of attention that has come out of nowhere for the Mentor, Ohio, native since a 37-35 victory Oct. 1 in Tallahassee, Fla., that snapped the Seminoles' 22-game home winning streak. Trubisky completed 31 of 38 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns and got the NFL talking about him.
"I am just trying to block it out," Trubisky said. "I am worried about one week at a time and we'll get to that when the time is right after the season. But I am just focused on my teammates and winning games each week."
DeShone Kizer
Notre Dame, redshirt sophomore, 6-4, 230 pounds
2016 stats: 162 of 268, 60.4 percent, 2,261 yards, 19 TDs, 7 INTs.
The skinny: Kizer was thrust into action last season when Malik Zaire was injured and played well enough as a redshirt freshman to generate buzz heading into this year when he threw five touchdown passes and rushed for a sixth score in a 50-47 double-overtime loss to Texas to open the season.
He's only 20, so his play, as Notre Dame's uncharacteristic 3-6 record suggests, has been uneven. But as one general manager put it, there isn't a quarterback who could potentially enter the 2017 draft with more upside. Kizer has the frame and athleticism to shine. He's got good arm strength to drive the ball downfield as he displayed in a 30-27 victory over Miami on Oct. 29. Facing third-and-11 from the Hurricanes' 14-yard line, Kizer stood in the pocket against a five-man pressure and delivered a low laser to Equanimeous St. Brown for a touchdown, putting the ball where it had to be to avoid cornerback Corn Elder. The Bears had a heavy presence at that game with Pace and player personnel director Josh Lucas two of four staff members in South Bend.
Kizer's accuracy has been inconsistent and his arm motion creates a low release point leading the ball to come out flat at times. That can make touch throws a challenge. The struggles of the Irish should provide NFL talent evaluators with an opportunity to get questions answered about how he handles adversity.
What they're saying: "He's outstanding from a physical standpoint and he's got everything you want," one college scouting director said. "The most important thing it comes down to at that position is intangibles. The toughness. The ability to prepare. The ability to learn. The football stuff to me is easy. It's the rest of the stuff that becomes difficult. They're not winning now. Why are they not winning? Why is he not bringing his team back against some lesser opponents? Those are the things I want to know. You could watch three games and either pick a guy apart or fall in love with him. I want to watch two full years of these guys. I can watch a strong-armed guy drop bombs on people, but when you're making a decision at that position it's everything between the ears for me."
"He needs to work on his lower-body mechanics, but he's got plenty of arm and it's just going to take some refining," a national scout said. "We'll see what they're saying about him because everything was rosy in August. It's not rosy now."
The future: Kizer was asked what lies ahead for him this week and said he doesn't have enough information to make a good decision. The evaluators believe he will enter the draft.
Deshaun Watson
Clemson, junior, 6-3, 215 pounds
2016 stats: 204 of 317, 64.4 percent, 2,497 yards, 24 TDs, 10 INTs.
The skinny: Watson last year became the first player in FBS history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season, and that created massive expectations for him heading into his junior season. With only one big-time playmaker in wide receiver Mike Williams to throw the ball to, things haven't gone as smoothly, though Clemson is 9-0 and ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings. He left last Saturday's win over Syracuse with what was announced by the school as a bruised right throwing shoulder. Watson isn't expected to miss more time.
Watson is known as a gym rat who is constantly striving to improve his game. One general manager said he is the kind of player who knows the offense as well or better than some of the coaches. He also has pushed himself in the classroom and will graduate in December with a degree in communication studies after only three years. Everyone believes he has strong makeup, but no one believes he's close to the size the program lists him at — 6-3, 215.
How much of a problem is that? The Bears would not shy away from the right quarterback if height was an issue. Remember, Pace came from New Orleans, where 6-foot Drew Brees turned around the Saints franchise. It's worth noting Watson has more experience than Trubisky and Kizer and has faced more elite defenses.
What they're saying: "I am not a fan," one general manager said. "I think his accuracy is an issue. And I don't think he is a very big man. The thing with the accuracy is he's been in that system forever. That one invites accuracy because you've got such big windows to throw into."
"I was really disappointed," one area scout said. "Obviously, he can run the football. He makes some absolutely wow plays and he's got a big arm, but his accuracy is all over the place. He's going to have to get retrained from that offense as far as his footwork. In all the games I watched, I think I saw him look off the safety one time. The rest of the time he was staring down his receivers and forcing the ball."
"Watson will be a good pro," a national scout said. "He will be a better passer than Cam Newton. Cam is a thrower. But he's pressing and trying to make every throw and every play. They're unbeaten, but he's not surrounded with as much this year. He's not been accurate and he's taken some beatings because that O-line is just a bunch of Joes."
The future: Watson is going to take his cap and gown and head to the NFL.
Who's No. 1?
Even if all three underclassmen declare for the draft, it's not the strongest class of quarterbacks to pick from. That was also the case a year ago and quarterbacks Jared Goff and Wentz still went 1-2.
There have been 36 quarterbacks drafted in the first round since '03 when the Bears took Grossman. The Bears are one of eight teams (Bengals, Chiefs, Cowboys, Patriots, Saints, Seahawks and Texans) to not draft a quarterback in the first round in that span. Of the 36 selected, 16 have made at least one playoff start and eight have won more than two postseason games. Four have won a Super Bowl.
The draft is more than five months off, and it's impossible to say which way Pace and the Bears will go. Sooner than later, the franchise of Sid Luckman will have to address its quarterbackaphobia.
Best of the rest: More QB prospects for Bears to consider;http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-future-bears-quarterbacks-spt-1113-20161112-story.html
A thumbnail sketch of five other quarterbacks generating interest from NFL teams. (Brad Biggs)
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
Scouting Bears' QB of future: A look at 3 top prospects for 2017 draft
QBs
Brad Biggs Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune
The most unlucky number is believed to be 13, a digit that portends such calamitous events there is a word to describe the antipathy it causes — triskaidekaphobia. With all that in mind, the fact the Bears haven't selected a quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft in 13 years is richly ironic. That player was Rex Grossman in 2003.
If the Bears want to change their fortunes, if they hope to get lucky in the future, it might be time to face their fears and dip into the quarterback market with a first-round pick.
For a league with a shortage of bona fide starting quarterbacks and a problem developing players at the game's most important position, the best prospect in the country might be a young man who did not start his first college game until this fall.
NFL talent evaluators are making their way to Tobacco Road and the campus of the University of North Carolina, where Mitch Trubisky, a redshirt junior and former Ohio Mr. Football, leads the 17th-ranked Tar Heels. Trubisky has come out of nowhere to emerge as an intriguing pro prospect.
Trubisky has surpassed Miami's Brad Kaaya, according to NFL scouts, and some prefer him to Clemson's Deshaun Watson with draft preparation ramping up as the college football season winds down. Watson was considered a potential No. 1 overall pick before the season and Kaaya has been on NFL radars since his freshman year in 2015. It's fair to wonder if Trubisky can become the Carson Wentz of the 2017 draft, a little-known prospect poised to be a high selection.
Add Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer to the mix with Trubisky and Watson and you have a look at the top three quarterback prospects in the nation, according to a variety of talent evaluators ranging from general managers to area scouts who spoke to the Tribune.
There's no telling if Trubisky will forego a final year of eligibility at North Carolina or if Kizer, a redshirt sophomore, will enter the draft, but there is a good chance they will at least submit their names to the NFL College Advisory Committee, which projects the round underclassmen will be selected in if they leave school early. Clemson announced this week that Watson, a junior, is headed to the NFL.
While the Bears haven't drafted a quarterback in the first round since tabbing Grossman with the 22nd overall pick in 2003, they traded their top picks in 2009 and 2010 to the Broncos to acquire Jay Cutler. Halfway through his eighth season with the team, some wonder if this will be Cutler's last. The 33-year-old is signed through 2020, but the Bears can get out from under his contract with a $2 million salary-cap hit in 2017 if they decide to release him.
General manager Ryan Pace said when he was hired it's a good idea to add a quarterback every year, but that is hard to do. The Bears haven't chosen one in two drafts directed by Pace. They took three players in the fourth round this year before the Cowboys selected quarterback Dak Prescott. They are one of 31 teams to miss on the former Mississippi State star. In the last seven years, the Bears have used three picks on quarterbacks: David Fales, sixth round 2014; Nathan Enderle, fifth round 2011; Dan LeFevour, sixth round 2010. None panned out.
The Bears explored a possible trade up in 2015 with the Titans to draft Marcus Mariota at No. 2, but talks never went far. It didn't help that Pace's roster had a lot of deficiencies. A franchise quarterback can cover a lot of weaknesses and considering Cutler's age, the Bears need to look to the future regardless of what they do with Cutler.
If the draft was held this weekend, the Bears (2-6) would hold the No. 4 pick. The roster is healthier than it has been since training camp and the team believes success is ahead in the second half of the season. Simply going 4-4 the rest of the way could drop the Bears out of the top 10.
The reality is it's a roll of the dice with quarterbacks unless you go 2-14 and have the No. 1 pick with Cam Newton or Andrew Luck staring at you. There will be plenty of competition for quarterbacks as the Browns (0-10), 49ers (1-7) and Jets (3-6), currently projected to have top-five picks, have acute quarterback needs.
Here's a look at the top three prospects.
Mitch Trubisky
North Carolina, redshirt junior, 6-2, 220 pounds
2016 stats: 247 of 350, 70.6 percent, 3,004 yards, 22 TDs, 4 INTs.
The skinny: The challenge in evaluating Trubisky is he has made only 10 starts, including Thursday's 28-27 loss at Duke, which dropped the Tar Heels to 7-3. When I told one scout who covers the East Coast I passed on a trip to Clemson to see Trubisky play against Georgia Tech on Nov. 5, he said, "You made a good decision. This could be the guy this year."
Trubisky doesn't do anything great, but he's really solid across the board and his intangibles are top-notch. What does stand out is he's very accurate, having completed 70.6 percent of his passes. Before throwing two interceptions against Duke, his only other two picks came Oct. 8 against Virginia Tech in driving rain from Hurricane Matthew.
In the 48-20 win over Georgia Tech, Trubisky completed 20 of 32 passes for 329 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 44 yards, scoring on an 18-yard draw when he correctly diagnosed a run/pass option. On third down, he completed 9 of 11 passes for 85 yards, beating six-man pressures on two occasions. He's particularly poised under pressure and Pro Football Focus ranks him No. 2 in the nation in adjusted completion percentage under pressure.
"He understands it," Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora said. "He studies it. A lot of those six-man pressures and zero blitzes, he knew that we were going to be OK in some and he knew in some we were going to be short a guy. So he got the ball out quick and he took it where it needed to go."
Fedora coached Grossman at Florida, and Trubisky is bigger. He's listed at 6-foot-3 but Fedora said he's 6-2, 220 pounds. The coach believes he has larger hands than Grossman, whose ball security was knocked because of his small hands.
"Rex has a rocket for an arm," Fedora said. "Mitch is probably a little more of a student of the game. Rex used his natural ability. Rex had such a strong arm that he believed he could make a throw threw between two guys that far (spacing his hands wide enough for a baseball to get through). Mitch won't try that. That's not a knock against Mitch or Rex."
Fedora's spread offense has Trubisky in the shotgun, and a lot of the passes come off play-action fakes. The challenge is translating that action to what a quarterback is required to do in the pocket in the NFL. But you can see how he sets up and delivers the ball with the arm strength to make throws to the far boundary from the wide hashmarks on the college field. He's decisive in his decision-making.
Scouts thought North Carolina might turn to Trubisky last season when Marquise Williams was benched in a sloppy win over Delaware, an FCS team. One scout said Tar Heels wide receivers were pining for a switch, but Fedora went back to Williams and the school rolled off 11 straight victories.
"I am having the time of my life," Trubisky said. "There is nothing I would rather be doing. I mean, the three years I waited went by fast. This is all I am worried about now. I am living in the moment and just trying to make the most of it."
As far as the Wentz comparison goes, Trubisky has thrown 475 passes in college with two games and a bowl appearance remaining this season. Wentz threw 612 passes at North Dakota State, missing nearly half of last season with a wrist injury.
What they're saying: "Golly, 10 starts?" a general manager said. "You'd like to see more of him, but he definitely has the tools. There is no doubt he is a talented kid."
"He has a good command of the offense for having been a backup for so long," an area scout said. "He has some touch on his passes. He looks like a pro. I don't know if they didn't know exactly what they had (before this season). All of those receivers wanted Trubisky to be the guy last year. They were screaming for him.
"When you watch his feet, he still sets up like a pro. He's able to set his feet and reset them quickly and fire the ball and do all that. Throw the offense away and just watch technique. Also his accuracy and his touch. Those are the things in my opinion, guys might be able to get a little more accurate but if you're not accurate and you don't get the ball out, a lot of times you can't teach that."
The future: North Carolina surely hopes Trubisky returns for another season, but his three top wide receivers are seniors and there's no telling if Fedora will get an attractive job offer after the season. He's 39-23 in his fifth season at what is considered a basketball school, and he pulled off upsets at Florida State and Miami this season. During the Bears' Monday night victory against the Vikings on Oct. 31, ESPN analyst Jon Gruden discussed Trubisky as a top draft prospect, the kind of attention that has come out of nowhere for the Mentor, Ohio, native since a 37-35 victory Oct. 1 in Tallahassee, Fla., that snapped the Seminoles' 22-game home winning streak. Trubisky completed 31 of 38 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns and got the NFL talking about him.
"I am just trying to block it out," Trubisky said. "I am worried about one week at a time and we'll get to that when the time is right after the season. But I am just focused on my teammates and winning games each week."
DeShone Kizer
Notre Dame, redshirt sophomore, 6-4, 230 pounds
2016 stats: 162 of 268, 60.4 percent, 2,261 yards, 19 TDs, 7 INTs.
The skinny: Kizer was thrust into action last season when Malik Zaire was injured and played well enough as a redshirt freshman to generate buzz heading into this year when he threw five touchdown passes and rushed for a sixth score in a 50-47 double-overtime loss to Texas to open the season.
He's only 20, so his play, as Notre Dame's uncharacteristic 3-6 record suggests, has been uneven. But as one general manager put it, there isn't a quarterback who could potentially enter the 2017 draft with more upside. Kizer has the frame and athleticism to shine. He's got good arm strength to drive the ball downfield as he displayed in a 30-27 victory over Miami on Oct. 29. Facing third-and-11 from the Hurricanes' 14-yard line, Kizer stood in the pocket against a five-man pressure and delivered a low laser to Equanimeous St. Brown for a touchdown, putting the ball where it had to be to avoid cornerback Corn Elder. The Bears had a heavy presence at that game with Pace and player personnel director Josh Lucas two of four staff members in South Bend.
Kizer's accuracy has been inconsistent and his arm motion creates a low release point leading the ball to come out flat at times. That can make touch throws a challenge. The struggles of the Irish should provide NFL talent evaluators with an opportunity to get questions answered about how he handles adversity.
What they're saying: "He's outstanding from a physical standpoint and he's got everything you want," one college scouting director said. "The most important thing it comes down to at that position is intangibles. The toughness. The ability to prepare. The ability to learn. The football stuff to me is easy. It's the rest of the stuff that becomes difficult. They're not winning now. Why are they not winning? Why is he not bringing his team back against some lesser opponents? Those are the things I want to know. You could watch three games and either pick a guy apart or fall in love with him. I want to watch two full years of these guys. I can watch a strong-armed guy drop bombs on people, but when you're making a decision at that position it's everything between the ears for me."
"He needs to work on his lower-body mechanics, but he's got plenty of arm and it's just going to take some refining," a national scout said. "We'll see what they're saying about him because everything was rosy in August. It's not rosy now."
The future: Kizer was asked what lies ahead for him this week and said he doesn't have enough information to make a good decision. The evaluators believe he will enter the draft.
Deshaun Watson
Clemson, junior, 6-3, 215 pounds
2016 stats: 204 of 317, 64.4 percent, 2,497 yards, 24 TDs, 10 INTs.
The skinny: Watson last year became the first player in FBS history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season, and that created massive expectations for him heading into his junior season. With only one big-time playmaker in wide receiver Mike Williams to throw the ball to, things haven't gone as smoothly, though Clemson is 9-0 and ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings. He left last Saturday's win over Syracuse with what was announced by the school as a bruised right throwing shoulder. Watson isn't expected to miss more time.
Watson is known as a gym rat who is constantly striving to improve his game. One general manager said he is the kind of player who knows the offense as well or better than some of the coaches. He also has pushed himself in the classroom and will graduate in December with a degree in communication studies after only three years. Everyone believes he has strong makeup, but no one believes he's close to the size the program lists him at — 6-3, 215.
How much of a problem is that? The Bears would not shy away from the right quarterback if height was an issue. Remember, Pace came from New Orleans, where 6-foot Drew Brees turned around the Saints franchise. It's worth noting Watson has more experience than Trubisky and Kizer and has faced more elite defenses.
What they're saying: "I am not a fan," one general manager said. "I think his accuracy is an issue. And I don't think he is a very big man. The thing with the accuracy is he's been in that system forever. That one invites accuracy because you've got such big windows to throw into."
"I was really disappointed," one area scout said. "Obviously, he can run the football. He makes some absolutely wow plays and he's got a big arm, but his accuracy is all over the place. He's going to have to get retrained from that offense as far as his footwork. In all the games I watched, I think I saw him look off the safety one time. The rest of the time he was staring down his receivers and forcing the ball."
"Watson will be a good pro," a national scout said. "He will be a better passer than Cam Newton. Cam is a thrower. But he's pressing and trying to make every throw and every play. They're unbeaten, but he's not surrounded with as much this year. He's not been accurate and he's taken some beatings because that O-line is just a bunch of Joes."
The future: Watson is going to take his cap and gown and head to the NFL.
Who's No. 1?
Even if all three underclassmen declare for the draft, it's not the strongest class of quarterbacks to pick from. That was also the case a year ago and quarterbacks Jared Goff and Wentz still went 1-2.
There have been 36 quarterbacks drafted in the first round since '03 when the Bears took Grossman. The Bears are one of eight teams (Bengals, Chiefs, Cowboys, Patriots, Saints, Seahawks and Texans) to not draft a quarterback in the first round in that span. Of the 36 selected, 16 have made at least one playoff start and eight have won more than two postseason games. Four have won a Super Bowl.
The draft is more than five months off, and it's impossible to say which way Pace and the Bears will go. Sooner than later, the franchise of Sid Luckman will have to address its quarterbackaphobia.
Best of the rest: More QB prospects for Bears to consider;http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-future-bears-quarterbacks-spt-1113-20161112-story.html
A thumbnail sketch of five other quarterbacks generating interest from NFL teams. (Brad Biggs)
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
