FiniteMan!
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I think there are 4 responsible choices that Oakland could make at #1. In no special order:
1) JaMarcus Russell - a solid winner at the collegiate level and a pretty good leader. Reportedly the best arm in football at any level. Underclassman. He has gotten better each year in college and has legit pro accuracy --- completed 67% of his passes last year. NFL.com compairs him to Dante Culpepper and calls him the perfect QB for a deep passing attack. On the positive side plays well in the fourth quarter, on the negative side his collegiate career featured big games against overmatched opponents, modest games against good opponents. Everyone calls him raw. Some scouting reports say he is helped by a QB friendly system. Akili Smith and Kyle Boller's lack of success in the NFL after playing in friendly systems make that someting to consider. I read something that one of his coaches?/agents? said about him and it seemed like they were suggesting that any team really had to spoonfeed him in order to get him to reach his potential. "If you do this and do that and do this and that.....you'll end up with a great QB!" Some scouts like NFL draft countdown mention questions about his level of commitment. I read his reviews and to me they bring to mind Ryan Leaf and Dan McGwire's...
2) Brady Quinn - Another good winner at the collegiate level with good size and a good arm. Quinn had 2 insane years his last two seasons, completing 581 passes in 917 attempts 63% for 7345 yards, 69 TDs and 14 INTs. At his current stage of development he reminds me a little of Peyton Manning in talent and the pro incarnation of Troy Aikman in play. There is one big, important exception with the Manning compairison. Quinn has been very well coached in college. Manning was exceptionally driven in college. Quinn could go the way of Tim Couch and Dave Klingler in the pros --- great collegiate QBs moving up to face better talent with a lesser offensive sytem/coach, but I doubt it. I think his game personality is similar and going from a top offensive system to the pros is not neccessarily a good indicator of future success. I don't think he will be a bust, though. On the positive side he has good touch and putting the ball in the right spot has been drilled into him. He is really deadly in the red zone, so maybe that will allow him to excell in the pros. He doesn't throw INTs there and is pretty good at lobbing the ball to tall recievers --- although in my mind he puts a little too much air under some of his lobs. If he can get that worked out, he seems likely to be a safe consistent starting QB at the NFL level. Those are skills he has had drilled into him and can be applied to any system. Quinn seems smart and likeable, but I personally am not sold on him as a leader. He doesn't seem to have the calm core of the great ones. He looked like a big kid playing football to me. He won't melt down under media pressure. I don't think he is a star though. Quinn gets a bad rap for a modest record against top opponents. It is undeserved. Quinn played pretty well, but ND's D rolled over for most of those teams giving up 30-50 points in big games with regularity.
3) Adrian Peterson, HB Oklahoma --- Widely acknowledged as the best runing back in college football for the last few years running --- actually since his first game at OU. Big, powerful back ran a 4.37 for the scouts. Some scouts are saying he is the second coming of Eric Dickerson. Has had a few injuries in college. Is he really brittle or were his collegiate injuries just flukes? It is a concern that he has never been healthy enough to play all the games in a college season...
4) Calvin Johnson, WR Georgia Tech --- what they say about this kid is just amazing. Not since Randy Moss have scouts drooled over a WR like this. He isn't known as just a speed merchant, just a playmaker, but ran a 4.35 at 6-5 and 239 lbs!!! He is raw but has a good attitude. He is Terrell Owens without all the drama.
So... who do you take?
1) JaMarcus Russell - a solid winner at the collegiate level and a pretty good leader. Reportedly the best arm in football at any level. Underclassman. He has gotten better each year in college and has legit pro accuracy --- completed 67% of his passes last year. NFL.com compairs him to Dante Culpepper and calls him the perfect QB for a deep passing attack. On the positive side plays well in the fourth quarter, on the negative side his collegiate career featured big games against overmatched opponents, modest games against good opponents. Everyone calls him raw. Some scouting reports say he is helped by a QB friendly system. Akili Smith and Kyle Boller's lack of success in the NFL after playing in friendly systems make that someting to consider. I read something that one of his coaches?/agents? said about him and it seemed like they were suggesting that any team really had to spoonfeed him in order to get him to reach his potential. "If you do this and do that and do this and that.....you'll end up with a great QB!" Some scouts like NFL draft countdown mention questions about his level of commitment. I read his reviews and to me they bring to mind Ryan Leaf and Dan McGwire's...
2) Brady Quinn - Another good winner at the collegiate level with good size and a good arm. Quinn had 2 insane years his last two seasons, completing 581 passes in 917 attempts 63% for 7345 yards, 69 TDs and 14 INTs. At his current stage of development he reminds me a little of Peyton Manning in talent and the pro incarnation of Troy Aikman in play. There is one big, important exception with the Manning compairison. Quinn has been very well coached in college. Manning was exceptionally driven in college. Quinn could go the way of Tim Couch and Dave Klingler in the pros --- great collegiate QBs moving up to face better talent with a lesser offensive sytem/coach, but I doubt it. I think his game personality is similar and going from a top offensive system to the pros is not neccessarily a good indicator of future success. I don't think he will be a bust, though. On the positive side he has good touch and putting the ball in the right spot has been drilled into him. He is really deadly in the red zone, so maybe that will allow him to excell in the pros. He doesn't throw INTs there and is pretty good at lobbing the ball to tall recievers --- although in my mind he puts a little too much air under some of his lobs. If he can get that worked out, he seems likely to be a safe consistent starting QB at the NFL level. Those are skills he has had drilled into him and can be applied to any system. Quinn seems smart and likeable, but I personally am not sold on him as a leader. He doesn't seem to have the calm core of the great ones. He looked like a big kid playing football to me. He won't melt down under media pressure. I don't think he is a star though. Quinn gets a bad rap for a modest record against top opponents. It is undeserved. Quinn played pretty well, but ND's D rolled over for most of those teams giving up 30-50 points in big games with regularity.
3) Adrian Peterson, HB Oklahoma --- Widely acknowledged as the best runing back in college football for the last few years running --- actually since his first game at OU. Big, powerful back ran a 4.37 for the scouts. Some scouts are saying he is the second coming of Eric Dickerson. Has had a few injuries in college. Is he really brittle or were his collegiate injuries just flukes? It is a concern that he has never been healthy enough to play all the games in a college season...
4) Calvin Johnson, WR Georgia Tech --- what they say about this kid is just amazing. Not since Randy Moss have scouts drooled over a WR like this. He isn't known as just a speed merchant, just a playmaker, but ran a 4.35 at 6-5 and 239 lbs!!! He is raw but has a good attitude. He is Terrell Owens without all the drama.
So... who do you take?
