tunahelper
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Isaiah Stanback, QB/WR/KR, University of Washington, 4th round draft pick
Measurables: 6′2″, 216 pounds, 4.62 forty yard dash (though many claim he was a sub-4.4 guy before the injury)
Positives: Possesses great size and athletic ability, both as a QB and a WR. Before his injury, showed excellent mobility when making plays with his feet, including good balance and the ability to change directions quickly. Has good lower body strength and the ability to break the occasional tackle. Could develop into both a dangerous open field threat and an effective red zone target, given his size and skill set. Seattle publications refer to him as a team leader and a confident locker room presence.
Negatives: The big one is injury-related. Stanback is coming off an injury to the Lisfranc joint of his right foot, which occurred in October of his senior year and required surgery and 8 months of rehab to repair. Current reports indicate that he is “sprinting, cutting and jumping,” and his major concern at this point is building strength in the last two months before Cowboys camp opens. For a player whose major value is his speed and athletic ability, a foot injury of this type is worrisome. As a QB, he lacks accuracy and has problems with his touch on short throws, though his overall arm strength is decent. Someone send him the video of Stanback throwing the ball 70 yards!
Outlook: The headline here is that Stanback is going to be very raw, no matter what position the Cowboys field him at. He has not played regularly at WR since his freshman year at Washington, and his QB skills are not NFL-ready: his completion percentage was low throughout his college career, and he got away with a lot due to his athletic ability that he will not get away with in the NFL.
That said, he likely won’t be seeing the field at QB for the Cowboys anyway. The ‘Boys currently have 5 QBs on the roster, not including Stanback: Tony Romo, Brad Johnson, Brock Berlin, Matt Baker, and Matt Moore. Assuming one of those last three young guys makes the team, that would make Stanback the team’s 4th “emergency” quarterback, at best. This is not a Seneca Wallace situation, in which Wallace is both a sometimes WR for Seattle and the team’s primary backup QB.
The WR corps in Dallas, as we all know, is less crowded. The two starters are 33+, and no one else on the squad boasts much in the way of starting experience. Stanback will be given his chance to make the team at WR and at return specialist, where he could be paired with Miles Austin on kickoffs.
If his foot recovers completely and Stanback is once again the athlete he was early in his senior year, he has the potential to develop into a quality NFL receiver. However, it will be a significant transition, and one of the knocks on Stanback in college was that he struggled to read coverages and his decision-making was suspect. WR is the toughest position to learn in the NFL outside of QB and possibly C, so expecting a short-term contribution from Stanback outside of the return game and the occasional WR option pass seems unrealistic. Setting him up as a Hines Ward or Antwaan Randle El right off the bat will likely lead to disappointment.
One last tidbit: With Stanback, the Cowboys continue their tradition of fielding a strong hypothetical NFL Softball League team—following in the footsteps of Quincy Carter and Drew Henson, Isaiah Stanback was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles late in the 2006 MLB draft. He was also on the track team at UW prior to his senior year.
Measurables: 6′2″, 216 pounds, 4.62 forty yard dash (though many claim he was a sub-4.4 guy before the injury)
Positives: Possesses great size and athletic ability, both as a QB and a WR. Before his injury, showed excellent mobility when making plays with his feet, including good balance and the ability to change directions quickly. Has good lower body strength and the ability to break the occasional tackle. Could develop into both a dangerous open field threat and an effective red zone target, given his size and skill set. Seattle publications refer to him as a team leader and a confident locker room presence.
Negatives: The big one is injury-related. Stanback is coming off an injury to the Lisfranc joint of his right foot, which occurred in October of his senior year and required surgery and 8 months of rehab to repair. Current reports indicate that he is “sprinting, cutting and jumping,” and his major concern at this point is building strength in the last two months before Cowboys camp opens. For a player whose major value is his speed and athletic ability, a foot injury of this type is worrisome. As a QB, he lacks accuracy and has problems with his touch on short throws, though his overall arm strength is decent. Someone send him the video of Stanback throwing the ball 70 yards!
Outlook: The headline here is that Stanback is going to be very raw, no matter what position the Cowboys field him at. He has not played regularly at WR since his freshman year at Washington, and his QB skills are not NFL-ready: his completion percentage was low throughout his college career, and he got away with a lot due to his athletic ability that he will not get away with in the NFL.
That said, he likely won’t be seeing the field at QB for the Cowboys anyway. The ‘Boys currently have 5 QBs on the roster, not including Stanback: Tony Romo, Brad Johnson, Brock Berlin, Matt Baker, and Matt Moore. Assuming one of those last three young guys makes the team, that would make Stanback the team’s 4th “emergency” quarterback, at best. This is not a Seneca Wallace situation, in which Wallace is both a sometimes WR for Seattle and the team’s primary backup QB.
The WR corps in Dallas, as we all know, is less crowded. The two starters are 33+, and no one else on the squad boasts much in the way of starting experience. Stanback will be given his chance to make the team at WR and at return specialist, where he could be paired with Miles Austin on kickoffs.
If his foot recovers completely and Stanback is once again the athlete he was early in his senior year, he has the potential to develop into a quality NFL receiver. However, it will be a significant transition, and one of the knocks on Stanback in college was that he struggled to read coverages and his decision-making was suspect. WR is the toughest position to learn in the NFL outside of QB and possibly C, so expecting a short-term contribution from Stanback outside of the return game and the occasional WR option pass seems unrealistic. Setting him up as a Hines Ward or Antwaan Randle El right off the bat will likely lead to disappointment.
One last tidbit: With Stanback, the Cowboys continue their tradition of fielding a strong hypothetical NFL Softball League team—following in the footsteps of Quincy Carter and Drew Henson, Isaiah Stanback was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles late in the 2006 MLB draft. He was also on the track team at UW prior to his senior year.
