Lynch, Goff joining QB class full of promise and projects

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Memphis Ram

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http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/...-class-full-of-promise-but-lacking-guarantees

By Rob Rang | The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.com

December 31, 2015 12:52 pm ET

The 2016 NFL Draft features plenty of talent at the quarterback position, but it's spread out between a dozen (or more) prospects.

That's unlike a year ago when it was obvious that the top two prospects -- Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota -- were relatively transcendent underclassmen (and then a steep drop-off in talent after them), the 2016 draft is loaded with projects.

The crop was significantly boosted Thursday with the expected announcements that the top two quarterbacks on NFLDraftScout.com's board -- Paxton Lynch (Memphis) and Jared Goff (California) - were forgoing their senior seasons and heading to the NFL.

Lynch (6 feet 6, 230 pounds) possesses all of the physical tools to excite scouts, including rare agility for a man of his size and a hose for an arm. However, rather than end his career with a bang, Lynch struggled mightily in a 31-10 loss to Auburn, raising all kinds of questions about the steep learning curve he'll face in the NFL.

Goff (6-4, 210), on the other hand, was brilliant in guiding Cal to its first bowl victory since 2008, tossing six touchdowns without an interception to win the Armed Forces Bowl. That victory, however, came against an overmatched Air Force defense and there are plenty of concerns as to whether Goff's thin frame and average arm strength will hold up in the NFL, making it potentially critical that he's drafted by a team that fits his strengths.

The top-rated seniors at the position also come with significant questions.

Michigan State's Connor Cook remains in the first round conversation as the 6-2, 220-pounder has the build, arm strength and track record in a pro-style offense to offer a relatively quick transition to the NFL.

Scouts, however, question how much of the Spartans' success is due to Cook. Michigan State beat Ohio State on Nov. 21 without Cook by sticking to Mark Dantonio's philosophy of running the ball and playing physical, assignment-sound defense. Despite starting the past three years for Sparty, Cook still has a tendency to spray the ball due to inconsistent footwork.

Further, scouts question whether Cook, who curiously was never voted a captain by teammates during his collegiate career, has the leadership traits necessary to ever be a franchise quarterback.

North Dakota State's Carson Wentz is the small-school wild card to keep an eye on. He was lightly recruited out of high school due in part to his size (5-8, 125 pounds as a high school freshman) but he sprouted and now possesses an ideal frame for the NFL (6-5, 231).

Not surprisingly, Wentz has starred against the lower competition, guiding the Bison to a berth in the FCS national championship Jan. 9 against Jacksonville State. While he possesses the frame, arm and surprisingly athleticism scouts are looking for, he comes with obvious level of competition questions with only one career appearance against an FBS team (Iowa State). Scouts are excited to see Wentz matched up against top talent at the Senior Bowl. A strong performance in Mobile could push Wentz into the first-round mix.

With an undefeated record at Ohio State that includes sparkling performances in playoff wins last year against Alabama and Oregon to guide the Buckeyes to a national championship, Cardale Jones doesn't come with the same level of competition questions as Wentz. Further, he boasts the most exciting skill-set of this year's quarterbacks with a Daunte Culpepper-like combination of size (6-5, 250 pounds), arm strength and athleticism.

While undeniably gifted, Jones is quite a gamble at the next level, having started only 11 games (and played in 23 overall) over his collegiate career. In terms of running the ball or chucking it downfield on vertical routes, Jones looks like a future star. It is virtually everywhere else, however, that Jones needs considerable polishing before he can be expected to guide an NFL franchise.

With no guarantees among quarterbacks at the top, NFL teams could elect to take advantage of this year's bumper crop of offensive and defensive linemen (who make up the majority of our current mock drafts) and instead wait until the middle rounds to find a passer.

There are some intriguing prospects amongst the second-tier quarterbacks, including Mississippi State's Dak Prescott, Stanford's Kevin Hogan, Arkansas' Brandon Allen and Louisiana Tech's Jeff Driskel, each of whom made strides in 2015.

None, however, boasts the complete skill-set to ease the concerns of QB-needy general managers throughout the NFL, which should make the buildup to this year's draft all the more fascinating to watch.
 

tahoe

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Ive been saying that I dont think this is a very good class. But Wentz is intriguing, Goff wont make it to the Rams, Lynch may be there but he is a wild card, im also intrigued by Allen, Im not a fan of Cook. Noone else interests me.
 

Memphis Ram

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I know I'm in the minority, but Wentz is the only QB I like in the first round.

AND my next favorite QB is actually Stanford's Kevin Hogan.

Plus, I would love to see Cardale Jones brought in as a developmental project.
 
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Merlin

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You guys are crazy. This is going to go down as the best QB class in many years. You have multiple prospects that belong in round 1, not just hopped up QBs that teams will take in round 1 out of pure hope and desperation. Then you have lower tier guys in enough numbers that one of them will probably surprise and have a good career, like Hogan for example. Plus you have guys like Chad Kelly who still might declare.

My biggest fear with QB right now is we don't have the staff to select the right one...
 

RamFan503

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You guys are crazy. This is going to go down as the best QB class in many years. You have multiple prospects that belong in round 1, not just hopped up QBs that teams will take in round 1 out of pure hope and desperation. Then you have lower tier guys in enough numbers that one of them will probably surprise and have a good career, like Hogan for example. Plus you have guys like Chad Kelly who still might declare.

My biggest fear with QB right now is we don't have the staff to select the right one...
Interesting take. It does look like there are quite a few decent QBs with maybe no obvious franchise QBs. The draft should be a very interesting one indeed.
 

Merlin

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Interesting take. It does look like there are quite a few decent QBs with maybe no obvious franchise QBs. The draft should be a very interesting one indeed.

You know another thing that is intriguing to me at least is the way it is so easy to forget how we saw previous drafts. There were a lot of knocks on Mariota and Winston for numerous reasons to include Mariota playing in a spread system and how he looked like a project or Winston and his off field incidents etc. I mention this in relation to the article above, that there are never sure things, and every draft is going to be full of projects nowadays at QB it's just the way it is now. I mean the last draft with a supposed "sure thing" was Luck, and last year was very rough on the kid.

The guy with the most questions for me is Cook. But he comes with a lot of snaps at QB in an offense that should prepare him reasonably well for the NFL. I mean it's all a crap shoot anyway it seems to me, so again my greatest fear comes back around to Fisher selecting the QB...
 

Elmgrovegnome

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I know I'm in the minority, but Wentz is the only QB I like in the first round.

AND my next favorite QB is actually Stanford's Kevin Hogan.

Plus, I would love to see Cardale Jones brought in as a developmental project.

Went is the only first round QB that you l Iike or the only one in the Rams reach that you like? BTW Jones does not have the head to play QB in the NFL. He struggles to read the find quickly enough and that is in a system that made Tebow a great QB. I believe Wentz may be the best shot but if Fisher doesn't get some good offensive mind on staff, it will be tough to really take advantage of any new QB.


You guys are crazy. This is going to go down as the best QB class in many years. You have multiple prospects that belong in round 1, not just hopped up QBs that teams will take in round 1 out of pure hope and desperation. Then you have lower tier guys in enough numbers that one of them will probably surprise and have a good career, like Hogan for example. Plus you have guys like Chad Kelly who still might declare.

My biggest fear with QB right now is we don't have the staff to select the right one...

That is my biggest fear as well.
 

tahoe

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You guys are crazy. This is going to go down as the best QB class in many years. You have multiple prospects that belong in round 1, not just hopped up QBs that teams will take in round 1 out of pure hope and desperation. Then you have lower tier guys in enough numbers that one of them will probably surprise and have a good career, like Hogan for example. Plus you have guys like Chad Kelly who still might declare.

My biggest fear with QB right now is we don't have the staff to select the right one...
I may be crazy but i just dont see it, I see a bunch of mediocre QB prospects...
 

Merlin

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Even if Wentz and Lynch both go very early the Rams will need to move up to get Goff. These media types are just starting to really look at the QBs and you're going to see fluctuation and a general rise of the QB prospects.

Also, NFL teams are most defensive about making comments with the QB position to the media, because of positional importance and particularly if they love a prospect. I guarantee many will be content to hear other QBs hyped or even add to it, while they remain silent about their guy. What I'm saying here is don't believe what you're hearing on Goff as all that begins UNLESS he has a bad pro day. That is the one thing that will truly sink a QB before the draft, well that and character issues coming out.
 

DaveFan'51

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I know I'm in the minority, but Wentz is the only QB I like in the first round.

AND my next favorite QB is actually Stanford's Kevin Hogan.

Plus, I would love to see Cardale Jones brought in as a developmental project.
I have been looking at Cardale Jones since the 2014 season, I want to see how he looks at the combine!!
 

WestCoastRam

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I'd be curious how some of the prospects stack up against Mannion in our FO's eyes. I know some people aren't a fan of his... I sure think it would be surprising if he became a starter in this league but a front office certainly isn't going to take a QB they feel is equal to or lesser than one they have now who's already developmental.
 

Merlin

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I'd be curious how some of the prospects stack up against Mannion in our FO's eyes. I know some people aren't a fan of his... I sure think it would be surprising if he became a starter in this league but a front office certainly isn't going to take a QB they feel is equal to or lesser than one they have now who's already developmental.

I think they see him as backup to average starter, that he will fall somewhere in that range.

This is why they are going to trade up for QB. They need to do better.
 

jjab360

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I'd be curious how some of the prospects stack up against Mannion in our FO's eyes. I know some people aren't a fan of his... I sure think it would be surprising if he became a starter in this league but a front office certainly isn't going to take a QB they feel is equal to or lesser than one they have now who's already developmental.
Honestly, if they thought that much of him they would've given him the nod instead of Keenum or let him on the field instead of Foles when Keenum went down.

He really wasn't that good in preseason either, it had the feel of a throwaway pick to begin with and I'm not sure there's much to salvage there tbh
 

WestCoastRam

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Honestly, if they thought that much of him they would've given him the nod instead of Keenum or let him on the field instead of Foles when Keenum went down.

He really wasn't that good in preseason either, it had the feel of a throwaway pick to begin with and I'm not sure there's much to salvage there tbh

I hear that but in todays NFL with less practice time and no developmental league, I'm not so sure that's the case. You can actually make the case that Keenum gave them a chance to win more games and they were still trying to make the postseason (however small the chance) and that Mannion still needs reps.

I'm a firm believer that there are a number of QBs who could be playing in this league right now if they had just been getting reps in Europe (or some developmental league) and they had more practice time (and class time with coaches) in the offseason.

On a side note, I doubt they'll ever expand the workload in the offseason again (maybe by the smallest margin) but I suspect we'll eventually see some sort of developmental league come online again. I'm not sure the product on the field can survive without QBs and to a lesser extend, offensive lineman coming up that way.
 

Memphis Ram

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Went is the only first round QB that you l Iike or the only one in the Rams reach that you like? BTW Jones does not have the head to play QB in the NFL. He struggles to read the find quickly enough and that is in a system that made Tebow a great QB. I believe Wentz may be the best shot but if Fisher doesn't get some good offensive mind on staff, it will be tough to really take advantage of any new QB.

Wentz is the only one I really like.

Again, Jones would be a developmental prospect.
 

Memphis Ram

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Matt Miller isn't the best source for prospects. A lot of hardcore "draftniks" think of him as a joke. He tends to follow the crowd. I'm just going to say that he's incorrect about Wentz being more pro ready than Goff. And I'm one of Wentz's biggest fans.

A lot of hardcore "draftniks" may think of him as a joke and I'm sure that a lot of hardcore "draftniks" value his opinion. Like everyone else, he's been right sometimes. And he's been wrong sometimes.
 
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