Rams among teams watching Nevada QB Fajardo

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The St. Louis Rams were among the teams at Nevada’s pro day on Wednesday where quarterback Cody Fajardo was the big draw among the Wolf Pack players who worked out for scouts.

The 6-foot-1, 223-pound Fajardo impressed at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis where he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.63 seconds, the 20-yard shuttle in 4.10 seconds and the three-cone drill in 6.95 seconds — all marks that ranked among the best by quarterbacks at the Combine.

On Wednesday, at his pro day, Fajardo completed 50 of 55 passes, with two drops, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. The workout was scripted by quarterbacks coach Steve Calhoun.

“I thought it went well,” Fajardo told the newspaper. “The receivers did a great job for me. The running back and tight end did, too. It was fun to get back in Mackay (Stadium) and throw the ball around a little bit.”

The Rams, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers, Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers were among the teams at the workout, according to reports.

Fajardo put up impressive numbers during his four years as a starter for the Wolf Pack.

In his 45-game career, he completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 9,659 yards, with 57 touchdowns and 29 interceptions, and ran for 3,482 yards and 44 touchdowns. That’s a total of 13,141 yards and 101 touchdowns the quarterback accounted for, which averages out to 292 yards and 2.4 touchdowns per game.

After doing his damage out of the shotgun and pistol formation for four seasons, Fajardo wanted to show Wednesday that he could also operate while taking snaps from under center.

“I feel a lot better,” Fajardo told the newspaper. “All offseason, that’s what I’ve been focusing on is getting under center. If you turn on the tape, it’s 100 percent gun. I didn’t want to show too much gun today because that’s on tape. I wanted to show that I could transition to an under-center quarterback.”

Fajardo is projected as a late-round prospect and the teams represented at Nevada’s pro day, including the Rams, would indicate that they could be looking at him as a developmental project.

The Rams recently traded for Nick Foles from the Philadelphia Eagles and Case Keenum from the Houston Texans and should unrestricted free agent Austin Davisback in the mix during training camp next season, but all three will only be under contract for one more season.

They could draft someone to groom as their quarterback of the future in case the Foles experiment fails or if he’s successful but opts to sign elsewhere next offseason.

Video: Cody Fajardo Combine Workout

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[LACHAMP46]

Until we fix this O-Line, a mobile QB is what we need to develop...as long as he has a strong arm...Looked like a good athlete in college......and combine...Anybody seen this kid throw the rock in a game?

 

[ReddingRam]

Fajardo is interesting. I'm a Nevada fan (grew up in the area) ... and he has a lot of tools ... but is really raw. He is strong as hell though and if given time to develop .......

 

[ReddingRam]

Until we fix this O-Line, a mobile QB is what we need to develop...as long as he has a strong arm...Looked like a good athlete in college......and combine...Anybody seen this kid throw the rock in a game?

Yeah .. .seen him live and many times on TV ... problem is the offense. His arm is plenty strong, but the spreads that are run nowadays ... QB's just aren't being "groomed" for the pro game. It's sad.

 

[Athos]

# one thing.

Does he have an arm or not? If he does, ok. If not, not interested. As usual.

 

[jrry32]

# one thing.

Does he have an arm or not? If he does, ok. If not, not interested. As usual.

 

[fearsomefour]

Until we fix this O-Line, a mobile QB is what we need to develop...as long as he has a strong arm...Looked like a good athlete in college......and combine...Anybody seen this kid throw the rock in a game?

I live in Reno. Saw him play a lot.
He was impressive but Kap was super impressive in basically the same sort of O. Good arm, not as good as Kap, good runner, not as good as Kap.
Offense doesn't prep for the pro game much. Mid rounds maybe.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

What Athos said.

 

[jrry32]

What Athos said.

Same response. The Day 3 guys and UDFA that have worked out in the past are the type of players that you'd be eliminating now.

Players available at that point will either have physical flaws or technical/instinctual/mental flaws. I prefer the former to the latter. I can't think of any guys with cannon arms drafted late that panned out recently.(and by recently, I mean the past 1-2 decades)

Whereas guys like Bulger, Warner, Romo, Brady, etc. possessed averageish arm strength coming out. The same type of arm strength that people claimed was a "wet noodle" with Garrett Grayson.

IMO, you guys are going about this the completely wrong way. Not that it really matters in this QB class but you're looking for fool's gold.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I agree that football intelligence trumps physicality, to a degree. But we just watched two backups that couldn't get the ball down the field and it was game changing, in a bad way.

I had this conversation before about if QBs are better prepared to play in the NFL now compared to years ago and my answer was no, and still is. There were far more Pro Style offenses in the NFL and QBs had 4 years in them. These spread QBs come into the league with no idea how to read defenses or go through progressions.

So there are two factors. Arm and head. You can see the arm and not the head. So if you are going to pick a 6th round QB why take one with a weak arm, when that is the only given that you have to work with? Even Mariotas ability to switch to a pro offense is in question. Same with Petty, Hundley and every spread QB entering the draft. If the Rams pick one, they might as well pick one that can throw.

 

[jrry32]

I agree that football intelligence trumps physicality, to a degree. But we just watched two backups that couldn't get the ball down the field and it was game changing, in a bad way.

Except that was never the problem. Hill and Davis both had enough arm to get the job done. And both guys are definitely on the low end of the spectrum in terms of arm strength.

The problem was the other parts of their game were not strong enough to compensate. Austin Davis certainly looked more than capable of putting up points against Dallas. Problem was that teams figured out his weak points and attacked. It wasn't the arm strength that kept him from being successful, it was the other much more important parts of his game.

Same with Shaun Hill.

I had this conversation before about if QBs are better prepared to play in the NFL now compared to years ago and my answer was no, and still is. There were far more Pro Style offenses in the NFL and QBs had 4 years in them. These spread QBs come into the league with no idea how to read defenses or go through progressions.

While that's true, that's also not the issue. It's not about being a spread QB vs. a pro style QB. It's about each guy's individual tools. Drew Brees was a spread QB (as were other successful passers). And there are numerous examples of successful option QBs over the past 20-30 years.(Joe Montana, Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre, etc.)

So there are two factors. Arm and head. You can see the arm and not the head. So if you are going to pick a 6th round QB why take one with a weak arm, when that is the only given that you have to work with? Even Mariotas ability to switch to a pro offense is in question. Same with Petty, Hundley and every spread QB entering the draft. If the Rams pick one, they might as well pick one that can throw.

You can see both. But no, there aren't only two factors. If you really want to boil it down to the simplest form, we'll call it four factors:
1. Instincts
2. Mental Acuity(Head)
3. Arm Strength
4. Accuracy

And you can see all four. Granted, your ability to see the head can be limited but that's also something you can evaluate on your own if you're a NFL team with private workouts and interviews.

You have a lot of givens to work with. If I'm taking a QB later in the draft, I'm not looking for the strong-armed guy. Strong-armed QBs get overdrafted. They're overvalued. So if you're available on Day 3, you have some MAJOR issues in the FAR more important parts of your game.

I'm looking for the guy with the instincts and the accuracy...if I can't get a good feel for his mental acuity due to the offense. I'll take physical flaws such as height or arm strength...because they have to exist for that player to not go highly.

Unfortunately, I'm just not seeing that guy in this class. But I still have a lot of film review to do.

 

[iced]

@jrry32

don't you just wish sometimes we would draft a prospect and then send him off to arena league training a'la warner? lol

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

You can see both. But no, there aren't only two factors. If you really want to boil it down to the simplest form, we'll call it four factors:
1. Instincts
2. Mental Acuity(Head)
= Head
3. Arm Strength
4. Accuracy
=Arm

And you can see all four. Granted, your ability to see the head can be limited but that's also something you can evaluate on your own if you're a NFL team with private workouts and interviews.

Your idea of saying does he have an arm and mine are just different. I generalized. You were more specific.


I know that every QB isn't going to have a cannon and I realize that there are different degrees of accuracy. Foles is not as accurate as Bradford for instance but he can still play in the NFL. But if you have a guy that is coming from a system that is going to make his transition to the NFL 'questionable. And he doesn't have a good arm(accuracy/strength) then you have two strikes starting out.

if you're a NFL team with private workouts and interviews.

There in lies the problem. So from outside we have to look at what? Arm. Some guys you can see that they can do it all, like Winston but he played in the Pro system and was able to display that he could handle it. Mariota is still a question for fans but his makeup from what we have been told makes teams think he can do it. I really don't know, I just agree with the consensus because I really cant say. Now Fajardo may be the next Tony Romo. But that is not so likely. I hope the Rams have figured out the magic formula for saying, 'Yes, this guy should be able to make the switch' and be right, then draft him. But if he isn't accurate and can't hit a wide open Britt streaming down the field, then why draft him?

The Rams have to say, are we picking this guy because we think we can develop him into our next starter, OR is his arm is so bad that he will only be a career backup, if that. If he is the next backup QB then don't draft him unless it is a late pick and they feel there aren't many other options worth picking at any other position.

 

[dieterbrock]

What Athos said.

Agree with both of you.

 

[-X-]

# one thing.

Does he have an arm or not? If he does, ok. If not, not interested. As usual.

 

[jap]

Agree with both of you.

Arm strength alone is not even nearly enough. The Horns had a guy a few years back (can't remember his name because he was so damn bad) who possessed all the strength you wanted in a QB but couldn't hit wide open players. Big cannon arm but scatter spray accuracy won't cut it in the NFL.

 

[Boston Ram]

I am actually really happy to hear the Rams are kicking the tires on this guy. Anyone who was on RRF about 7 months ago know I have been on this guy for a while. I have seen every game this kid has played in for the last 2 years. I really like this kid but there is some work to do with him. If you watch last years tape is pretty underwhelming, his oline got beat up and he lost his 2 starting OG's. As the season wore on he developed some bad habits because he was under so much pressure. He started becoming a run first QB which is not his game.

What I like about him: Fierce competitor, did everything to try to win games, gave up his body and tried to run his way to a championship. Ran the same offense Kaepernick ran with similar results. He can make all the throws required but throws with the Manning like arc in certain spaces. His real strength is his ability to extend plays. He climbs the pocket well and does a great job avoiding pressure and getting his eyes back downfield to look for his receivers. His 2013 games you will notice he does not tuck in run, he resets and looks downfield which resulted in big plays. He loves throwing deep but does not make bad decisions doing it, very rarely throws into double coverage. When needed, he can take off and pick up a first down. When he does tuck and run it usually results in a big play because he does a good job of taking what the defense gives him. Brains, he is a cerebral QB who will be able to pick up a new playbook and know it.

What I don't like: Size, not ideal but buys time out of the pocket so he can see downfield. Needs to make quicker decisions, now in his system he was not required to do that. I do think he has the mental part of his game to do it though, of course he does have a slight hitch in his throw which could effect that. Does not have great arm strength but it is good enough IMO. System QB that will need time to develop into a more pro style offense.

When the college season started I had him projected as a 4th rounder, but last year was a tough year but team injuries and an overall down year for Nevada had a lot to do with it. Again, his tape last year will show you a run first QB but that is not his game. IMO he lost confidence in the oline, got killed and started running earlier than he normally had to.
Of all the QB's not named Winston or Mariota, I like this guy the best. And before you all call me crazy I said last year Jimmy Garoppolo was the best QB after Bridgewater and Bortles. Of course Derek Carr may have proved me wrong lol.

 

[V3]

# one thing.

Does he have an arm or not? If he does, ok. If not, not interested. As usual.

Accuracy and a football mind are so overrated. It's all about how far and hard QB's throw.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Accuracy and a football mind are so overrated. It's all about how far and hard QB's throw.

Again, you and jrry think one thing I think the other. Arm= accuracy and strength. If a guy has a strong arm but no accuracy then he isn't a QB. He is a shot putter.

 

[dieterbrock]

Arm strength alone is not even nearly enough. The Horns had a guy a few years back (can't remember his name because he was so damn bad) who possessed all the strength you wanted in a QB but couldn't hit wide open players. Big cannon arm but scatter spray accuracy won't cut it in the NFL.

He's a system QB who's greatest asset (in college) was his feet. If he doesnt have an NFL caliber arm, that skill set gets him no more than a camp invite.