When Snisher arrived they found a four pillars team short of talent and their first move was to get Finnegan to instill the toughness they wanted. They hired Gregg but of course had to wait a couple years to get him back from Bountygate. They tried to fix the OL through FA signings and counted on the health of Bradford. They loaded the defense and had Sam B been willing to sign a long term/team friendly deal, he'd still be here. They invested highly for receivers trading up for Tavon, a second rounder in Quick, big FA money for Cook and Britt, and thought Steady B was a find. They went against the grain by picking AD and TG as talent exceeded need. Since this team has suffered an inordinate amount of OL injuries each of the last dozen years, they drafted depth for the whole line in only one year. Now they mortgage the farm for a franchise QB.
With this in mind, here's why it's GOING to be Wentz.
1. Fisher values toughness and leadership. Watch both Wentz and Goff in Gruden's filmroom and you will see Goff act like Bradford and Wentz like Brady when a receiver screws up a route. He literally told Gruden, "you didn't let me finish, Coach" as he took charge of a play that Goff stumbled through.
2. When injuries to your QB derail every season, you take the bigger, stronger player.
3. This regime values upside over polish (Brockers, Quick, Ogletree, Robinson) and have demonstrated willingness to wait for production (Gurley).
4. Fisher tried to accommodate Bradford's spread skills and repented of the disaster after a handful of games. Goff has always been in the gun, Deja vu?
5. Wentz played quite a bit under center and is skilled in play action. Does anyone really think we won't be primarily a running team?
6. Wentz called his own protections. Fisher tried to get Sam to do that but it was disasterous (mostly because the OL sucked). While Carson won't be doing so this year, he has the mentality to add it in the future (ala Peyton: Omaha).
7. Because I personally evaluated both QB's a month ago and already called it then. (Is that what they call hubris?)
Pretty much...yup.
I dunno that you can underestimate how hard it is to translate the transition to the pro system....and not just knowing a pro system, but knowing them to the degree that you have the ability to change the line calls. You're right... Peyton Manning was the last to do it.
When I watched the fluidity that Wentz talked about how they used superheroes to interchange route combos and how he they could change them on the fly, it showed me that he's ALREADY ready, DAY ONE, to be a starter in the NFL.
Goff can't say that. Goff, for his immense and laudable physical skills, will need time to acclimate to the pro game.
Now...this part will be hard for me to type. That difference wasn't ever more apparent than between Mariotta and Winston. Jameis Winston came from a pro style offense and was fluent in it. Mariotta came from the Oregon/Chip Kelly system. Winston, while he struggled with INTs and certain aspects of the game, they weren't a result of scheme. He was able to start from day one successfully because he could handle the scheme and do it well (yep, still hard to type that). Mariotta, otoh, had to grind it out and learn on the fly. Granted, Mariotta had a slightly weaker team. Then again, they also played in a substantially weaker division. Point is that it can take several seasons to become fully confident in a pro system after coming from a spread. Winston is poised to really take off this year. Mariotta likely has another year or two of development before he's really going to realize his potential.
Wentz won't have that issue. I know Winston surely didn't, much as it pains me to say, and that's a huge deal.
I'm NOT saying that Goff's some spread QB who can't learn. Please let's not do that. I'm saying that Wentz is special in that he's the ONLY pro style college QB we've EVER heard of that had the responsibility to call the OL line call changes when changing the play. He was THAT INVOLVED. That's the level of play-calling responsibility that Peyton Manning had at the pro level and the kind of depth of knowledge in a pro style system that can immediately translate to production at the pro level.
With Goff, the OC, passing Coordinator and QB coach will have to spend a ton of time getting Goff up to speed with him getting him to that level of depth. Did Goff have more responsibility in the Bear Raid offense? Surely he did. Was it to the depth that Wentz had at NDSU? Not remotely close and that matters.
If the Rams take Wentz, it's entirely possible he starts immediately or within a few games of the start of the season. If the Rams take Goff, it's entirely possible we don't see him at all next year.
