Lamar Jackson: NDT Scouting

[win4ever]

A great article from NDT Scouting on Lamar Jackson.  

https://www.ndtscouting.com/solak-lamar-jacksons-mechanics-are-not-the-problem-they-seem/

 

Quote

 

Some NFL decision-makers want to move Lamar Jackson to wide receiver. I do not.

That is the one, and only, time that I will mention that debate in this post. I, frankly, have quite finished addressing such bologna.

Because Lamar Jackson is a quarterback–a goshdarn good one, too–I’d like to instead address one of the main concerns regarding Jackson’s game: his mechanics, and how they impact his accuracy. Jackson struggled with some egregious misses across his college career, and understanding how and why those misses occur is paramount to his evaluation as a prospect.

As such, I’d like to begin with an investigation of proper quarterback mechanics, with a clip of Lamar Jackson as our example. I’d then like to look at multiple Jackson clips that demonstrate from which mechanical issues he regular suffers, and how that affects his accuracy. We’ll focus on two issues–footwork and elbow position–riddling out why and how they impact accuracy/velocity, in what game contexts Jackson regularly suffers from them, and how a savvy QB coach might go about addressing these issues.

Into the fray!

Proper Throwing Mechanics: Lamar Jackson

Check out this dime piece from Lamar’s game against Kentucky.

Sheesh. Can’t spin it much prettier than that.

When we talk about quarterback mechanics, we’re not talking about the right way to throw the football. Recognizing that humans are built differently, we do not expect each quarterback to throw the ball the exact same way, like a robot with joints we built and processes we program. The goals of throwing mechanics are consistency–some would say replicability–and longevity. The best way to throw a football, as determined by kinesiologists and quarterback coaches, is the way that enables the thrower to consistently throw an accurate football, rep after rep, while also providing minimal stress on the joints/muscles.

As such, this is where we begin. Lamar has just turned his head to the go route after moving the safety with his eyes. The ball rests over his chest; his weight is on his back foot as he begins to step into the throw. At this point, Lamar’s hands will separate as he begins to load the football. This is the beginning of the throwing process.

We hit a buzzword here: “dipping the ball.” The reality is that the ball doesn’t need to go far away from the body at all. The key is retracting the scapula–pulling the shoulder blade toward the spine without shrugging the shoulders. It’s this move that allows the QB to get their arm into the proper throwing position, and you don’t need to dip the ball at all to do it.

Dipping the ball isn’t a mechanical issue–it merely is inefficient. Release speed is important, in that it minimizes the time defenders have to process the throwing motion and close on the target. Lamar has a lightning-quick release in part because he rarely dips the ball. Instead, he carves out a perfect J-path with the football, as he lifts it from in front of his chest to behind his ear. Again, the goal here isn’t to push the ball away from the body–that takes time and doesn’t help retract the scapula. Instead, as the hands separate and the lead foot steps forward, the body should move away from the ball, more so than the ball away from the body.

With his lower body, Jackson begins establishing the throwing hallway: the corridor set up by the quarterback when aiming towards his target. To maximize the rotation of the hips and to aim the upper body, the quarterback should establish his throwing hallway with the midline of his back foot. In other words, you should be able to draw a straight line between where the ball will end up, and the center of the quarterback’s back foot; and that line should be perpendicular to the foot.

It is important that the lead foot, as it steps into the throw, lands slightly outside of the throwing hallway–not on the invisible target line. This staggering of the feet gives the hips room to fully rotate and generate velocity. If you step on your target line and lock your hips, your upper body will lose stability, and you’ll be forced to generate velocity with your upper body, which introduces variance to your throwing motion and limits accuracy.

As Lamar begins to transfer his weight onto his front foot, firing his hips and bringing the ball forward, he must get his elbow into zero position. Zero position for any joint implies that there is no stress on the joint–for the arm, the shoulder joint is not stressed by the position of the humerus and the elbow. This is the strongest, most energy-efficient angle at which an arm can be, typically a small angle ahead of your shoulder. QB coach Darin Slack identifies zero position in this article by doing an over-the-shoulder tricep extension, like you would in the gym. Your mind will naturally put your arm into the zero position, to reduce stress on your shoulder as you do the exercise.

It’s understandably blurry in this image, but if you go back to the video, you can see how Jackson’s elbow leads the throw in zero position. This enables the triceps to fire at maximum capacity, generating velocity through the wrist and into the football.

At this point, the arm must fully extend into an over-the-top release, which keeps the wrist on top of the football, maximizing control and normalizing ball placement. Up until this moment, velocity has been gathered and stored in the arm–with the extension, the muscles push that energy into the ball, enabling longer and faster throws. Had Jackson failed to reach full extension, he would have left a bend in his elbow (dotted line)–this is an issue that regularly plagues Jackson, as we’ll later see.

Perfect mechanics for Jackson on this throw. Watch it again, and you can see the entire process in sequence and synchronization, and watch the ball land exactly where it belongs.

As we wrap up this investigation of proper throwing mechanics, I return to the salient point: QB mechanics inform consistency and longevity. The right way for a quarterback to throw the football abides not necessarily by the letter of the laws we just broke down, but by the spirit of them. The throwing hallway aims the power of the body and allows that power to be generated through hip rotation; the J-path minimizes release time and ensures the scapula retracts, adding stability and freeing the elbow to enter zero position, which maximizes power; the full extension and over-the-top release normalize accuracy and capitalize on generated power. It will not look the same for each quarterback, but if a QB can predictably place the football, generate velocity to reach far down the field and attack tight windows, and isn’t actively damaging his joints, then he is mechanically sound.

Improper Throwing Mechanics and Accuracy Fluctuations: Lamar Jackson

Lamar suffers from two mechanical issues that can drain his power and hinder his placement: he throws from a very narrow base that can restrict his hip rotation, and he often doesn’t get his elbow high enough into his throwing motion.

We will begin with his footwork. About 6’2, Lamar doesn’t struggle for height–but he’s naturally an upright runner, player, passer, what have you. He likes to work from his toes, and will sometimes never let his heels touch the ground, from drop back to release. I have never noticed any power drain issues from not having his heels connected to the ground, and can certainly attest to Lamar’s springiness as an athlete. As such, in my eyes, this is not a problem; it’s an idiosyncrasy.

However, playing upright necessitates a narrow base (the further apart the feet, the shorter you become), and as such, Lamar stands in the pocket and throws from a shockingly narrow base.

As you watch this clip, you can see how Lamar’s lead step barely covers any ground–and as such, watch where his momentum goes as he rotates his hips. His hips almost buck backwards as they rotate, instead of rotating naturally and smoothly as they drive forward with his weight. With a longer lead step–not too long; don’t over-stride–Lamar will generate more space for his hips to rotate.

In the same vein, check out Lamar’s lead step–it doesn’t clear the throwing hallway at all, and the foot hasn’t opened toward Lamar’s intended target at all. His toes point almost 60 degrees too far to the right.

With this narrow step that fails to gain appropriate distance or width, Lamar has locked his hips. Try it yourself. Stand with your feet barely shoulder width apart, both pointed forward, and try to rotate your hips. Now gain about eight inches of distance with one foot and point your toes away from yourself, and try again. Under which circumstances did you get a greater degree of (and less strenuous) rotation from your hips?

Once the hips lock, we often see the upper body tilt and the throwing arm slash. You can see in this still frame: the locked hips force Lamar’s upper body to tilt to the left to account for the lost velocity. With his momentum now spilling out of his left shoulder instead of driving the ball to the target, Lamar’s arm won’t fire cleanly in a straight line, but rather slash across his upper body, and the ball arrives predictably behind the wide receiver.

Watch a similar issue from a different angle. On this flare route against Florida State, Lamar is on a simple 1-step drop. Just plant your back foot, turn, and throw. He locates his lead foot outside of the throwing hallway well, but you can still see that his stride is rather narrow overall. Again, a narrow base isn’t inherently a problem. The problem comes when the base prevents the hips from rotating and driving. As such, recognizing that the base is narrow, watch the motion of the hips.

In this case, we see the hips jolt up, as Lamar looks to drive the football with an over-the-top release (good!) over his offensive lineman and to the receiver. However, because his hips jolt, this throw becomes all arm, and the timing of his release is awry. You can almost see the whiplash effect generated in his arm by the bouncing of his hips, as the ball spikes downward and is out of reach for his receiver.

We’ve discovered something rather powerful–something you’ve already seen me say before. Despite the fact that you’ll hear about Lamar’s footwork issues every day for the next two months, Lamar’s footwork issue is not a footwork issue at all. It’s a hip rotation issue caused by a footwork tendency, a footwork idiosyncrasy. That is to say, a savvy QB coach won’t attempt to change Lamar’s footwork; he’ll attempt to teach Lamar how to normalize his release timing and generate his power with a full hip rotation every time. In doing so, Lamar’s footwork will improve naturally, to create more space and stability for his hips. This is a fix that we’ve seen young quarterbacks–Carson Wentz and Jameis Winston both come to mind–take on at the NFL level with reasonable success.

I cannot stress this idea enough: footwork is only valuable when it contributes to velocity (the hips) and aim (still the hips). Consider this throw against Murray State, in which edge pressure has forced Lamar to attempt a throw from a wildly adjusted platform, his feet completely in the incorrect direction.

Lamar cannot get his feet pointed in the correct direction here. He cannot get his hips aimed toward the target and get a full rotation with them. He must generate velocity from a minimal hip rotation (more work from the arm) and aim without a proper throwing hallway. If you were watching this throw from a footwork perspective, you would say that his mechanics are bad. But how, then, was the ball so accurate?

The ball was accurate because Lamar still shot his hips enough to generate some power–and he did well to whip his arm to account for the lost power. But the name of the game here isn’t the mechanical know-how; it’s the talent.

Jackson’s freakin’ talented.

This is a rare throw; a special throw. These are the throws that make Josh Allen (Wyoming) and Sam Darnold (USC) rumored #1 overall selections. Because this throw was executed without ideal mechanics, it speaks to Jackson’s natural talent as a passer. Yet he doesn’t get the credit for it that these other prospects enjoy.

When watching this play, we unearth a key trait of Jackson’s that, highly undervalued in quarterbacks, makes him special: pliability. Jackson is flexible, and he has incredible control over his body.

This play perfectly exemplifies how his overall body pliability allows him to *snap*–fire his muscles with otherworldly suddenness. His hips turns are immediate and dynamic. His arm is a goshdarn whip. He gets criticized for throwing with a flick of his wrist, but it’s that very ability to fire his wrist that maximizes his triple extension at the top of his throws, generating his effortless velocity.

You know what else body pliability does for a quarterback? It makes him less likely to get injured. Whenever we talk about Tom Brady’s jaw-dropping longevity, we discussion his obsession with pliability–why not with Jackson, who instead is cast under shadows of perceived fragility because he’s a runner and thin-framed? Lamar, athletically unparalleled at the quarterback position, has the flexibility through his joints to consistently take hits that would break other quarterbacks–heck, other players in general. I’m not saying he’ll never get injured–and I also recognize that a running QB must do well to avoid accumulating unnecessary hits–but Jackson’s pliability is a key trait in his evaluation, and it allows him to make these exceptional downfield throws.

As you might imagine, however, the very same physical gifts that make him such a powerful passer are to blame for his mechanical blemishes. As we’ve said, Jackson can get away with generating velocity without firing his hips. When some mitigating factor has forced him to throw without his hips, that’s a wonderful skill; when he should recruit his hips but doesn’t, it comes back to bite him.

This is why we’ve seen inaccuracy issues on two short throws–perhaps what you did not expect (most people incorrectly call Jackson an inaccurate downfield thrower, in my opinion).

It makes sense, considering Jackson’s specific footwork/hip issue we’re currently discussing. When throwing downfield, Jackson is more likely to hitch into the throw (setting his hallway) and is forced to recruit his hips into generating velocity. The demands of the circumstances prevent Jackson from falling into poor habits, and as a result, he throws in a much more traditional and consistent fashion.

Perfect mechanics? Heck no. You can still see the back hip point pop up a bit because Lamar doesn’t get his lead foot all the way off his throwing hallway. His elbow comes in a little low, and his release is correspondingly more sidearm than over-the-top. And is the ball perfectly placed? Not at all. But look at the hip fire, the arm extend, and the accuracy almost 50 yards down the field. That’s a good throw, with location and velocity generated from the hips and the feet, and you’d struggle to convince me otherwise.

Let’s talk a little bit more about that elbow location. Ideally, the arm is located in zero position, remember: the muscular neutral position of the shoulder. We understand why this matters for longevity concerns; it also matters for consistency concerns, and we see that very issue flare up with Jackson. When the elbow enters the throwing motion too low, it fails to maximize the velocity generated through the body–the triceps cannot fire into the ball at maximum capacity, because they are already doing work to stabilize the arm in its disadvantageous position. As such, the thrower experiences power drain.

On top of this, when the arm is asked to whip a football at a high speed outside of zero position, the brain inherently adjusts the position of the arm and the shoulder to minimize the stress caused. By the very same mechanism, your arm went into zero position when you did the over-the-shoulder tricep extension. Your brain knows where to get your shoulder to minimize damage. These slight adjustments will move the elbow and arm during the throwing motion, and accordingly, the timing of the release will be affected, and the ideal straight path of the ball will be tilted. As such, the ball doesn’t arrive accurately.

On this rep, we can see the predictably narrow base–but it seems Jackson’s entire release process and synchronization have been affected by how late he came to the backside crosser (his target). With his footwork thrown off, everything is already out of wack, and we see immediately that his arm slot is far lower than the ideal, over-the-top extension. This is a low elbow, sidearm-ish throw.

The still frame in the clip shows that; it’s even better to watch Jackson’s follow through, as it cuts across his body with hardly any downward momentum. Because his release has been mistimed and his arm angle is awry, this ball sails badly on Jackson, and is intercepted.

Understandably, we see this issue rear its ugly head most often for Jackson on short throws. The perceived lower degree of difficulty, and lack of demand for full-body velocity, makes Jackson lazy in his mechanics. While we’ll focus on the arm slot here, this is another example in which the timing of Jackson’s separation and weight transfer has affected his hips firing (too early), and accordingly, his elbow drops and his release is sidearm. This time, unlike the deep ball which he attempted to throw with touch, this high-velocity throw spikes into the dirt.

Unlike Lamar’s footwork “problem,” Lamar’s elbow location is an issue in and of itself. Upper body mechanics are notoriously more difficult to correct than lower body mechanics–makes sense, as you throw the ball with your arm, and you’ve done it 100,000 times–so the approach here from our savvy QB coach is markedly different.

It seems to me that Lamar has a lower carriage of his arm, period. His natural extension point when releasing the football is lower than you typically see. Don’t forget, the goal of QB mechanics isn’t to look right, it’s to maximize consistency and longevity. A lower arm carriage into the release something that you see from multiple successful NFL quarterbacks: Matthew Stafford, Phillip Rivers, and even Aaron Rodgers (to a lesser degree) have a lower elbow location than you’d see from a Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, or Tom Brady.

What’s important for Lamar’s elbow–and for his mechanics as a whole–is that he better integrates them into his drops and progressions, so that he doesn’t fall into the laziness of short throws as we see consistently in the above clips. By repping and repping his 1- and 3-step drops with pure mechanics, he’ll use them more reliably in game scenarios even when the throw is wide open, while still retaining his ability to throw an excellent ball while freelancing and on the move.

Parting Thoughts

Anyone who tells you that Lamar Jackson has any more mechanical issues than your typically first-round QB selection is lying to you.

I’ve charted every single Jackson throw, and I simply cannot find the inaccurate, mechanically-flawed quarterback advertised by many analysts. I see an accurate, but mechanically idiosyncratic and accordingly inconsistent quarterback. Lamar does not have bad mechanics. Rather, up to this point in his career, he has gotten away with not consistently relying on them.

This is not an uncommon issue among exceptional talents. Again, Carson Wentz out of North Dakota State represents an incredibly gifted, mechanically inconsistent quarterback. During his stellar 2017 campaign, Wentz still regularly dipped the ball; still regularly stepped into his throwing hallway and locked his hips. He also blew the roof off the building with his arm strength, athletic ability, and poise.

Why can’t Jackson do the very same?

 

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

I’m sold. Take him at 6 and don’t look back. Don’t trade up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cant wait]

this is the guy we need. I’m officially pounding the table 

[JustInFudge]

Great read.  I'm warming up to Jackson more and more.  He's quickly moving ahead of Allen and Mayfield on my big QB board.  That said, he's still trying to overcome what few have been able to do.  Transition from a run first, below 60% completion into a NFL QB.  The only real example and depends on your opinion of him, is Tyrod Taylor.  And it took Taylor sitting for 4 years before he became "ready".  And it took the offensive genius of Rex Ryan to see it. 

[nyjbuddy]

updated the 5 QBs we've been talking about with adjusted completion % (drops/spikes/throwaways taken out), YAC %, and drop %

note: adjusted completion % and drop % are from november 27th pic.twitter.com/smIPwqn5bt

— charles mcdonald (@FourVerts) December 23, 2017

Adjusted completion percentage for Jackson was actually pretty good. It's not like he was just dumping off short passes either; Had the 2nd highest YPA and YPC.

[cant wait]

3 hours ago, JiF said:

Great read.  I'm warming up to Jackson more and more.  He's quickly moving ahead of Allen and Mayfield on my big QB board.  That said, he's still trying to overcome what few have been able to do.  Transition from a run first, below 60% completion into a NFL QB.  The only real example and depends on your opinion of him, is Tyrod Taylor.  And it took Taylor sitting for 4 years before he became "ready".  And it took the offensive genius of Rex Ryan to see it. 

vick and cunningham did it better than taylor

[BrickTamland]

I will love watching him on another team

[JustInFudge]

1 hour ago, cant wait said:

vick and cunningham did it better than taylor

Vick was 17 years go, Cunningham was 32 year ago.  Not exactly apples to apples in the modern day.  I was trying to use a more recent/relevant example. 

[cant wait]

1 hour ago, JiF said:

Vick was 17 years go, Cunningham was 32 year ago.  Not exactly apples to apples in the modern day.  I was trying to use a more recent/relevant example. 

jackson is much more talented a prospect than taylor was though. it’s hard to find a ton of examples to compare with because he’s got a very rare skill set for a QB

[JustInFudge]

17 minutes ago, cant wait said:

jackson is much more talented a prospect than taylor was though. it’s hard to find a ton of examples to compare with because he’s got a very rare skill set for a QB

Agreed 100%.  He’s just the only example of a QB who ran more than he completed passes and couldn’t crack 60% in recent years that I could find as an example of a player who over came that at the next level.

Vick 17 years ago but even he was never a great passer and Cunningham actually passed a lot more than he ran in college and did crack 60 his senior year  fwiw. 

[cant wait]

2 hours ago, JiF said:

Agreed 100%.  He’s just the only example of a QB who ran more than he completed passes and couldn’t crack 60% in recent years that I could find as an example of a player who over came that at the next level.

Vick 17 years ago but even he was never a great passer and Cunningham actually passed a lot more than he ran in college and did crack 60 his senior year  fwiw. 

yeah I’m not too worried about the 60% threshold, although you’re right ideally you want it a couple points higher. more importantly to me are the improvements he showed as a passer each year, I think it’s safe to say he would have easily surpassed the 60% mark if he stayed another year. and let’s be honest that louisville offense is not loaded with talent especially on the OL but he put the team on his back, especially last season after losing 7 seniors

[Larz]

Nobody retracts a scapula like Hackenberg 

[cant wait]

3 minutes ago, Larz said:

Nobody retracts a scapula like Hackenberg 

are you trying to say that hackenberg has good mechanics or that jackson has bad mechanics? because neither of those statements are true

[MDL_JET]

 

I kinda hope, regardless of where he goes, that he turns out to be a good QB to shut these people up. Sucks that they're even asking though, him just saying "No thanks" would probably turn them off. 

[JustInFudge]

11 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

 

I kinda hope, regardless of where he goes, that he turns out to be a good QB to shut these people up. Sucks that they're even asking though, him just saying "No thanks" would probably turn them off. 

Agreed.  It's bull sh*t.  Why is nobody asking Josh Allen to work at WR?

Though to a certain extent, I understand having the fastest/best player with the ball in hands at a skill position as opposed to QB.

Still bull sh*t though. 

[Matt39]

1 hour ago, JiF said:

Agreed.  It's bull sh*t.  Why is nobody asking Josh Allen to work at WR?

Though to a certain extent, I understand having the fastest/best player with the ball in hands at a skill position as opposed to QB.

Still bull sh*t though. 

If there are scouts that flat out think he's not a QB there probably is some truth to it.

[cant wait]

5 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

If there are scouts that flat out think he's not a QB there probably is some truth to it.

polian’s initial justification for claiming jackson should be a WR is that he’s “too short” 

[JustInFudge]

10 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

If there are scouts that flat out think he's not a QB there probably is some truth to it.

Truth to wanting to see him at WR? I'm sure there is truth to it.  Especially since Polian said he'd look at him as a WR.  The folks in this business suck the nut sack of anyone with any type of chops or an accuracy rate of 10%...so I'm sure there are a lot of parrots out there grasping to Polian's take.  Sure, some probably have similar views but it's pretty ridiculous IMO. 

[Matt39]

24 minutes ago, cant wait said:

polian’s initial justification for claiming jackson should be a WR is that he’s “too short” 

Forget Polian. Just saying when there’s smoke its generally not coming from someone’s ass. It may very well be he’s not an NFL qb

[cant wait]

41 minutes ago, JiF said:

Truth to wanting to see him at WR? I'm sure there is truth to it.  Especially since Polian said he'd look at him as a WR.  The folks in this business suck the nut sack of anyone with any type of chops or an accuracy rate of 10%...so I'm sure there are a lot of parrots out there grasping to Polian's take.  Sure, some probably have similar views but it's pretty ridiculous IMO. 

I think part of it is having a creative enough offensive mind to know what kind of value you can get with a player with those abilities. not surprisingly andy reid seems to understand 

 

Reid scoffs at notion Lamar Jackson should change position

INDIANAPOLIS -- Andy Reid is not among those entertaining the idea of a position change for Lamar Jackson.

The Chiefs coach took the podium at the NFL Scouting Combine on Wednesday and sarcastically dismissed the idea that the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner would be best served by ditching quarterback in favor of a different position at the next level.

"Yeah, I think you probably want to try it there (at quarterback) and see," Reid said. "He's pretty good. I would. I'd give that a whirl. I could handle that, yeah." 

The talk of Jackson changing positions became a hot topic earlier this month when former Bills and Colts GM Bill Polian, an analyst for ESPN, suggested during an appearance on the Golic and Wingo show Jackson should move to wide receiver, citing size, explosiveness, athleticism, and what Polian perceived as his shortcomings in the accuracy department, as the main reasons for the move. 

"Yeah, I'm not much on that," Reid said. "I want to bring him in. Let's exhaust that other thing that we know he's good at and see. I'm just saying in general. This is a general statement: Let's get him in and let him wing it a little bit and see how he does. We'll be able to fit some things in there I'm sure."

Jackson and the rest of the draft's top QB prospects will take the field on Saturday for their combine workouts, but first, Jackson will meet the media on Friday. It's a safe guess that he'll be asked about which position he'll play in the NFL, and it's an even safer guess that he'll have a definitive answer to the question.

[JustInFudge]

28 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

Forget Polian. Just saying when there’s smoke its generally not coming from someone’s ass. It may very well be he’s not an NFL qb

I have my doubts as well and I think even before Polian said that, I said something similar here.  He's up against history but I think it's hard to sell me on why Josh Allen is a pro-Qb and Jackson cant even be considered one.

[Thai Jet]

3 hours ago, MDL_JET said:

 

I kinda hope, regardless of where he goes, that he turns out to be a good QB to shut these people up. Sucks that they're even asking though, him just saying "No thanks" would probably turn them off. 

I feel sorry for Jackson. Seems like he's in a "no win" situation at the combine. He prob wants no part of trying out as a WR but on the other hand he doesn't want to piss them off by saying no. That being said I still want no part of Jackson being drafted as a QB for the Jets.

[sourceworx]

I think there's a good chance that Jackson will end up being the best QB to come out of this draft. Pair him with a bruising running back, and you'll see the best Jets offense in decades.

Be bold for once, Mac. Take this kid at #6.

[Sonny Werblin]

Would be curious to know how many black scouts and execs want to see LJ workout as a WR?

[MDL_JET]

10 hours ago, Sonny Werblin said:

Would be curious to know how many black scouts and execs want to see LJ workout as a WR?

Why? It's not a race thing.  It's because he's a fast, tall, athletic player. He's built like a WR and is dangerous in the open field. 

I just think it's stupid because he's not a bad QB....at all. If he was expected to go in the later rounds and was struggling to get scouts attention then yeah, working out at WR makes sense. 

[jetstream23]

Is Jackson a slightly better Kordell Stewart?

[Grandy]

In my opinion, he's too inconsistent to be a top QB.

[Sonny Werblin]

11 hours ago, MDL_JET said:

Why? It's not a race thing.  It's because he's a fast, tall, athletic player. He's built like a WR and is dangerous in the open field. 

I just think it's stupid because he's not a bad QB....at all. If he was expected to go in the later rounds and was struggling to get scouts attention then yeah, working out at WR makes sense. 

Is it just a coincidence that the NFL looked at a white WR in Ryan Tannehill who was tall and athletic and made him a QB?

[MDL_JET]

20 minutes ago, Sonny Werblin said:

Is it just a coincidence that the NFL looked at a white WR in Ryan Tannehill who was tall and athletic and made him a QB?

Huh? Tannehill went into college as QB and always wanted to play QB. 

[cant wait]

I didn’t think jackson really did much for himself at the combine, his throws were okay but he seemed a little tight. apparently he aced the team interviews from what I’ve seen. FWIW his sound bites are a pretty funny contrast when you compare to the bold claims made by rosen/mayfield

R: I’m coming for tom brady’s record

M: I’m going to be the best to ever play

J: I'm mobile. I can hit any target on the field. I love the game with a passion. I can lead my team; I feel like I'm a field general when I'm out there. I love to score. I love to put the ball in other people's hands. I'm not a ball hog at all. It may look like it, but I'm not. I just love winning.

No wildcat. It’s not the Dolphins with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. No sir.

[New York Mick]

On 3/1/2018 at 12:39 AM, cant wait said:

this is the guy we need. I’m officially pounding the table 

He’s not ready to be a starting QB and may never be. 

[Sonny Werblin]

13 hours ago, MDL_JET said:

Huh? Tannehill went into college as QB and always wanted to play QB. 

He went in as a QB, after redshirt freshman year he was made a WR for three seasons, but he wanted to play QB and he eventually got the job, and came into the NFL as a QB, not a WR. LJ has never even played WR and was a better college QB than Tannehill, and they want him to play WR. C'mon!

[cant wait]

16 hours ago, New York Mick said:

He’s not ready to be a starting QB and may never be. 

you never really know how any of these kids are going to translate to the pro game until they hit the field. that said I’ll give you the two reasons why I believe make jackson one of the safest QB prospects in this class. 1. mobility- I’m not even talking about the rushing (although his legs absolutely add another dimension to his game and will keep the chains moving efficiently) but I mean the vision, instincts and ability to evade pressure and extend plays when the protection breaks down. you look at some of the recent young players that got off to fast starts in this league- prescott, wentz, wilson, watson, they all have that ability. 2. showing consistent improvement every year. mayfield is the only other prospect out of the top 5 that you can really say that about. there are no andrew lucks in this draft, each prospect has their own strengths and weaknesses. depends what you value most- if it’s accuracy then mayfield, intangibles darnold, pure passing ability rosen, big arm strength allen, game breaking ability jackson. for me I’ll take a chance that he can improve his accuracy on out routes because the upside far outweighs my concerns

[New York Mick]

6 hours ago, cant wait said:

you never really know how any of these kids are going to translate to the pro game until they hit the field. that said I’ll give you the two reasons why I believe make jackson one of the safest QB prospects in this class. 1. mobility- I’m not even talking about the rushing (although his legs absolutely add another dimension to his game and will keep the chains moving efficiently) but I mean the vision, instincts and ability to evade pressure and extend plays when the protection breaks down. you look at some of the recent young players that got off to fast starts in this league- prescott, wentz, wilson, watson, they all have that ability. 2. showing consistent improvement every year. mayfield is the only other prospect out of the top 5 that you can really say that about. there are no andrew lucks in this draft, each prospect has their own strengths and weaknesses. depends what you value most- if it’s accuracy then mayfield, intangibles darnold, pure passing ability rosen, big arm strength allen, game breaking ability jackson. for me I’ll take a chance that he can improve his accuracy on out routes because the upside far outweighs my concerns

Of course you don’t. No one does not even professionals that do it for a living. 

[cant wait]

4 hours ago, New York Mick said:

Of course you don’t. No one does not even professionals that do it for a living.