John Gruden Quarterback Camp

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Folks.. If I'm looking this at a fair standpoint, I'd say Mallett, Locker, and Dalton all had equally impressive interviews. This coming from a non-Mallett and non-Locker fan, so no bias here. Mallett answered all the questions well, and broke down the play very well. As did Locker and Dalton. Gabbert carried himself fine, although he looked a little nervous.


If I had to rate their interviews with Gruden it would be:

Tie 1st - Locker, Mallett, Dalton
2nd - Gabbert
3rd - Newton. Totally inarticulate and just altogether had a rough interview.

I'm not buying this "Oh, Mallett was just trying to sound like a good guy" bull crap. C'mon now, fellas. All you hear about him from his coach and teammates supports that this is how he really is. Although you may not like certain players -- again, I'm not a huge fan of Mallett, Newton, or Locker -- we can at least be fair.

I agree. I thought all the QBs, except Newton, did alright. I don't like Locker, but I was actually impressed with him. He sounds like a good guy, and though I don't like him as a QB, he had some runs where he ran over DBs that made me say "wow, this guy does want to win". Again, I think he will have problems in the NFL with accuracy IMO, but I came away with respect for Locker. I agree you can't really say there was a "best" one out of the 3 you mentioned. I even thought Gabbert did well, but he was more calculated in his answers.
Newton just tanked in my view. He looked like he was trying to super-charismatic and it just came away forced and then him not knowing the name of just 1 play. Mark Schlereth re-confirmed my thoughts on this too. Saying to him, it should raise a red flag to NFL personnel as something they should definitely look into more.

Originally posted by KID9R:

Originally posted by ghostrider:

Originally posted by KID9R:

Originally posted by ghostrider:

Originally posted by DesiDez:
Gruden's article on these 5 QBs

Good read. I'm still surprised Ponder wasn't invited

It seems pretty clear from this article that Gruden was most impressed with Dalton. He gives a lot of praise to each QB but he really heaps it on Dalton.

I've watched all of the episodes so far except for Locker (I hear that his was impressive) and I was most impressed with Dalton too. I'd rank their interviews like this...

1) Dalton

... big gap ...

2) Gabbert

... Grand Canyon sized gap ...

3a) Newton
3b) Mallett

how can you put Mallett last?

He broke down his play(which was way more complex then the rest of them) very well. Having to read zone, man and blitz presures with hot reads. The most ready to play imo.

Notice that I put Newton and Mallett as "a" and "b" so I basically see them as performing equally poorly in the interview. The problem I had with Mallett was that he hardly said anything during most of the interview and offered very little other than a "yes sir" or "no sir" when asked anything. IMO, he was trying waaaaaaay too hard to be a "good character" guy and because of that, he offered zero insight.

And then I think we all agree about Newton's interview which included him stumbling all over himself while trying to explain his "loaded gun" analogy as its highlight.

That's my point. Instead of struggling with a stupid metaphor, he just agrees and kills it on the board. x's and o's he's first imo, I don't really need a likable QB.

Too bad the interview was more than just the board portion. IMO, they were both terrible interviewees (Mallett and Newton). Mallett was better on the board but was horrible in every other aspect. He came off like he had something to hide by not saying anything but I assume that he was really just trying hard not to say something that would come across as "bad character."

Newton was horrible on the board and more open in his interview but sounded like an idiot when trying to communicate an idea.

They were both bad. So if you want to reverse my A and B, fine by me. I listed them as A and B because I saw their interviews both equally poor.

Saw this last night. Just going off body language alone, Dalton was great. I was least impressed with Gabbert. I think I just don't like Gabbert for some reason.. can't pin point it.

Oh I just realized I only saw the hour long show, not any individual shows. Guess I should watch those.

Mallet has a head on his shoulders. I really believe he is going to excel in the NFL.

...I gotta say I've become a big fan of both Andy Dalton and Jake Locker and I'd love to see the Niners draft either one of these guys by either trading up into the late first round or moving up a bit in the second round (something tells me both of these guys will be gone before their second round pick comes around).

Locker = Tough as nails, loves to get dirty and has playmaker QB written all over him. He's the kind of guy Harbaugh like for sure and can add an extra dimension to the offense without the cost of a Cam Newton.

Dalton = Fiery personality, very smart from a playbook standpoint, has a stronger arm than I thought and has that same Brett Favre mentality of "I don't give a crap what the score is, I can make this throw" (which is both good and bad but personally I love it!). Plus the guy is a winner - second all time among NCAA QBs in wins (did I hear that correctly?)

I wasn't sold on Newton or Gabbert. Newton has physical talent, no doubt about that, but he ran a dumbed down offense at Auburn and all but admitted to it. I would question his ability to master a complicated west coast offense.
Gabbert seemed like a good kid but I'm just not sold. Nothing about him seemed extraordinary. Good arm strength, can make some throws but nothing I've seen on film or in the interview jumped out at me like "yeah this is the guy".
Ryan Mallet looks like a poor mans Ben Roethlisberger. Ridiculous cannon for an arm but zero mobility. All of his big plays came when the line gave him a tight seal in the pocket for like 5-6 seconds. If you can't protect him he won't do his job - seems like against NFL defenses, with the number of complext blitz packages and pressure schemes out there this guy would crumble quickly.

What do you guys think?

Sorry I just found the thread about this topic and I'm reposting there. Please close this one out.
k thanks :)

Originally posted by Muggins879:
Saw this last night. Just going off body language alone, Dalton was great. I was least impressed with Gabbert. I think I just don't like Gabbert for some reason.. can't pin point it.

agree. Like I said in my previous post, nothing about him seemed extraordinary...ya know?

Originally posted by scopur49er:
...I gotta say I've become a big fan of both Andy Dalton and Jake Locker and I'd love to see the Niners draft either one of these guys by either trading up into the late first round or moving up a bit in the second round (something tells me both of these guys will be gone before their second round pick comes around).

Locker = Tough as nails, loves to get dirty and has playmaker QB written all over him. He's the kind of guy Harbaugh like for sure and can add an extra dimension to the offense without the cost of a Cam Newton.

Dalton = Fiery personality, very smart from a playbook standpoint, has a stronger arm than I thought and has that same Brett Favre mentality of "I don't give a crap what the score is, I can make this throw" (which is both good and bad but personally I love it!). Plus the guy is a winner - second all time among NCAA QBs in wins (did I hear that correctly?)

I wasn't sold on Newton or Gabbert. Newton has physical talent, no doubt about that, but he ran a dumbed down offense at Auburn and all but admitted to it. I would question his ability to master a complicated west coast offense.
Gabbert seemed like a good kid but I'm just not sold. Nothing about him seemed extraordinary. Good arm strength, can make some throws but nothing I've seen on film or in the interview jumped out at me like "yeah this is the guy".
Ryan Mallet looks like a poor mans Ben Roethlisberger. Ridiculous cannon for an arm but zero mobility. All of his big plays came when the line gave him a tight seal in the pocket for like 5-6 seconds. If you can't protect him he won't do his job - seems like against NFL defenses, with the number of complext blitz packages and pressure schemes out there this guy would crumble quickly.

What do you guys think?

Jake Locker, Andy Dalton, and Ryan Mallett were very impressive to me. During on the field practice, Locker showed good feet and very good accuracy. Mallett looked a bit out of shape on the field but looked very good on the white board.

Originally posted by binary2nd:

Originally posted by PTulini:
I just watched the one with Jake Locker. The kid didn't say very much. He seems kind of quiet.

He's not very bright.

I live in Seattle and I've seen him interviewed countless times. He isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

I only saw Locker and Newton. Locker did nothing to really hurt himself in my eyes, but he didn't help himself all that much either. I can only say that he did far better at the board than Newton.

Newton's interview was simply terrible. I don't see how this did anything but hurt his reputation. If he was that bad in the team interviews at the combine, than there's no way he'll go top ten imo. I got the impression he did better than that in Indy, though.

Originally posted by pete98146:

Originally posted by binary2nd:

Originally posted by PTulini:
I just watched the one with Jake Locker. The kid didn't say very much. He seems kind of quiet.

He's not very bright.

I live in Seattle and I've seen him interviewed countless times. He isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

I also live in the Seattle area (Go Cougs!!) and have seen at least 25 games when Locker was the starting QB. I consider Locker to be an enigma. He looks great in pads, looks good under center and dropping back, but things go downhill from there. His decision making is questionable, so is ball security. He get doesn't keep his eyes downfiled and get flushed from the pocket easily.

I also know a few folks that have what would be best decribed as insider knowledge. Locker is known to be very togh, a great athlete, great teamate and and hard worker. I have never heard him described as exceptionally smart.

Any team drafting him will need to be very patient and not just throw him into the fire. I see him as a project. With the right system and good coaching he could develop into a good NFL QB, but he is not NFL ready right now. Then again neither is Gabbert or Newton, but that won't stop teams from drafting them early in the 1st.