Quickie mock draft...

Originally posted by Tman:

This

Kaaya is 💩

We'll see... Time will tell.

Originally posted by Irish40Niner:

Originally posted by Tman:

This

Kaaya is 💩

We'll see... Time will tell.

We've already seen, tbph. The guy falls apart in clutch situations in college. That's not going to magically improve under greater pressure in the NFL. He's one of the worst QBS in the draft class once the pass rush begins to close in, and NFL QBs MUST be able to succeed in dirty pockets.

Originally posted by WRATHman44:

We've already seen, tbph. The guy falls apart in clutch situations in college. That's not going to magically improve under greater pressure in the NFL. He's one of the worst QBS in the draft class once the pass rush begins to close in, and NFL QBs MUST be able to succeed in dirty pockets.

Not arguing that the guy is going to be a great pro or anything, I'm just saying no one knows yet... Basically what you and others are saying is there haven't been any qbs that became better pros than they were in college. So by that same logic all fundamentally sound college qbs are are guaranteed to be great pro qbs...

Originally posted by Irish40Niner:

Originally posted by WRATHman44:

We've already seen, tbph. The guy falls apart in clutch situations in college. That's not going to magically improve under greater pressure in the NFL. He's one of the worst QBS in the draft class once the pass rush begins to close in, and NFL QBs MUST be able to succeed in dirty pockets.

Not arguing that the guy is going to be a great pro or anything, I'm just saying no one knows yet... Basically what you and others are saying is there haven't been any qbs that became better pros than they were in college. So by that same logic all fundamentally sound college qbs are are guaranteed to be great pro qbs...

I don't think that follows as logically as you are assuming it does. I think we're running into an issue differentiating talents from skills. You wake up in the morning with innate talents that you can do very little to improve. Quantifiable talents include height, hand size, gross intelligence, quick twitch muscle (measured in the jumps and cod drills) & arm strength (to an extent). Qualitatively observed talents include leadership, poise, clutch play, creativity, competitive drive, and athletic instincts. Some of these traits can be changed slightly through focused training, but you essentially are what you are with talents.

Skills are acquired characteristics that can change over time, requiring varying degrees of time and effort. Skills include footwork, arm mechanics, reading progressions, recognizing coverage, ball placement, touch passing, ball faking, movement within the pocket, and audibling.

Talents, like poise and clutch play, never seem to change much. That's why all of Gabbert's many impresseive talents and skills have never combined to make him a good QB. He's never had a killer instinct, nor the innate cool to thrive under consistent pressure or compete on tough 3rd downs.

Skills can be improved, but the amount of time and effort required to correct ingrained and improperly developed skills can prove insurmountable for some habitually incorrect QBs. That's why Kaepernick struggles to pull it all together. He has so many skills that need fixing, he hasn't been able (or possibly willing) to find enough time to correct them all. His footwork and arm mechanics are flawed and inconsistent, grealty diminishing his accuracy and ball placement. His coverage recognition is slow and often incorrect, affecting the speed at which he moves through progressions. His pocket movement is often too extreme, causing him to often move away from one source of pressure directly into another. One at a time, these skill deficiencies are correctable. Collectively, they are daunting, and his history suggests that it's too much to fix them all.

Sooooo, I don't think Kaaya will ever develop into a clutch QB who performs well under pressure. I also do not believe that any QB with good fundamentals (skills) will necessarily be a good NFL QB, as they could be deficient in any number of vital talents.