joemad wrote:

Bottom line….fucking rookie QB that’s gonna be groomed by Case Keenum or maybe Nick Foles,,,, Holy Shit….

Well, actually, being groomed by Keenum is not a bad thing. He is reportedly a dedicated film-junkie and self-maximizer. He thinks of himself as having to create advantages through study and dedication.

wv wrote:

An opinion by Drew Boylehart

why any one believes Wentz, a division 2 QB, is the second best QB in this draft , when there are other QB’s in division 1 with more production, better accuracy size strong arm and athletic is way beyond me.

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from off the net

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Deadpool

Boylhart is an interesting read, except for his bias against small school kids.

He didn’t like Ozzie taking Flacco in the 2008 draft: An excerpt from a SI.com article:

“He doesn’t buy the Ravens nabbing Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco’s whip-snap arm with the 18th selection as a bold move but calls it another instance in which Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome “seems to fall in love with strong-armed quarterbacks and looks for nothing else.”

Or this:

When asked for an assessment of the draft on Sunday, Boylhart said, “I’m very surprised—and annoyed—at the number of small-college players picked ahead of good talent from larger schools. It’s almost as if scouts are saying, ‘I can find this sleeper pick’ and trying to make a name for themselves. Such b.s.”

So its no surprise to me that Boylhart thinks Wentz is a 2nd round pick. And I’m fine with that. If I hated on everyone I disagreed with I would be one hateful SoB. The only reason I bring this up is that there is a history with Boylhart and small school guys.

On the positive side, you get a different review from him then the Mayocks, Jeremiahs and Kipers of the draft world.[

from a much longer post, here: http://www.ramsrule.com/herd/read.php?5,651218,651218#msg-651218

=

XXXIVwin

I know I’m late to the Goff/Wentz debate-fest, but I gotta get this off my chest.

To me, Goff looks special. Wentz looks like he could be “very good.”

…

BOTTOM LINE: When I watch Jared Goff’s college tape, I get the same reaction as when I watched see Aaron Donald’s college tape. Many times I thought “WOW—how did he do that!??!!” And then, even more shocking, it becomes ROUTINE. The more you watch Goff’s tape, the more you realize he does the amazing REPEATEDLY and CONSISTENTLY. And it’s the same damn knock for both Donald and Goff: “Yeah, but he’s a little small for the position.” For both Goff and Donald, it’s demonstrably not true.

To me, Goff looks Super Bowls, Wentz looks Playoffs. Wentz has “It”, Goff has IT.

FINAL DISCLAIMER: I acknowledge I could be wrong about EVERYTHING in this long post, I’ve been horribly wrong about the Rams plenty of times. Maybe Goff is weak-armed and too skinny and he’ll have trouble adjusting to a pro-style offense and all his good habits will get knocked out of him. Maybe Wentz will be a solid stud for years to come.

But right now, I have my heart set on Goff, and I’ll have to drink lots of Kool-Aid if they surprise me and go with Wentz. For Wentz supporters, feel free to disagree with me, I know we all just want what’s best for our Rams!

Carson Wentz or Jared Goff: Who will be picked first in NFL draft?

http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/04/14/nfl-draft-quarterbacks-carson-wentz-jared-goff

With the news that the Titans traded away the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL draft to the Rams, rumors are flying that a QB will be taken first for the second year in a row. Now, it’s time to speculate who will hear his name called first. SI.com’s Chris Burke and Doug Farrar debate between North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Cal’s Jared Goff.

Doug Farrar: O.K. Chris, it’s time to talk quarterbacks. And it seems that you and I see Carson Wentz and Jared Goff—the two highest-placed prospects in this class—rather differently. In my SI 50, I have Goff ranked at No. 14 and Wentz seventh. Where do you have them, and would you like to start out with a few thoughts on your obviously egregious rankings?

Chris Burke: Well, I have Goff at No. 14 and Wentz at No. 34. As that number indicates, I’d put a late-Round 1/early-Round 2 grade on Wentz. And I guess my argument would start with this: To some extent, I feel like there has been a rush to knock Goff because he comes from an Air Raid system and/or because he is on the wiry side. When I watch him play, though, I see more than enough to convince me that his game can translate to the next level, especially in how quick he is with his feet and delivery. That’s not to say that Wentz has no discernible NFL traits. I’m just less sure on the timetable.

So … convince me I’m wrong.

Farrar: Interestingly enough, we have Goff ranked the same, so I’ll start with him. My concerns with Goff don’t have anything to do with the Bear Raid (the Air Raid system that Cal ran under coach Sonny Dykes and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin)—NFL teams have learned to compensate for the limitations of their quarterbacks’ college offenses—or his build.

I find that he’s so inconsistent with his mechanics, and thusly, his ball placement. My NFL comparison for him is Ryan Tannehill, because I’ll watch him have these impressive stretches of accuracy to all areas of the field, and then things start to fall apart. He’ll throw to his receiver’s back shoulder. He’ll throw with anticipation, but the timing doesn’t really work. I’ll see him throw his guys right into danger over the middle.

While he’s praised for his game under pressure, I see plays where his clock speeds up too much, and he’ll make throws he shouldn’t. I also question his ability to throw into tight windows—not the velocity, but the timing and accuracy. For the most part, I think he’s a “see-it-and-throw-it” player who varies too often on timing throws. Whether that’s a product of his offensive system or not, I don’t know how much of that is fixable. He’s quick, yes, but too often, he’s quickly wrong.

Why do you have Wentz in the early second round? I obviously think he’s the best quarterback in this class (actually, I don’t think it’s particularly close), so tell me what you see to knock him down.

Burke: For starters (and maybe this isn’t totally fair), I do worry about the FCS-to-NFL jump for Wentz, especially when he is coming off a year in which he made just seven starts. He improved as a player from year to year, which is a critical factor, but the learning curve is going to be steep. Some of the issues you have with Goff are the same ones I have with Wentz. The latter’s mistakes do not strike me so much as poor reads or panic so much as just overconfidence in his arm, which is strong but not in the Brett Favre/gunslinger sense. A lot of the mistakes Wentz got away with at North Dakota State are turnovers in the NFL. I also think he will be limited as a downfield passer—the deep throws were better in 2015, yet it’s still a sporadic aspect of his game.

You also mention being unsure about the praise of Goff against pressure. I’m not 100% sold on Wentz’s footwork, despite the fact that he is an exciting athlete at the position. He can get out of sync when he’s outside the pocket; inside it, the whole process—from snap to read to throw—can be lethargic at times.

It sounds like I hate him as a prospect. I don’t, even a bit. I just think he is a project, hence the ranking. What do I have wrong about him?

Farrar: I think they’re both projects, and I wouldn’t start either one of them their first years in the NFL. I don’t think that first-year NFL quarterback exists in this draft class.

I get the thing about Wentz’s limited starts, but I would turn that around and point to how well he’s developed in such a short time. I mean, he had one season at the position in high school, and a couple of years as a backup, and then, there he was. I think that speaks to a natural affinity for the position. And I don’t buy the learning curve argument to the degree that it’s sold. If you watch the Wentz episode of Gruden’s QB Camp, there are a ton of passing concepts in North Dakota State’s offense that are pro-ready, just under different verbiages. Wentz ran multiple play-action concepts out of the backfield. He dealt with a full route tree. He made more than one read. He’s not as good at the read thing as Goff is at this point, but I have no doubt that he can get there, and NFL teams regularly adjust their reads to fit the abilities of their young quarterbacks.

I’ve talked to people in the know who have told me that Wentz’s reads are actually harder than Goff’s, so there’s that. I think he’s better at throwing to the point at which the receiver has the best opportunity to catch the ball, and the defender is at a disadvantage. I think he throws with anticipation more often and more consistently. Does he trust his arm too much at times? Sure, but he also makes some dynamite throws into tight windows. If I’m a coach, I’d rather have to manage that ability than have to try and create it out of whatever I have. Wentz takes more time to process, but he also makes up for it with a very quick release. Get him up to speed on the processing side, and there’s more to work with.

Where I agree with you completely on Wentz is that he’s not yet a consistent thrower on the run. He doesn’t square his shoulders to the target and has to make too many adjustments as a result, especially on contested boundary throws. That’s something he needs to sort out. As far as the simplicity of the enemy defenses, one could easily make the same argument about Goff. He regularly faced base nickel and dime defenses with little in the way of adjustments because the offense was so wide-open. I’ll also posit that Wentz’s strength of opponent debit can be negated to a large degree by the guys he was throwing to, and the guys who were blocking for him. When you isolate the players, I think Wentz has a higher floor AND a higher ceiling.

Burke: Well, I think Goff is closest in this class to being pro-ready (I’d argue No. 2 is Connor Cook, but that is another topic for another day). There will be bumpy moments with him, as you said, but circle back to my argument about the rapidity with which Goff operates when the ball is in his hands and that should translate. Will the decision-making be an issue? Possibly. I do not think he will be taken aback by NFL speed, though.

To me, Goff would fit best in a West Coast offense with some spread principles—that’s why I keep selling the fit to San Francisco. While he’s not “mobile” in the way that we think of Marcus Mariota or Cam Newton, he certainly has the quickness in his footwork to elevate a West Coast attack via rollouts and play-actions.

One of the bigger selling points I get from Wentz, at least in terms of comparing these two quarterbacks, is that he projects as a more across-the-board option. Ideally, I’d like to see him in a scheme that allows him to get out of the pocket rather frequently, either via run plays with QB options built in or boots/waggles off fakes. Think Adam Gase or Gary Kubiak, and that’s what I have in mind.

Farrar: Well, at least we agree on the scheme fits. Anyway, since we started this debate, the Rams have made a major trade to nab the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft. We assume they’re going quarterback, and reports indicate that while they’re leaning Wentz’s way, they’re not completely decided yet. It seems that we’ll be arguing Goff vs. Wentz for the Rams, and the Rob Boras offense—whatever that may be. The Rams obviously feature their tight ends a ton, they love to run power, and Jeff Fisher has always preferred that his quarterbacks manage mistakes rather than amplifying them through the pursuit of big plays. Like it or not, as is the case with most defensive-minded coaches, he wants a guy who will run the system and transcend it in manageable bits and bobs.

Given those constraints, who do you think makes the most sense for the Rams at No. 1? I’ll still go with Wentz here. He ran all kinds of play-action and option stuff and he has experience with QB power. While both quarterbacks are mobile, Wentz is the bigger and better pure runner.

CB: I guess the question is: Has that been the Rams’ offense because they want it to be or because they couldn’t do anything else with the QB talent they have had? Given what we know, at least, Wentz probably is the choice here and you hit on the main reason I’d argue that: wanting to run power. If I’m choosing between Wentz and Goff to operate that style of attack—under center, RB coming downhill—then Wentz’s current skill set better fits the mold. He has experience doing that. Goff may be able to transition into those things (and probably will have to, to a certain extent) but the current Los Angeles offense is built for a quarterback more like Wentz.[/quote]

How Cal is developing Jared Goff into the next great NFL quarterback hope

By Sean Wagner-McGough | Staff Writer

September 11, 2015

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25297136/how-cals-jared-goff-became-nations-top-nfl-quarterback-prospect

BERKELEY, Calif. — Jared Goff runs a no-huddle offense called the Bear Raid, slings more than 40 passes a game and takes nearly every snap from the shotgun. But Cal’s quarterback isn’t just another overhyped college signal caller who puts up gaudy numbers against college defenses only to fail at the next level.
Goff, a 6-foot-4 junior, is built for the NFL.

“If you could design a quarterback,” says Cal head coach Sonny Dykes, “it would look a lot like Jared Goff.”

Since winning the starting job as a true freshman in the summer of 2013, Goff has started every single game for the Bears, completing nearly 62 percent of his passes for roughly 7,800 yards and 56 touchdowns. But in Goff’s tenure as Cal’s starter, his defense has been gouged for more than 40 points per game. In 25 starts, Goff has ran off the field a winner just seven times.

Despite that ugly fact, Goff might just be the top pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. Goff, like Aaron Rodgers before him, has a shot at superstardom.

“He’s got that calmness,” says Mazi Moayed, his former coach at Marin Catholic High School. “We’d say, ‘Hey, he’s got the Joe Coolness.’ He has that gift.”

But a gift is empty unless it’s harnessed.

Start with the right system

Before examining the skills that make Goff a top prospect, it’s important to understand the system that Goff has functioned within since debuting two years ago. Under the guidance of Dykes and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, Cal runs a system nicknamed the Bear Raid, a modified version of the Air Raid.

The main difference between the Bear Raid and Air Raid — systems that are both based out of the shotgun and frequently feature three to four wide receivers — is the former’s desire to run the football. Though he hasn’t made it happen yet at Cal, Dykes maintains that he wants to establish a 50-50 run-pass balance. Dykes arrived at Cal at the same time as Goff, and in their first two seasons together, the Bears’ run-pass ratio hovered around 43-57.

Regardless of the play calling, two aspects of the system remain true: It’s fast and it’s simple.

Instead of huddling, the offense turns to the sideline, where players and coaches signal each position group’s role for the next play. By running no-huddle, Cal consistently tires out opposing defenses over the course of four quarters.

The simplicity of the system isn’t so obvious. The easiest way to explain the Bear Raid is by calling it a progression-based system rooted in concepts. Translation: Goff is asked to read defenses on every snap.

“We go through our progression, we throw it to the guy who is open or we run the football,” Franklin says.

At the core of the offense are nine passing concepts, five or six screen concepts and five or six running concepts.

“When you learn the concept, you understand the word,” Franklin says. “So when you say ‘sluggo,’ immediately your brain says ‘OK, sluggo means this. It means my eyes start here, there’s a player going there and I’m bam, bam, bam, one, two, three.’ So most of us, within a two-week period, can learn those concepts, they can master that in their brain.”

That doesn’t mean that Cal is running only 20 different plays throughout a game. Each concept can be tagged to add a slight variation. A tag, in the words of Franklin, is just a “word that changes something that somebody does.” That something could be the route of a receiver or the protection scheme of the offensive line.

During our conversation, Franklin says that if I were his starting quarterback, I could learn the offense tomorrow. But when Franklin gives me a specific example to illustrate his use of concepts and tags, I begin to seriously doubt that.

“I could run ‘north’ and I could run ‘sluggo X,'” Franklin says. “So in [Goff’s] brain, if I said ‘north sluggo,’ he knows that it’s a high-low read for him. It’s a high-low and then to a checkdown. If I tag ‘X’ … if I go ‘sluggo X,’ he knows now that his eyes have to start opposite of the X (receiver). He knows now that he’s high, middle, low — rather than high, low, middle.

“So take the same concept and I could go, ‘north on pop sluggo X.’ So now, I’ve added four words because I’ve changed the offensive line protection with my play call. So it could be as easy as ‘north sluggo.’ End of story. Or it could be ‘north on pop sluggo X Z takeoff.’ I could keep adding. But in his brain he still keeps going ‘sluggo is a high-low concept.’ It’s a concept-based deal. So he learns a concept, then I can make an adjustment in a game that we might not have ever repped. If I tag it, he’ll know it.”

Got all that?

“It may look like to the defense that it’s a different play,” Franklin says. “To us it’s the same play. It’s just somebody did something a little different.”

Evolving from guessing to knowing

Even on running plays, the quarterback is required to read defenses, regularly deciding pre-snap whether to hand the ball off or flip to a passing play. That decision, which is based on the alignment of the defense, is sometimes made at the exact moment the ball is snapped if the defense changes its look at the last second.

“I’ll call an average of 85 plays per game,” Franklin says. “And probably 75 to 80 of those plays will have multiple possibilities of what he can do.”

Goff realized this as soon as he arrived on campus in the spring of 2013 and immersed himself in the offense.

“We run a lot of run/pass stuff, where we have a run play and a pass play on at the same time — screens or outs on the backside of run plays,” Goff says. “The most difficult part for me was deciding when to run and when to pass, because I had never done that before.”

It didn’t always go well. While Goff stopped short of saying he was guessing his first season, he acknowledged that he had difficulty learning how to read a defense. His teammate and friend, tight end Raymond Hudson, has a better way of framing Goff’s initial struggles.

“He used to be very bad, even when we played Madden,” Hudson says in between laughs. “He was just one of those guys. I’d do something and he’d have no clue what the coverage was or anything. He was always asking.”

Franklin weighs Goff’s decision making in terms of percentages, saying that Goff made the right decision probably 60 to 70 percent of the time in his freshman season. Last season, Franklin says Goff made the correct call 80 percent of the time. This year, Franklin expects Goff to be right about 90 to 95 percent of the time.

Goff also makes judgment calls once the play is already in motion. For instance, when the team runs a play called “four verticals” (Dykes once said they run four verticals 40 times a game), which is just a fancy way of saying “go long,” some of Cal’s receivers are allowed to break off their routes based on the coverage. If a wide receiver cuts off his streak mid-route, both Goff and his target have to be on the same page while the play unfolds.

Franklin attributes Goff’s progress to game and practice reps, but it goes beyond that.

“Occasionally in class you’ll see him peeking at his iPad, just watching some film. He’s always got his head on football,” Hudson says. “Now, he’s got it all down. He knows everything.”

Cut the QB loose

Goff’s newfound knowledge of the game grants him the right to put that knowledge to use.

As a freshman, Goff could only make minor changes at the line of scrimmage. If he saw a particular coverage, he could modify a receiver’s route, commonly known as a “hot route.” Even last year, that was the full extent of Goff’s freedom.

“All he had to do was run what I called,” Franklin says. “And then his options were usually really simple, as to whether or not to hand it off to this guy or to throw it to that guy.”

Now?

For the first time in his career, Goff can change anything and everything he wants at the line of scrimmage. From routes to the protection scheme, he can call whatever he wants.

“I trust him with my job,” Franklin says. “When you’re letting a guy do that, then you’re putting it all in his hands.”

About a week before Cal’s season opener, I watched Goff at the line of scrimmage during practice, wondering if he had transformed into college football’s Peyton Manning. It wasn’t as demonstrative as that. Goff doesn’t stand at the line and bark out signals for 20 seconds. His changes are much more subtle and infrequent, but when there are issues with the play, he recognizes them quickly and makes the necessary adjustments.

On one specific play, just prior to the snap, the defensive line shifted to Goff’s right. Goff responded by gesturing to his running back on his right. He called for the snap and almost immediately a free rusher shot up the A gap. But the running back, knowing full well where the rush was coming from, picked up the defender. Meanwhile, Goff, with his eyes still downfield, spotted the mismatch. He lofted a pass 30 yards down the right sideline. His receiver didn’t break his stride.

“One thing that I like about him is he doesn’t go overboard with it,” says wide receiver Bryce Treggs. “Sometimes you give a quarterback some freedom and he’ll just completely run his own offense and change the whole system. He doesn’t abuse his authority. He stays within the scheme of our offense.”

Focus on the feet, not the arm

Goff might not mirror Manning before a play begins, but once the ball is snapped, there’s at least one aspect of Goff that might draw comparisons to the NFL’s all-time touchdown leader. Arguably the strongest asset at Goff’s disposal is his footwork, which resembles Manning’s feet on Sundays.

“I try to pride myself in having really quick feet and being able to set up and throw balls in time,” Goff says. “Having my feet be as good as I want them to be can get me out of a lot of problems when I’m in the pocket and stuff starts to break down. There’s rarely ever a perfect pocket.”

When Goff maneuvers inside the pocket, his feet bounce up and down off the turf. Franklin calls this “Peyton Manning feet,” adding that they frequently watch film of Manning.

“We get our feet as hot as a typewriter,” Franklin says. “We’re always able to move and find a throwing lane because we’re always having our feet hot like a typewriter.”

n the clip above, taken from the first game of Goff’s sophomore season against Northwestern, you can see just how quick and short Goff’s steps are, which is something that Franklin emphasizes because it allows Goff to release the football at a moment’s notice.

“Manning will move from the A gap to the C gap feet — feet hot, hot all the time, typing all the time. He can throw the ball back across the field because his body position is perfect,” Franklin says. “Guys who step have to wait until the foot lands before they can throw the ball.”

Though Goff is by no means a running quarterback, one of his most underrated qualities is his ability to extend plays behind the line of scrimmage, which is a skill that Franklin attributes to Goff’s footwork.

Franklin typically spends a portion of practice putting his quarterbacks through a series of footwork drills while the team works on kickoffs. There’s one drill in particular that Franklin runs with his quarterbacks.

The six of them line up in rows of three, so that each quarterback is across from another, separated by no more than a few yards. One row of quarterbacks holds the footballs. Franklin then spews out verbiage that sounds like a foreign language to me. The quarterbacks nod.

“Hit!” Franklin commands.

The three quarterbacks holding the footballs toss them across to the other three, who put their feet to work, lightly bouncing around in each of their imaginary pockets, scanning a field filled with made-up targets and defenders. They repeat this drill over and over, with Franklin changing the play call every few reps and the quarterbacks adjusting their footwork and eye level to correspond with the call.

All six quarterbacks are quick on their feet, but Goff’s reach another level.

“His feet and pocket presence are amazing,” Treggs says. “Whenever he needs to throw the ball, he’s ready. He doesn’t need to set his feet. They’re already ready to throw.”

Be on time with one’s weapons

Treggs and the coaches rave about Goff’s footwork, but many of his receivers only see the final result of his footwork, leading some of them to conclude that Goff’s accuracy is his strongest weapon.

“Man, that pinpoint accuracy that he’s got is deadly,” says wide receiver Kenny Lawler.

“You just turn your head and the ball is always right there,” Hudson says. “We’re never being thrown into hits, he’s always leading us away … He throws it to wherever they’re not.”

They’re not wrong.

Two years ago, Goff completed 60 percent of his passes. Last year, that number rose to 62 percent. Both Goff and Franklin want his completion percentage to land somewhere in between 66 and 70 percent this season. Keep in mind that Goff often unloads deep bombs throughout the course of the game, which undoubtedly lowers his percentage.

A mainstay of Cal’s offense is the fade. Receivers like Lawler, who Dykes nicknamed “Vicinity Kenny” due to his uncanny ability to make catches on balls thrown anywhere within his general vicinity, typically find a way to come up with catches in the corner of the end zone. While Cal’s receivers garner their fair share of attention for the dozens of circus catches they’ve hauled in over the past couple seasons, Goff also deserves credit for seemingly always placing the ball in a spot that only his receivers can reach.

“People think I make it look easy,” Lawler says. “But, man, it’s really easy because of Goff. We have our timing down and he knows exactly where the ball needs to be at the exact right time.”

Goff’s timing didn’t come immediately. According to Treggs, when Goff was a freshman, “a lot of his throws were late, overthrown and behind us.” But when I asked Treggs about Goff’s best attribute now, he pointed to his timing.

“He can make all the throws,” Dykes says. “He’s a guy that can throw the comeback and the cross-the field-routes, and all those things — he’s got that kind of arm.”

Know your flaws

Goff isn’t a finished product — he’s 6-foot-4 but could benefit from bulking up. He has his weaknesses, namely his impatience and decision making.

“Sometimes I try to force it,” Goff says. “I try to do more than I can.”

Against UCLA last season, Goff cost his team a win when he tried to force the issue. With less than a minute remaining in the game, the Bears trailed by just two and had the ball on UCLA’s 36 yard line. On 2nd-and-7, Cal called “four verticals,” hoping to target an inside receiver and pick up the 10 yards or so required to turn a long field goal attempt into a makeable kick. Instead, Goff was baited by UCLA cornerback Marcus Rios, who initially showed press coverage on Lawler on the outside but then backed away.

It worked. When Goff lobbed the ball down the sideline, Rios played the ball so well that he looked like Goff’s intended receiver on the play. Rios picked off the pass and UCLA burned the final seconds remaining on the clock.

If Goff had simply thrown the ball away, the Bears would’ve had another shot at getting the yards needed to attempt a game-winning field goal.

Franklin frequently emphasizes a quarterback’s touchdown-interception ratio. If Goff’s ratio is 9-1, Franklin says they’ll be a championship caliber team. If his ratio is 7-1, they’ll be really good. If it’s 5-1, they’ll be slightly better than average. Any less than that and Cal will struggle to win.

Last year, Goff’s ratio was exactly 5-1, as he tossed 35 touchdowns and seven picks. Cal went 5-7, missing out on a bowl game by just one win.

Answer the critics

Eventually, another issue will enter the conversation, as it does with every college quarterback coming out of a system other than a pro-style offense. It happened with Marcus Mariota this past year and it’ll happen with Goff whenever he declares.

He never had to run a huddle. He never had to take a snap from under center.

Franklin thinks those concerns are stupid.

“Most little league coaches can teach it in about five minutes,” Franklin says.

Furthermore, shotgun and spread concepts are utilized more and more in the NFL these days. This past May, Jared Dubin broke down just how much the NFL is transforming into a spread offense league. In the 2014 season, 80 percent of all snaps were taken in single and empty backfield formations, 59 percent of all snaps were taken with at least three wide receivers on the field, and 61 percent of all snaps were taken in the shotgun.

I’m not sure if Franklin read Dubin’s article, but it sure sounded like he had.

“It’s a joke,” Franklin says of those criticisms. “All it is, honestly, it’s for a bunch of guys that are NFL guys that want to talk about what it was like in 1931 when they played.”

Dykes offered a similar answer.

“I don’t how handing the ball off in the I-formation necessarily makes you a better quarterback at the next level,” Dykes says. “But people seem to believe that for some reason.”

Goff also dismissed the notion.

“I think that’s overdone a little bit,” Goff says. “I mean, Marcus Mariota was the second pick in the draft and plenty of people must have wanted him. And he was running the spread offense in college. There are plenty of examples. I could go on for days.”

Stay present before the college career sunsets

At this point, asking Goff if he’s turning pro is pointless. When I pose the question toward the end of our interview, he gives me the kind of answer you’d expect.

“I’m not thinking about it at all,” Goff says. “I want to leave Cal with a winning legacy. I don’t want to be a quarterback that has all these stats but didn’t win a lot of games.”

Speaking with his coaches and teammates won’t lead to any clear answers either. But when I ask Franklin about the freedom he now gives Goff at the line of scrimmage, he slips up.

“Next year,” Franklin says, “whoever the quarterback is, probably won’t be doing that because they will have had hardly any experience.”

Wait, so does that mean you think Goff is leaving?

“I mean, obviously, we want what’s best for him, whatever that is,” Franklin says. “If he’s the first pick in the draft, then he’d be crazy to hang around here.” (Of note, our draft experts peg Goff as a top-5 pick in their latest mock drafts.)

Franklin’s referring to Berkeley, where Goff made his college football debut two years ago under the lights of Memorial Stadium.

“I’ll never forget the sunset that was going on,” Goff says. “The sunset was just incredible that day. It was crazy. Berkeley always has those, but that day in particular.”

That night, only the result of the game was at stake. Now, when Goff leads the Bears onto the field, it’ll be more than just a win on the line. This fall, Goff begins his bid to be the first quarterback taken off draft boards this April. That is, if he opts to leave Cal for the NFL.

“Man,” Lawler says after an evening of practice, grinning and shaking his head as he considers the possibility of playing his senior season without Goff. Directly in front of him, the sun begins to set over the stadium. “I hope not.”

Wentz, Goff lead deep quarterback class

By Lance Zierlein

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000652690/article/2016-nfl-draft-wentz-goff-lead-deep-quarterback-class?campaign=tw-nf-sf24536685-sf24536685

While the 2015 NFL Draft had bigger names at the top of the quarterback board in Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, the 2016 class offers more overall potential and much greater depth in the middle rounds.

Carson Wentz and Jared Goff have received a lion’s share of the pre-draft attention, but Paxton Lynch displayed flashes at his pro day, showing why he belongs inside the first round as well. This year’s group also contains productive SEC starters, a 2015 national champion, and the highest-ranked quarterback from the 2013 recruiting class.

While NFL teams still like to find quarterbacks with experience in a pro-style attack, the reality is that fewer and fewer prospects will have that background. Size, poise, accuracy, and intelligence are still the positional traits that most teams will covet regardless of the scheme a quarterback comes from.

Here’s a glance at the 2016 draft’s QB class:

Teams with greatest need

Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Rams
Denver Broncos

Top 5 players

1. Carson Wentz: Still in developmental phase after just two years at an FCS program, but has the mental and physical building blocks of a future, franchise quarterback.

2. Jared Goff: His accuracy and decision making will suffer from occasional lapses, but he displays the tools to become a good starting quarterback with time.

3. Paxton Lynch: While he has the physical tools to start right away, a team who is willing to allow him to sit and study his craft for a year could reap maximum rewards in the future.

4. Connor Cook: Cook flashes the potential of an NFL starter, but he has the makeup of game manager over playmaker.

5. Christian Hackenberg: Hackenberg’s tools, intelligence and experience under center should make him an eventual starter, but his boom-or-bust potential could either get a coach an extension or fired.

Sources Tell Us

“Wentz really blew us away at the combine when we met with him. Talent is a big component, but these guys have to have intangibles if they are going to lead franchises, and he’s got them. I don’t care where he played, he understands the game and it isn’t too big for him.” — AFC team executive

Most overrated

Dak Prescott: I don’t agree with the masses when it comes to Prescott being the sleeper at the position. A sharp increase in his short game passing attempts helped to skew some of his data in a more favorable light, but there were still issues with some of his intermediate throws and with getting through his progressions. I love his size and football character, but I see him as a career backup, not as a starter in the NFL.

Most underrated

Jacoby Brissett: Brandon Allen could fit in here, but he’s getting more love nationally. Brissett gets the occasional side-eye before people move to the next quarterback, but that might be a mistake. Despite facing enormous pass rush for consecutive seasons, Brissett still found ways to fight through the pocket noise and make plays. He has NFL size, an NFL arm, and experience under center. With an ability to extend plays with his feet and throw on the move, Brissett offers a skill-set that matches up with what teams look for in today’s game.

Boom or bust

Christian Hackenberg and Cardale Jones: In many ways, these two quarterbacks are the same guy. Both quarterbacks have ideal NFL size and booming right arms that can leave your jaw agape. Of course, half the time your jaw is hitting the ground in awe while the other half it is hitting the ground because of their wild inaccuracy on the simplest throws. Accuracy issues are extremely difficult to correct, which creates a low floor for both, but the talent and traits give them “boom” potential.

Sleeper alert

Mike Bercovici: Sleep away, but Bercovici can sling the ball around the yard. He is small by NFL standards, but similar in size to Rams quarterback Case Keenum. Bercovici has Keenum’s quick release but a much bigger arm and the mobility to extend plays outside of the pocket. If he gets drafted at all, it will be late, but there is something there for an NFL quarterbacks coach to work with.

Follow Lance Zierlein on Twitter @LanceZierlein.

Rams: What to make of the Wentz, Goff debate

Vincent Bonsignore

link: http://www.insidesocal.com/nfl/2016/04/17/rams-what-to-make-of-the-wentz-goff-debate/

After doing a ton of radio interviews across the country in the aftermath of the Rams trade for the No. 1 pick in the draft, one of the more consistent questions I get is how could the Rams part with so many future draft picks to move to No. 1 if they haven’t yet decided between North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz or Cal’s Jared Goff?

The implication being: You don’t give that much up without knowing already who you want to pick.

I agree to an extent. And if you’re asking me today who the Rams are leaning toward I’d say it’s Wentz. There is a reason they moved all the way to No. 1 – and ahead of the Browns, who have been linked to Wentz. They obviously wanted to beat the Browns to the punch.

That said, I think the bigger factor is that the Rams wanted to control the process.

In other words, they wanted to be the team that decided who the best quarterback in the draft is – the quarterback they want to stake their future on – rather than wait on the Browns or anyone else who might have moved into the No. 1 slot to make that determination and force the Rams into a reactionary position.

Had, say, the 49ers moved to No. 1 and taken Goff and the Browns taken Wentz at No. 2, the Rams would have been completely shut out of the two quarterbacks they believe can be Day One starters in the NFL.

They were not going to sit back and allow that to happen. They could not afford to, given how solid the rest of the roster is and the need to plug in a quality quarterback to elevate the Rams from a competitive team to a playoff contender.

By making the unprecedented jump from the 15th spot in the draft to No. 1, they eliminated all uncertainty and hope and chance of the process. And whether they are leaning toward Wentz or Goff or still undecided, they can now spend the next two weeks with the singular focus of reaffirming their position, or being convinced otherwise, or simply deciding who the best prospect is between Wentz and Goff.

The point being, this is the Rams decision to make, and the Rams decision alone. And while it cost quite a bit to take control of that process, having possession of it far outweighs the cost when you consider the long-range implications.

MMQB

Inside the Film Room With… Jared Goff

While he was on the wrong side of the scoreboard, the Cal quarterback showed the subtleties and savvy of a future franchise QB during last season’s loss at Stanford. Just weeks before the draft, he broke down the game film for The MMQB

by Andy Benoit

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/04/12/jared-goff-california-film-study-nfl-draft

to break down his college film.
The Cal-Berkeley campus is a medley of Beaux Arts buildings, meandering creeks, foot bridges, stone paths and hippies of both old and modern ilk, all climbing up toward the Berkeley Hills. Nestled in there, right about where the Golden Gate Bridge becomes visible off in the distance, is Memorial Stadium. Inside are Cal’s football offices, where Jared Goff stops in on an early spring day.
Goff, 21, has spent his life in the Bay Area sports scene. His father, Jerry Goff, played Major League Baseball from 1990 to ’96 and his mother Nancy, like Jerry, attended Cal. Coming out of Marin Catholic High, where he won three Marin County Athletic League championships, Jared Goff turned down scholarship offers from Stanford, Boise State and Fresno State to join the hometown Bears.
And so it’s no surprise that the night before our visit, Goff, attending the Warriors-Pelicans game at Oracle Arena, was ambushed by fans chattering about the quarterback-needy 49ers, who hold the No. 7 pick in this year’s draft.
Hometown factor aside, Goff to the Niners makes sense. After all, new coach Chip Kelly’s spread system is very similar to the one Goff ran under Sonny Dykes at Cal. But few are concerned about what offense Goff fits in. Though he comes from Cal’s newer-age spread, he exhibits all the traits of a prototypical dropback passer. And that’s how he sees himself. Asked if he could maybe be a part-time read-option QB, in the mold of say a Ryan Tannehill or an Alex Smith, he quickly says no, before pausing. “I mean, I’ll move around if I have to,” he says. “I’ll extend the play and run the ball if I need to. It’s not a preference, but I can do it.”
What sets Goff apart is his handle on the crucial nuances of quarterbacking: moving gracefully and incrementally within the pocket; keeping eyes downfield when pressure bears down; and making throws with bodies around him. This, along with NFL-caliber arm strength and accuracy, was on full display in Cal’s game at Stanford last November. It was a loss for the Bears but a well-quarterbacked game that offered several scenarios Goff will encounter this fall and for the rest of his football life.
Goff enjoys breaking down film. For the next hour, that’s what he does.
* * *
“This is a quads-left look.” Goff says. It’s the fifth play of the game and first that we watch. “We call this play 44 sucker, Z drag. So, we’re running that bubble trying to get them to jump on it with a pump fake—and they almost did. They were in good man coverage. I actually got their slot defender to jump it, but they had a safety over the top, so it was a kind-of dangerous throw. So I just checked it down.”

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MORE AT THE LINK (WHICH IS FULL OF GIFS): http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/04/12/jared-goff-california-film-study-nfl-draft