We’ve talked a lot about Ryan Mallett this week so it’s time to break out the tape. Below you’ll find links to ten of Arkansas’ games (in full) from 2010:
September 4th: Tennessee Tech vs Arkansas
September 11th: Louisiana-Monroe vs Arkansas
September 18th: Arkansas vs Georgia
September 25th: Alabama vs Arkansas
October 9th: Arkansas vs Texas A&M
October 16th: Arkansas vs Auburn
October 23rd: Ole Miss vs Arkansas
November 13th: UTEP vs Arkansas
November 20th: Arkansas vs Mississippi State
November 27th: LSU vs Arkansas
I’ll go into the tape in detail this week.
Do you ever worry, Rob, that one day you might suddenly find yourself prominent enough to influence the draft season and hype machine yourself? 😉
The more tape I watch of Mallett, the more it puzzles me that he’s not considered the top QB in this class. The guy is extremely talented.
Soooooo impressive! I agree with trrrroy above. This kid has all the tools to be successful in the NFL. In fact, he looks like one of the QBs in this draft who could actually start from day 1 and be better than any QB the Hawks had last year. His cannon for an arm, his reading of the defense, his great size, all incredible qualities. Most of all, he just FEELS like an NFL QB.
And what’s this talk about his release? How is it bad? He throws it from above his head, it looks very smooth coming out, etc. Of course it’s not like Aaron Rodgers and his flick of the wrist release, but i don’t see anything particularly wrong with it. Also, he looks more elusive than people say. He can move if he needs to.
I think this would be a glorious pick for the Hawks. This guy truly has the potential to become a franchise QB! Why not take a shot at #25? Makes so much sense that I’m afraid it won’t happen, lol.
Agree with the above posters. Great tools and on field performance. However, that leaves 2 concerns…
1) How bad are these personality issues? There has to be something there for EVERYONE to be dropping him on the boards. This is a QB driven league and his on field performance in the SEC is nothing to scoff at. I’m not asking for a saint, but character is important, for a QB at least.
2) What about the Petrino effect? Do scouts really have concerns about Bobby Petrino’s offensive system making life easy for a QB? Mallett is still making a ton of reads, but are they simple? Who knows.
At 25, Mallett is more than worth the gamble. That said, he is a human statue. He needs a great O-line, otherwise you are looking at an interception/sack machine. He also doesn’t fit the system that PC seems to want to run. Which brings me to my bottom line point regarding QBs…you need to build AROUND the QB. It should not be a surprise that the best QBs in the NFL have systems around them that play to their strengths. And, the QB, OC, and HC are all on the same page.
If we decide on a QB (which we need to), no more of this fitting a square peg in a round hole. Build around that guy, get the pieces and system in place to allow for them to succeed. If it’s Locker, don’t build a true pocket passing system. Get him on the move, get him easy completions, then take big shots. Whatever you do, build to a QBs strengths and have consistency. That’s how you find success at the QB position.
I completely agree matt, scheme fit trumps talent, so find guys that fit the scheme, honestly id rather build around whitehurst as a stop-gap, see if we can get anything working with him, and then go for a qb next year if it doesnt workout. I know thats not what people want to hear, but we did trade two third round picks for the guy, we might as well see what hes got over atleast six games before we judge him. If he doesn’t workout he doesnt workout, and i think we should draft a qb if ones worthy and still sitting there at 25, but i do not think we should trade up for a gamble pick
I agree fully. I opened a thread on seahawks.net that had quotes from Aaron Rodger’s first few years and how everyone thought that Rodgers would fail to even be an “adequate QB.” And this was actually coming from Packers’ players as well. We know how that turned out.
No way anyone can say that Whitehurst is a failure unless he gets a legit opportunity.
sorry, correction, i agree fully with the Whitehurst bit, i still think that the Hawks should draft Mallet.
One day Seattle is going to have to take a risk on someone. Unless they’re drafting in the top five or first overall and are able to select a brilliant rookie – it’s inevitable that one day a guy like Whitehurst will be thrown in as a starter. Drafting a quarterback at #25 is no different. One day Matt Hasselbeck won’t be an option, or he won’t be perceived as the best option. That day is coming closer and may already be here.
I’m not sure how Mallet is any more of a statue than Carson Palmer, Matt Lienart, Sanchize or Hass. Whitehurst is the only guy who’s a great runner among the QBs with which PC has had to work with.
Only exception is Matt Barkley who is a stud in all possible respects. My pick for best QB out of PC USC.
Palmer is actually a great comparison for Mallett.
Let’s check the tale of the tape:
Palmer listed at 6’5″ 235lbs
Mallett listed at 6’6″ 238lbs
Palmer (after limited time in 1999) starts 3 years but only really puts up numbers the last one.
Mallett (after limited time in 2007) starts 2 years and has a big jump in completion percentage the last one.
Palmer stats:
2000: 228/415 (54.9%) 2914 yds 7.02 YPA 16 TD (+2 rush) 18 INT
2001: 221/377 (58.6%) 2717 yds 7.21 YPA 13 TD (+1 rush) 12 INT
2002: 309/489 (63.2%) 3942 yds 8.06 YPA 33 TD (+4 rush) 10 INT
Mallett stats:
2009: 225/403 (55.8%) 3627 yds 9.00 YPA 30 TD (+2 rush) 7 INT
2010: 266/411 (64.7%) 3869 yds 9.41 YPA 32 TD (+4 rush) 12 INT
Mallett does slightly better in terms of completion percentage and similar in total yards, plus he obliterates Palmer’s YPA (nearly 2 yards better on average!) and TD/INT numbers (2 years as good as Palmer’s one good one, before which Palmer had more INTs than TDs).
And Palmer certainly wasn’t any more mobile (in those days, we called it “pocket passer,” rather than “statue”), and probably played with a better OL and better WR.
Of course, Palmer went #1 overall (and is generally considered one of the most successful #1 picks of the last decade), and we’re debating whether Mallett will fall out of the 1st round altogether.
Simply baffling.
The concerns need to be answered for sure. Sometimes we can get carried away with negative things and sometimes you have to trust the tape and the talent. I graded DeSean Jackson as a top-15 talent in 2008 as did a lot of others initially, but there were some perceived ‘attitude’ problems and he fell into round two where in hindsight he’s proved to be a bargain. Then you look at other guys who were drafted in the top ten who haven’t worked out. Part of it is doing your absolute best homework, part of it is the level of importance with which the prospect values his football career over all the other distractions (which can be hard to judge before the draft) and part of it is having the coaches and veterans around him who can make sure he stays focussed.
As you say Matt – if you commit to a QB you need to build around them. This is the guys strengths, let’s milk them. The best way for Seattle to contend quickly is to indetify a QB you can get behind for the long haul and structure the offense around them. Give them a running game and some weapons – and protect them. If you can do those things you can win games in the NFL and definitely in the NFC West. Seattle is past the point where drafting a QB is critical.
Great find with the SEC video! Thank you. Any hi-quality videos, be it full games or compilations, that can be used to ‘scout’ players ourselves are more than welcome.
I get the feeling with this day and age our video access will continue to grow leaps and bounds. Free video is especially pleasing. Wouldn’t be great if we fans could get access to ‘cut-ups’ that team staff-members use? I’d settle for a bunch of hi-quality highlights and games, though.
Hopefully the amount of YouTube video at least 720p quality overpowers the common, low-quality stuff out there. It’s very tough to review players if you can’t tell which team is which, lol!
take mallett and build o line