I’m told it’s an acquired taste.
Why? Certainly the Heisman is nice, but what else is there.
I ask because I know next to nothing about the guy. I’m not all that impressed with his stats against middling (at best) defenses, and the only game I saw of his (part of the Alamo Bowl), where he was the second best QB in the game and looked just OK against a incredibly bad defense. Sell me on him.
I’m kind of with you, something about him doesn’t quite pop for me. But his numbers are pretty tough to dispute. This is copied from his Heisman announcement, “Griffin threw for 4,293 yards with 37 touchdowns and only six interceptions, and his completion percentage of 72.39 percent was just shy of national leader Russell Wilson of Wisconsin (72.82). Griffin also ran for 699 yards and 10 more scores.” I mean, 37/6 with a 72% completion rate? That’s off the charts. And it’s worth noting that he’s not running some Hawaii/TTU gimmick spread system either. He throws downfield a ton, his YPA is 10.68 yards. It’s also important to note that he’s really smart and might be the best high character guy in the draft. He’s got elite running abilities too, not quite as fast as Vick but in the discussion. The real doubts about him are going to be his durability and his size, he’s not the horse that Tebow or Newton are and while he’s bigger than Vick by a pretty good margin he’s still a little small for an NFL QB at this point, both height and bulk.
I’ve only seen the bowl game, some highlight clips, some scouting clips, and talked to some people who watched a few of his games, so my opinion isn’t that informed. But essentially, what’s there not to like?
I think people want to stereotype him - he’s a black athlete QB, so he must be pretty raw, have accuracy issues, likely to run first, possibly questionable intelligences and character, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
He’s legit smart - above average for a quarterback. He has an elite arm, and already comes with a fairly well developed passing game as well as great accuracy on his deep balls. He’s got elite speed - maybe not quite as good as Vick but up there. He’s got great character - seems like a legitimately good kid - no black marks on his record - did a good job of deflecting the attention away from himself and onto the program. He seems to help his team overachieve and inspire them - Baylor beat teams they had no business beating and wouldn’t have without him. He protects the ball. He looks to pass first when he scrambles, unless it’s a designed run.
The only downsides are that he didn’t play in an NFL style offense, but that’s not a personal failing of his. It wasn’t a gimmick system, he was asked to do a lot of legitimately skilled passing. If he was dumb, projecting him to learn an NFL offense might take years, but since he’s among the smarter tier of QBs, he should be able to adapt.
He seems to basically be Vick who comes out of college passing with accuracy, smarter, and with good character. I’m not sure how you get much better than that.
I’m with SenorBeef. Maybe I mentioned it in another thread, but I’m half hoping the Vikings trade down to about 5, gain a 2nd or 3rd rounder, trade Ponder for a 2nd and change, and take RGIII. He seems like he could be one of those players just so amazing physically that you have to take him. It worked well for the Vikings with Moss and Peterson, and I think it could happen with Griffin.
Regarding his speed, maybe his football speed isn’t on par with Vick, but the guy was a high-level hurdler in high school. Granted, he’ll never do a 110m race on the field, but he’s blazing fast. I also liked the attitude he’s displayed in the bits I’ve seen of him (mainly the Heisman, plus a few ESPN bits).
I’ll make it a trio. RGIII is going to be a big deal in the NFL for a long time to come. He’s got the skills and I think he’ll make some team very happy. Though I said the same thing about Blaine Gabbert last year and he didn’t exactly make me out to be some sort of prophet this season.
If anyone is interested, Mel Kiper regraded last years draft here. It’s for ESPN Insiders only, if you have requests I’ll post your teams evaluation.
Morris Claiborne and Russell Wilson made it official, they are entering the Draft.
Add Richardson and Kirkpatrick to that list.
I’m interested. Can you post the Bears info?
Vikes please! Although I think I know the answer…
In the reddit NFL subreddit, somebody posted them all.
Can’t find it.
Chicago Bears
(1) 29 Gabe Carimi
(2) 53 Stephen Paea
(3) 93 Christopher Conte
(5) 160 Nathan Enderle
(6) 195 J.T. Thomas
Post-draft grade: B
Summary: Health is a big factor, but this draft class really hasn’t done much thus far. Gabe Carimi could pan out at right tackle and had the job coming out of camp, but he was lost after the second game. There’s no telling whether he’ll be able to move to the left side. Stephen Paea is a player who should continue to develop under Rod Marinelli, but he was a part-timer this season for an improved defensive line. Chris Conte was able to work his way onto the first team at safety, but that was a clear weakness for Chicago, and it accounts for the best production out of this class to this point. Some good need picks, but it’s pretty fair to say the ceiling isn’t high right now.
New grade: C
Personally I think he’s being quite a bit too generous here, especially considering that we squandered a 4th round pick to move up and Paea. Obviously it’s only 1 year and Carimi could still recover and be a perennial Pro Bowler and Conte looks to at least be a starter, but we didn’t get much out of this this year.
Minnesota Vikings
(1) 12 Christian Ponder
(2) 43 Kyle Rudolph
(4) 106 Christian Ballard
(5) 139 Brandon Burton
(6) 168 Demarcus Love
(6) 170 Mistral Raymond
(6) 172 Brandon Fusco
(6) 200 Ross Homan
(7) 215 D’Aundre Reed
(7) 236 Stephen Burton
Post-draft grade: C+
Summary: When you think you’re drafting the quarterback of the future for the franchise, you take your shot. That’s what the Vikings did at No. 12 when they drafted Christian Ponder. I had that as a reach on my board, but Ponder showed some things in 2011. Still, it was for a team that was far less competitive than we thought it would be, and, as the season finished, I even heard questions about whether the team should give Joe Webb a shot. Are the Vikings confident they can compete in 2012 with Ponder at the helm? Kyle Rudolph is a talented player and should be a weapon in that offense; he certainly has mastered the one-handed catch. After that, it’s pretty quiet. Christian Ballard got reps, but I don’t see him as an impact player. Overall, this is still an incomplete for me as we wait on Ponder. But hopefully we’ll see some development from the other picks, too.
New grade: C-
Pretty thin for the Vikes. I’m not liking Ponder’s upside at this point, and while I think Rudolph has star potential I don’t think Ponder is the guy to get him there. The rest of the draft reads like a list of random names pulled out of the phone book.
Does The Hair do regrades after a few years, when it becomes much more evident how the draft played out? Does he actually regrade his own picks?
Yes, I’ve seen him do it in the past. Not sure if he makes an annual tradition of it or not though. Might just be something he does if he has a good angle.
I don’t know about this. I think most of us have seen enough of Colt McCoy to know that he’s not a top of the line NFL starter. Granted, his O line was not great, the WRs suck and the running game suffered without Hillis last year. McCoy still didn’t show enough. If Blackmon and RGIII were both there at #4, I’d take RGIII. Next year’s crop of QBs doesn’t excite me. Barkley strikes me as a game manager.
And the reward for most ridiculous mock goes to bleacher report