O'Brien Coy About Draft Options

[barrett]

I saw them talking about the pro days of the 3 QBs on ESPN today and they said something interesting. Everyone agreed that the pro days reinforced the game tape and showed that Manziel CLEARLY has the best arm of the 3 (along with having the quickest release). Then they knocked Manziel and called him risky and small and injury prone for 20 minutes.

My question is this...What exactly makes Bortles a high upside guy if he has so much less arm strength than Manziel? What exactly makes him a safe pick compared to Manziel? Does it really just come down to the guy looking the part? His college performance, competition level, and ability to throw the ball is clearly 3rd best in the QB class but he has somehow become an option as the 1st overall pick?

I think Bortles is the only outcome that would bother me at 1.1. Give me a trade down, clowney, the pro ready Bridgewater, or the endless possibility of Manziel. Just don't give me Bortles. I doubt the AAC conference defenses he faced had more than 11 pro defenders when you add them all up.

[HPF Bob]

I generally agree that Bortles "looks the part". He has the size that the other two don't which should allow him to see over the 6-5 or 6-6 linemen downfield. That's the big problem for Manzeil is he may not be able to see past the modern NFL lines.

The counter-argument is that Manzeil excelled against SEC defenses which is about as close as you can get to the NFL without playing in the NFL. Bridgewater, like Bortles, played in the AAC but Bridgewater is older, had better stats and was trained on the pro-style offense while the other two played in spread offenses.

To be honest, if I am picking among the three, I want Bridgewater because he is the least likely to be a bust, has 6-2 height (not great, but good enough), decent wheels so he has the elusiveness to extend plays and most say he has a higher intelligence than Bortles or Manzeil. However, the Texan coaches are glowing over Bortles' ability to pick up new things.

But I think I'd rather have Clowney over any of them and then get Garappolo in Round 2 (or Manzeil if he falls that far) because of what Clowney could do with Watt on defense.

If I get a really sweet offer to trade down, though, I could fill other holes and still take one of the three QBs or an OT.