First Round Pick 2020, Jordan Love

[mraynrand]

https://twitter.com/Basaraski/status...98235426164737

LOVE FELL DOWN AFTER THROWING THE BALL! (POOR BALANCE!)

WASTED PICK!

[pbmax]

LOVE FELL DOWN AFTER THROWING THE BALL! (POOR BALANCE!)

WASTED PICK!

That class for football scouting is paying off nicely. Good work.

But can you work in a personal/emotional reference as the baseline reason he fell down?

His pinewood derby car once fell off the track and he hasn't been steady on his feet since.

He once asked a group of friends where they wanted to eat and it took 10 minutes to make a decision. QBs don't have 10 minutes in the pocket Bob.

[mraynrand]

That class for football scouting is paying off nicely. Good work.

Today's lesson: ONLY FIRST ROUND WIDE RECEIVERS ARE GOOD.

Professor: Matt Millen

[pbmax]

Jersey Al gets these occasionally and he all but says they are from whatever BLESTO scouting service is called these days. Its the service that runs its own scouting department and makes its reports available to member teams. Each team sends them some money and a scout. At least they used to .

https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/jordan-love-scouting-report-sneak-peek-759

Player: LOVE, Jordan
School: Utah State
Jersey: 10
Year Entered: 2016

Body Structure
Love has a tall, lean frame, but possesses the ability to add at least ten pounds of bulk without the additional bulk impacting his above average quickness. He has good bone structure, tight waist and abdomen, with long limbs, good upper body muscle development, with good thigh and calf muscle definition. He has a well-proportioned build, not really “jacked up,” where he is overly muscular, as his athletic frame perfectly suits his impressive agility and mobility.
General Report 8.24

Athletic Ability 8.7
Love has the best athleticism of any 2020 draft eligible quarterback not named Tua, as he has outstanding foot quickness and agility, making him a dangerous threat to run and turn up field when the pocket is compromised. He displays excellent body control on the move, possessing the agility and balance to step into his throws. As a ball carrier, he has above average speed and acceleration for his position.

Despite early season struggles in 2019, he has shown improvement throwing on the move. He has the balance and feet to slide away from pass rushers and good range of motion on the move. He can develop into a savvy decision maker rolling out of the pocket, as he displays above average kinesthetic awareness.

Football Sense 8.0
Love has complete command of the huddle and total control on the field. He has shown much better improvising skills as a junior than during his senior year, but he appears to have confidence in his ability to create in an instant. He has solid field awareness and outstanding pocket presence, but must do a better job of protecting the ball, especially from backside pursuers. He has shown very good play retention ability and is a master at improvising on the run. With his natural football instincts and accuracy throwing on the move, he looks like a version of Aaron Rodgers for the way he handles check-downs and gets the ball out to his receivers without having them adjust too much for the ball. He has shown in the past that he can be a good decision maker capable of making the spectacular play. He plays with the swagger you look for in a quarterback, combining that with above average athleticism and quick feet to be a dangerous threat on the move or standing in the pocket. He sees coverage developing very quickly and makes good adjustments changing up the plays in game situations. He is good at making checks and makes a conscious effort to scan the field and use all the tools given him (very alert to secondary targets), especially when forced to improvise. He is a “student of the game” who puts in the extra hours after practice and in the film room, where he studies tapes religiously (has that bit of Rodgers' perfectionist to him, as he takes advantage of any avenue to improve his overall game).

Character 8.0
Love is well-liked and respected by the staff and teammates. He comes from a very supportive family, is close to his older brother and has always had that “inner fire” to succeed in whatever he does. He has no known off-field issues and with the way he responds to the coaches and works with his teammates, he would make a nice coaching candidate when he hangs up his football helmet.

Competitiveness 8.3
Love is a classic warrior. The only thing missing in the trenches is “war paint.” He plays with bumps and bruises that would sideline most quarterbacks and he instantly brings confidence to his teammates with the swagger he displays on the field. The thing you see on film is his extreme confidence in his athletic ability, as it allows him to be an aggressive playmaker with the confidence he displays to take chances and create something out of nothing. The thing that impresses talent evaluators is that he will seek out and play with reckless abandon (has that Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers moxie to his play). He is patient working with younger teammates, but will also take them to task for mistakes. He does all the “little extras” that a pro quarterback needs to do in the training and film rooms. He is sometimes his harshest critic, a bit of a perfectionist, but who wouldn’t want a field general with his desire to win, at any cost? He has excellent huddle command and is both mentally and physically tough.

Work Habits 8.2
Love has that businessman’s approach to his craft and puts forth the extra hours needed to hone his skills. He plays with tremendous pride and is known to “get hard on himself” after games for what he deems is a less than perfect performance, yet, he never lets bad plays affect the rest of his game, quickly shunning them to get back to the game plan at hand. Sometimes, it seems like Love lives in the football office. More often than not, his spare time will be spent in the film room or on the practice field. He is an example for the younger players to emulate. Anyone “talking bad” about him is probably an opposing defensive coordinator, as that coach knows he is in for a long afternoon facing a well-prepared Love coming out of the huddle. He commands respect in the locker room and huddle, yet prides himself on being “one of the guys.”

[pbmax]

Athletic Report 7.94

Set Up 7.9
Love is still not NFL-ready, but his set-up displays cat-like quickness. He has a nice array of fakes and moves to freeze a defense and shows above average body mechanics getting to his pass set point. He has the balance, foot speed and body control to drive back from center quickly. He is highly effective throwing on the move. The thing that gives Love an advantage vs. the blitz is his quick feet in his set-up. He has very good balance and body control getting to his drop point and is usually in position to make all his throws. He shows good pad level and feet to separate from under center, consistently delivering the back-foot press and pop-up. He has the ability to step up in the pocket and keeps defenses honest with his ability to tuck the ball and run with it, if he finds that space needed to get into the second level.

Reading Defenses 8.0
Love is a classic touch passer who has very good vision and instincts, evident by the way he can instantly read and understand the defensive coverage. He is an instinctive player and good decision maker. While he is a quick decision maker, he is also the type that plays within the offense’s framework. He has that instinctive nature you look for in a successful quarterback – he knows when to throw and when to run.

Release 7.1
Love has worked hard to erase a bit of a wind-up that he sometimes had in the past when trying to fire the ball from a low angle. Summer camps has seen him develop a highly effective and quick release (high), along with an ability to improvise on the run. He throws across the body effectively and even on the occasions where he will sidearm the ball, he puts good zip behind his tosses. When he throws from overhead and not shoot from the hip, he is very capable of getting the ball out with outstanding velocity and touch. He has shown marked improvement in making his delivery more compact and when that ball comes off his fingers, you can actually hear the “buzz” behind his throws before it explodes into his target’s chest. Even when he fires with a “big circle,” he gets the ball out quickly, thanks to his ability to anticipate his receivers on the route’s progression. More patient coaching will help him to prevent dropping the ball in his motion, but you can see he has the mechanics for a smooth and compact delivery.

Arm Strength 8.5
Love has an NFL-caliber arm, as he generates exceptional velocity and zip on the ball. The team system is geared more for the intermediate passing game, but he has more than enough arm strength to fire long. His ball comes off his fingers with excellent velocity. He is still learning how to take “something off” his throws in order not to break his receivers’ fingers, especially when throwing into tight areas. He puts very good zip on his passes to get it to his targets from the opposite hash. While his coaches misuse his arm strength by relying more on the running game, he has shown flashes of brilliance getting the ball up the seam, especially noted on deep comebacks, streaks and when roping the posts. He has a lively arm for the short passing game, also, and good accuracy when airing it out. You can see that he has that outstanding arm strength to put zip behind his throws.

Accuracy 7.3
After struggling early with poor receivers and a scheme that did not match his athleticism, Love was allowed more say in the play-calling the second half of 2019 and he showed the ability to change up speed on his short tosses to make the completion, thanks to solid consistency and timing. On the long throws, he flashes touch and accuracy, even though he was “stuck” in an offense that was more designed for the short-to-intermediate passing game. He is a highly effective short-to-medium range passer when given protection, as he can generate the touch and velocity, when needed. The coaches don’t let him uncork the long ball as much as a QB with his arm strength needs to do, but on those occasions, you can see that he can throw the deep ball with optimum air, velocity and timing. The thing you saw in his 2019 games the second half of the season was his ability to “smoke it” into the cornerback/safety voids. With his improved touch, he is perfectly capable of giving his receivers space and time to adjust.

Touch 7.3
Love has that great field vision a pro quarterback needs when reading defenses and making adjustments. He uses all of his receivers with effectiveness and will locate and hit his targets with consistency. He has very good anticipation of the receiver’s route progression and shows good timing to get the ball to his targets as they become open. He has the timing to connect with the long ball and while he has to eliminate his big circle (just does that on occasion now), he has a good feel for timing routes. He shows that he can lay it over the top when going deep and down the seam and also along the boundaries. Even though he does not get a lot of “shots” downfield as his strong arm deserves, he has good deep ball placement when he does fire into this area. The thing you notice on 2018 game tapes was his success in leading his receivers to the ball, but in 2019, he had very poor quality targets to work with. He throws that deep ball with ease, even though it whistles and buzzes with tremendous velocity. Another thing noticed on tapes is that he throws the long ball with nice trajectory.

Poise 8.0
Love has the swagger of “Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean.” He is the total take-charge type on the field and the consummate playmaker and team leader, as the Aggies players seem to rally around their field general. He has that moxie to hold the ball and not get rattled in the face of a fierce pass rush, but if the defense gets too aggressive, he has that speed and running ability to tuck the ball and get good yardage on the ground.He shows very good focus on the scramble and knows he has the ability to make things happen with his arm or feet. He stays composed and feels pressure well, knowing when to step up in the pocket or slide laterally to avoid the rush.

Leadership 8.3
Love has great presence in the huddle and everyone knows he is in charge. He is a good leader by example, but will not hesitate to get vocal if he feels a teammate is not playing up to his abilities. He is highly respected by the staff and a good presence in the locker room. Players look up to him and he has the maturity, tactfulness, competitiveness and confidence to be the type that will be a respected leader at a young age, once he enters the NFL.

Pocket Movement 8.3
Love shows very good pocket awareness and when he sees an open rush lane, will not hesitate to hit the hole with quickness and power. He is a long strider that gobbles up real estate in a hurry and is perfectly capable of rolling out and throwing the ball deep from the opposite hash. He shows good balance and timing on his three-step drop and even on longer drops, he has the change of direction skills to stop on the dime, redirect and leave a would-be tackler grabbing at air. The thing you see consistently on those game films is his ability to step up or get out of the pocket to borrow time before completing the pass. He does a nice job of maintaining focus down field and the vision to locate his secondary targets. When given time to read coverage, he is very efficient at distributing the ball to lots of targets. I like the way that he goes through his progressions to locate those second and third options, rather than getting “tunnel vision” by locking on to his primary target for too long.

Scrambling Ability 7.4
Love can move fast away from pressure while also showing the ability to throw on the run. Opposing defenses know that he is a dangerous runner and this forces them to “man up” on him rather than double-teaming another Utah State player. You can see that he can pull up and hit a big play, thanks to his cannon for an arm. You see on film that while he can avoid contact, he also has that underrated strength to square his shoulders and power through to fight for additional yardage.

Compares To
Aaron Rodgers-Green Bay...Love is an athletic “stallion” in the mold of McNabb during Donovan’s prime. He needs to add some bulk to his frame to absorb punishment at the next level and undergo some mechanical refinement (wind-up and low release point), but I challenge anyone to find another quarterback eligible for the 2020 draft that has his arm strength, running ability and quickness. His arm rivals that of Rodgers' and his swagger is favorably compared to that of Matt Ryan’s. He’s just not utilized to his best assets by the Utah State coaches.

[mraynrand]

" he looks like a version of Aaron Rodgers for the way he handles check-downs"

Translation: He does not throw check-downs. TD all the way, baby!

[ThunderDan]

Today's lesson: ONLY FIRST ROUND WIDE RECEIVERS ARE GOOD.

Professor: Matt Millen

Any WR drafted is better than no WRs drafted at all.

Professor: ThunderDan

[ThunderDan]

^^^^

Especially when you have Allison, Lazard, Kumerow, MVS and Shepherd behind Devante Adams.

[Upnorth]

That is the most flattering appraisal of Love i have read. I hope it is right.

[Bretsky]

Hoodie isn't giving up multiple round 1 picks

Nope, and odds are Gutebag wouldn't get multiples either

[mraynrand]

^^^^

Especially when you have Allison, Lazard, Kumerow, MVS and Shepherd behind Devante Adams.

Wait you know Geronimo is gone and Funchess is in, right? Many don’t agree with me, but I think it’s a big deal. Of course he was only a second rounder, so Matt Millen would be displeased.

[ThunderDan]

Wait you know Geronimo is gone and Funchess is in, right? Many don’t agree with me, but I think it’s a big deal. Of course he was only a second rounder, so Matt Millen would be displeased.

Yes, and Funchess hasn't really played in over a year. I hope it is a good pick up but until I see him playing well and healthy I am skeptical. Funchess's best year was 60+ catches. Better than the shit we had on our roster last year (except Lazard at the end) but not by a lot.

[mraynrand]

Yes, and Funchess hasn't really played in over a year. I hope it is a good pick up but until I see him playing well and healthy I am skeptical. Funchess's best year was 60+ catches. Better than the shit we had on our roster last year (except Lazard at the end) but not by a lot.

I’m skeptical too, but his ceiling is way above Geronimo.

[yetisnowman]

"With the swagger of Matt Ryan"

Fuck it. Now I'm sold.

Edit
Apologies for paraphrasing and using quotes

[mraynrand]

"With the swagger of Matt Ryan"

Fuck it. Now I'm sold.

Edit
Apologies for paraphrasing and using quotes

In fairness, I think it was supposed to read 'stagger'