TheBrownBear

No way. Fitz was a serviceable starting QB in this league. We will suck ass in a big way this season unless we hit on our "QB of the future" draft pick. Based on the QBs that are out there, I'm going to go with "suck ass in a big way this season."

You don't break the bank for a guard.

He didn't run a lot in college, but you could see his athleticism when he did. He ran a respectable 40 time at the combine and he posted nice numbers in the cone and shuttle drills. He's not a gazelle like Kaepernick. He's more along the lines of a Donovan McNabb type - just not as polished coming out of college.

I watched most of his games last year. He had some really big games and a couple total stinkers. Athletic and throws a nice ball. I think he's a little raw, but he's a nice developmental prospect who could end up as a good NFL starter if he can clean up some of his mechanics and master the mental side of the game. I could see him rising into the third round and wouldn't mind seeing him as a mid round selection for the Bills.

Draft Patterson this year and fill the holes at linebacker in the 2nd/3rd rounds this year and next. Cut Fitzpatrick and replace him with an even bigger loser or total project QB like a Skelton who will be guaranteed to lose a ton of games. Draft the top QB in 2014 and you are good to go for the foreseeable future.

Living in SoCal, I get to see a ton of these Southern Cal guys in college. I liked Sanchez much more than Barkley coming out of college, but Barkley should have more of an impact in the pros than a guy like Leinert did. I'm less concerned with Barkley's arm strength than I am with his leadership/mental fortitude qualities. He was the undisputed leader of the preseason #1 team in the country and the best he could do was lead them to a 7-4 record. And three of his worst performances came on the biggest stages (Stanford, Oregon and the rivalry game against UCLA). Still, he's polished and throws an accurate ball so I think Barkley could step in and be an improvement over Fitzpatrick, but I don't view him as an elite guy you want to hang your hat on for the next ten years.

I don't think he threw more than two or three passes in the second half since Baylor was routing UCLA by halftime. He looked fantastic basically every time the ball was in his hands. Impressed me far more than any of the Pac-12 QBs I had seen in person this past year at the Rose Bowl (I caught Matt Scott and Barkley during perhaps their worst performances of the season). It's all moot though, since he's announced he is not going to pursue a career in the NFL.

I saw this guy in person at the Holiday Bowl and boy did he impress me. I knew nothing about him but he came out and dominated the first half of play. Made every throw in the book and had total command of the pocket and his offense. Looked like a really mobile guy too. Would love if we took a flyer on him as a late round pick or UDFA.

Kaepernick's ball is sick. I mean those things were like freaking lasers coming out of his hand. I think I have a mancrush on his arm...lol.

I've chatted with Rob a couple of times at the gym out here in SoCal (this was back in '09 I think) and he's a good dude (even if he is an SC guy). His performance at San Diego in 2001 still goes down as the biggest display of toughness I've ever seen from a QB in person. He was getting killed on pretty much every snap and he kept leading us back when it appeared SD had dealt us the death blow. We ended up losing that game to Flutie when Arians missed a 40 yarder as time expired. Overall though, he just didn't have the "it" factor that it takes to be a good NFL QB.

Agree with you on the logic. My gut tells me this is another crap hire, but it's still stupid to assign "grades" to these hires when we dont' have a clue how they will turn out. It's really all about the "hot" names. I'm sure Saban and Spurrier and Ditka (Saints) and so on were considered "A" hires way back when. I wonder what the grades were for unknowns like John Harbaugh or retreads like Bill Belichek or Marv Levy.

I don't think it's tarnished, but it's been lessened to a degree. As far as play on the field, not much has changed. They beat a lot of teams in the early 2000's with scheme and execution, but the NFL caught on to the fact that they were a finesse team on both sides of the ball and that the way to beat them was just to out-physical them (aka rough them up a bit). They've been able to maintain their regular season success because today's NFL is mostly a finesse league, but there's a few teams that are built with that old school physical mentality that trip them up in the postseason (losses to Giants/Ravens and Jets in 2010). The window is open as long as Brady remains elite, so maybe two or three years more at max.

I'd rather we sign or draft a TE that actually knows how to play TE and has the skills for the position.

Bingo!

Like SJBF said, he reminds me a bit of Trent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Trent had tools, just not the brain/guts. I think he's worth a late first or early second.

Lol...I hope the Cowboys hire this guy. He submarined USC's season (to my delight I should add).

Involuntary eye-blinking/twitching can be caused by stress or exhaustion and excessive caffeine and/or alcohol consumption. Dude could just be exhausted and it's manifesting itself in the blinking. I know because I've had this crazy eyelid twitch thing going on for about two weeks now!

Lol...we get one of these Rivers threads every week it seems. I live in San Diego. If you like Ryan Fitzpatrick, then you'll love Phillip Rivers. Fitzpatrick went 0-5 in 4th quarter comeback situations. Guess who's the only guy to go 0-6?

I saw the Baylor kid in person and he looked like a nice late round or UDFA prospect. Good decision-making skills, accurate ball and fairly mobile.

I like this guy a lot. Unfortunately, there's no way Buffalo ends up with a guy this good.

I can't believe we could have had wilson instead of graham. Unbelievable.

Awesome! Guarantees us the opportunity to watch them extend the playoff-less streak to 19 years!

Is Hank Bullough still alive? Seriously, David Shaw would be number 1 on my list as a GM.

carol is a grade A d%ckead. Not that everyone in the world didn't know that already. He pulled that kind o chit all the time at USC.

Wrong. It does matter. And there's something called the long term view and strategic planning. If you are a long term view fan than it makes sense to hope your team loses out once they've been eliminated from the playoffs, so you can give yourself the best shot of improving your team in the offseason and ensuring greater success (i.e. "more winning") in the future. Long term view fans are likely educated and successful, or at least currently on the journey to achieving these things. Short term view fans want to win every game possible, regardless of future repercussions. They lack the ability to delay gratification for a greater future prize. They are likely less educated, less financially successful, and unhealthy/obese.