Who is Blaine Gabbert anyway?

[Dennis in NC]

Someone posted this article in another thread. This sold me on Blaine Gabbert as being worthy of pick #3.

 

Gabbert has a brain for football

[beast34]

The comparisons people are making to Bradford are incredible. The consistency of accuracy isn't even close.

 

Bradford completed over 67% of his throws on 3rd down, Gabbert 44%.

Bradford threw twice as many TD's in 2008 than Gabbert did in his best year, more than 3X than Gabbert did last year;

In Bradford's freshman year, he threw a third more TD's than Gabbert did in his best year;

Bradford was first or second in the nation in passer rating, Gabbert was 5th or 6th in the Big 12.

 

When you watched them play, Bradford rarely threw a bad pass, it was on time, it was on the money, you didn't have receivers sitting around waiting, coming back to the ball, or diving. A guy with that type of accuracy doesn't come along every year. Its a gift. Its like watching a baseball pitcher nail the corner of the plate consistently. You sit back and say, "how the hell is this guy doing this?"

 

I can't say the same about Gabbert. Watch the Nebraska game sometime and see how many passes he missed. Even the Oklahoma game, which was actually a good game for him. He gets jittery and throws errant passes. That was REALLY apparent in the Nebraska game when they put pressure on him. He'll see a lot of that on Sundays. People act like he tore up the Big 12, when he was in fact, very average in a very pass happy conference.

 

 

I dunno, I have a hard time taking a QB at No. 3, who's best year in college, in the Big 12 no less, had one more TD pass, in the NFL, than the guy you want him to replace. If his ceiling is as high as people think it is, he certainly hasn't shown it to date.

 

You take a guy like that, you end up playing him early, and then you will start hearing the excuses. "Oh, he doesn't have the WR's, he doesn't have the line, he doesn't have the running game, we're running the wrong scheme for him".

 

We went through 3 years of this with Edwards. I really don't want to go through that again. Not with Gabbert at least.

There were also concerns with Bradford when he was drafted due to his shoulder injury, his durability and toughness were questioned as well as his inability to escape a big hit.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

I watch a decent amount of CFB and I had obviously seen and heard of Newton, Locker, even Dalton and Ponder. All of a sudden the end of the NFL season comes around and everyone is talking about Gabbert. I think he is an agent and media creation.

 

To a certain extent, I think you're correct. He certainly has been carefully packaged. His family has been able and willing to support their son's NFL ambitions with the best coaching, the best PR, and the best agents.

 

The "real" part is that Gabbert is attracting attention because of his physical ( "he looks like you want your quarterback to look") and reported mental attributes (quick study, great pattern recognition, able to quickly apply what he learns).

 

 

Is he even good? I'm genuinely asking the SW groups opinion here. Has anyone seen him play? Is he better than Newton as some suggest?

 

Personally, I'm underimpressed. I liked Chase Daniel a lot better as a Mizzou QB, and he went underafted. Caveat: I don't follow college ball in enough depth to separate out the impact of the talent on the rest of the team.

Some people say Daniel had a better team around him, and that may well be true.

 

I don't think he's shown himself to be better than Newton in any way, except in escaping the "1 year Wonder" tag. I think people would like to believe he's "Newton or Mallet without the Character Questions" - no implications of cheating or drug use, no stolen laptops found in his room. True. On the other hand, there are quite a few students who are squeaky clean and have great character, the question is can they play pro football.

[KOKBILLS]

Gabbert was a consensus 2nd round pick at the end of the college football season. He catapulted to 1st round status when Luck decided to stay in school. I can't understand how you can make a jump from the 2nd to 1st round (maybe first overall) without taking a snap. Theres a lot of PR going on here.....buyer beware. I would go with any of the above QB's before Gabbert. I don't think the Bills will be that foolish but I wouldn't put anything past them.

 

That is an INCREDIBLY misinformed statement...There is so much ridiculous speculation/opinion in that statement it's really not worth a reply...Gabbert used the tool the NFL gives every underclassmen and was told he was a high 1st Round Prospect...It's got nothing to do with Andre Luck...Have you even watched a freaking game that Gabbert has played?

 

There was a reason Modrak and The Bills Brass spent so much time Scouting Gabbert this past Season...And it's not because he was a 2nd Round Prospect...Mike Mayock has him rated the #5 Overall Prospect in this Draft and that guy does not overrate ANYONE due to hype...Charlie Casserly says Gabbert is a better Prospect coming out than Mark Sanchez or Joe Flacco was...Michael Lombardi thinks Gabbert should be the #1 Overall Pick this year...It's not PR...Watch the tape...Here I'll get you started...

It's not Gabberts best Game either...He makes a VERY bad decision in the 4th Quarter that costs Missouri the Game...But you can't deny the way the Kid flings the ball around, as smart as he is, as hard as he works, as athletic as he is, he's got big-time potential...He's definitely a Top 15 Prospect QB in ANY NFL Draft... Edited April 24, 2011 by KOKBILLS

[C.Biscuit97]

and 16 tds in a very down Big 12. Gabbert doesn't excite me in the least. However, if he is the pick, I'd trust in Gailey.

[purple haze]

No one heard of him because no one thought he was coming out early so he wasn't on the radar but once he gave hints about coming out he ascended to the the top where he rightfully belongs.

 

Nobody knew if Luck was coming out early either. Folks assumed he would. He never said he was. But his play kept his name at the top of the conversation.

Nobody knew Newton either. His play put him at the top of the conversation with Luck. Gabbert's play wasn't that hot. He was good, but hardly top 10 good.

[Buffaloed in Pa]

Trent with feet.

[VADC Bills]

This kid scares me. Trent with speed ? When I watch him run he looks Timid. Newton does not. Not that I`m a Newton fan. Gabbert is said to get nervous with pressure also. Not good with our line. Please draft D,Darius ,Fairley or Miller. I have a strong feeling it`s going to be Newton or Gabbert . Will we ever get another 1st round pick right?

Think Rob Johnson. He may become a good QB but the big knock on him is that he doesn't produce.

He has all the tools but he just doesn't produce. Not a big Newton fan but he does produce.

I'm all for Von Miller, he has produced in a 4-3 and 3-4 over the past 2 seasons.

Trust me the better QB will be drafted first.

[Buffaloed in Pa]

Think Rob Johnson. He may become a good QB but the big knock on him is that he doesn't produce.

He has all the tools but he just doesn't produce. Not a big Newton fan but he does produce.

I'm all for Von Miller, he has produced in a 4-3 and 3-4 over the past 2 seasons.

Trust me the better QB will be drafted first.

Right-On. With all the Defensive talent this year,lets go with that. We are not going to the super bowl or play-offs again Probably. So just go with a QB next year. Load up on D. Fitz is good enough for a couple years.

[mrags]

The question always comes down to whether your franchise is willing to take the risk of looking foolish by selecting a quarterback that doesn't become elite.

 

Those franchises that are scared of looking foolish are those that rebuild to 7-9 year in and year out.

 

Will Gabbert be an elite NFL quarterback? Unlikely. It's always unlikely. But it happens. Same with Cam Newton.

 

Take a chance and fail, or look the other way and languish in mediocrity.

you said it perfectly my friend. I agree. I have no idea if Newton or Gabbert will become the next studs at QB or if they will become the next J Russell or Ryan Leaf. But if we don't ever take a chance on one of these guys we will never find out and have our lame duck QBs that we have had for the last 10+ years. Losman is the only o e we ever took a shot on and to be honest he might have been a decent QB if he didn't have the dumbest coaching staff in the history of the league coaching him his entire career. Trent was the next biggest guy we took and he was still only a 3rd round pick. Honestly I feel the same way about Trent as I do about JP. They both had all the potential in the world and IMO they were both ruined by sub standard coaching. I feel much better about Nix and Gailey and feel if they think they can make one of these guys (and that includes Fitz) the next franchise QB I'm all for taking a shot.

If we never buy the tickets were never gonna get to Disneyland.

[KOKBILLS]

Think Rob Johnson. He may become a good QB but the big knock on him is that he doesn't produce.

 

 

Why does every potential QB have to compare one way or the other to RJ, Losman, or Edwards around here???...Pull you head out of the black hole that is Buffalo Bills Football and do a little homework before comparing a Kid like Gabbert to Rob freaking Johnson...No body, and I mean NO BODY in the know is comparing Gabbert to RJ...NO ONE...There is a reason Rob Johnson went in the 4th Round...Gabbert produced plenty in College...He threw for over 6800 yards and 40 TD's and was 18-8 in two years as a Starter at Missouri...That's right Missouri, not USC...Gabbert scored almost 20 points higher on the Wonderlic than RJ...he's just a WAY better Pro Prospect than RJ was...

 

I've heard Gabbert compared favorably to Matt Ryan...NOT Rob Johnson...

[San Jose Bills Fan]

youtube.com/watch?v=Ow-nGWXO570

and 16 tds in a very down Big 12. Gabbert doesn't excite me in the least. However, if he is the pick, I'd trust in Gailey.

Thanks for posting, CB.

 

After watching that 9 minute epic, it was hard to draw too many conclusions…but here goes (and I haven't done much video watching of Gabbert, yet).

 

Mizzou was down 3+ scores for most of that game. He was passing in catch-up mode facing mostly a stunting 4 man rush.

 

In honesty, his pass protection was spotty at best.

 

I was not terribly impressed with his pocket presence but it's possible that by this point in the season or possibly just that point in the game that he was shell-shocked (however some QBs never recover from that). He was trying to hang tough or get it out quickly but he was definitely jittery back there.

 

He was also not helped by some dropped passes.

 

You can see the physical talent.

 

Last thing, there were a few rushes down by the goal line where he didn't sell out to get into the end zone on plays where it looked like he should have made it. I understand that QBs in the best interests of the team and themselves have to protect themselves but to borrow from the most recent hockey lexicon, he didn't show the "want to" and the "compete" on those plays.

 

I wonder if Gabbert is the fiery leader and gutsy player that we Buffalo fans love in our athletes.

 

 

 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Bradford didn't have much more to work with than Claussen, yet he turned the Rams around. The gap in their pre-draft hype wasn't nearly as large as their on-field performance gap last yr. Bradford was the only sure pick QB in the draft last year...& I just don't see a sure pick this year at QB...which is why I agree with you...time to shore up our D.

 

Agree that Bradford was the only sure pick QB in the draft last year and that this year's QB crop, no one looks as sure.

Agree I would like to shore up our D.

 

Slight nit (My own version of "enough is enough"): can we leave with the Bradford-single-handedly-turned-Rams-around stuff?

Rams have drafted high for last 2 years - rebuilding OL and DL. 2nd year under a new head coach.

Panthers haven't even had a 1st round pick last 2 years.

In 2008 they traded up to pick Jeff Otah, who spent last year on IR

 

Yeah, Bradford had more to work with.

 

Also, what does "turned the team around" mean to you? Yeah, the Rams had a much better record at 7-9.

Around TBD, that's an unsatisfactory, losing record (ref. 2009)

Around the rest of the league, that would put them 3rd or 4th in any division but the NFC West.