Stanzi evaluation not universally shared; Wes Bunting, director of college scouting for the National Football Post, tweeted: I think that #Iowa QB Ricky Stazni has been best North QB down here...very composed, spins clean football #NFLDRAFT
Wes Bunting appears to be picking underdogs and hammering the favorites in the hopes that he could be right and get a little pub in the future. He doesn't like Gabbert or Locker but thinks that Stanzi and Kaepernick could be better? Come on. We've all seen Stanzi play for 2 1/2 yrs. He doesn't have accuracy and he doesn't have a strong arm.
Read this article and you tell me if you disagree with much - it's from today:
Jake Locker showed a lot today. He has such great mechanics and it really jumped out in comparison to Ricky Stanzi and Colin Kaepernick. Very natural, fluid motion throughout his setup and release. He looks comfortable taking the snap and scanning the field. And his accuracy today was improved. On a rollout drill Locker was very confident throwing across his body and kept his feet under him when delivering the ball, something the other two QBs didn’t do once. In a red zone drill he consistently fired the ball high to the back line (as designed) with real zip but also catchable balls.
One thing that continues to plague him is throwing sideline routes, particularly to his right. He is consistently well off target on almost every route where the receiver is within about 3 yards of the sideline, as if he’s trying to aim it too much instead of just throwing it. Wednesday was a better demonstration of why some are so very high on him, but I want to see him throw with that sort of ease and accuracy more consistently. Bonus points earned for his positive and encouraging attitude.
The more I watched Ricky Stanzi, the less I liked him. To quote one QB coach standing within earshot, “he’s got a slow armâ€. What that means: His windup and over-the-top shoulder delivery take too much time to get the ball out. It’s not much of an issue on longer throws and in drills, but in live action reps his delivery gives the defense an extra step to read him. It makes him have to gun the ball harder and he loses accuracy and touch when he does so. He also tended to stare down his target, both in drills and live reps. He does throw the best sideline ball of the 3 and he slides forward in the pocket better than his peers, but from what I’ve seen the last two days he’s nothing more than a marginal #2 NFL QB.
Colin Kaepernick is a very different kind of QB. The thing that stands out is his happy feet--he’s always bouncing on his toes but does so with stiff knees, a stark contrast to Locker’s very natural pocket stance. Kaepernick has clearly learned to play this way and I’m sure it’s some function of playing in the offense he did at Nevada. That pistol/read option background reared its ugly head a few times today, when he quickly took off when rushed instead of letting his receivers do some work. But one time he slid to his right to buy time and delivered a strike to Dane Sanzebacher on a deep cross that was exactly where the ball needed to be. Bottom line: he needs a lot of work on NFL-style offense, but the potential is there to become a starting-caliber QB for an offense tailored to his strengths. He’s comparable to Drew Stanton at the same point (who was a 2nd rounder), though his accuracy is better than the Lions backup.
Read more:
RealGM Football: Wiretap Archives: Senior Bowl Notebook: Wednesday North Practice
