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I’ve said it before, but the bigger thing imo is that he was recruited by a top school. Even made their team. And then transferred away because he wasn’t going to start over a player who probably doesn’t have much of an NFL career. Most transfers with the talent to play in the NFL go to other big programs.
That's a really good point. I forgot that he was initially offered at Florida but wasn't that to be an RB and not a QB?
He was a backup QB at Auburn for two years. During the two years, he completed 11 of 14 passes for 69 yards with a touchdown and rushed for 309 yards and two touchdowns.
Sorry I was referring to McNair not Willis for FL. McNair could have went to Florida but they wanted him to play RB.
I think a team/coach/gm is signing your firing papers drafting this kid in the first. Everything I have seen is he is miles away from getting up to speed and even then not sure if he can go from Libertys "elementary" offense to a complicated NFL one. At the end of the day, when a team is in the playoffs its still a pocket passer league
What in his history indicates an ability to improve with coaching? He could not lead Auburn’s offense. The offense at Liberty was limited at best. He genuinely seems like a quality person with physical talent, but it would be really surprising to see him lead an NFL team to the playoffs, let alone a SB victory.
I don't consider myself a detractor but because of the strength of this QB class I expect him to get over drafted. That is a big deal BECAUSE I think Willis is the type of guy that could benefit from NFL coaching. Seems to me that he could really benefit from a Mahomes type situations where he sits his entire first year(except maybe the last game of the season) but because he's likely to be drafted early due to his high ceiling he'll be forced onto the field, probably by a non-playoff team which means he won't have a lot of talent around him to succeed.
Jim McMahon stuck out to me because it was always crazy to me that his personality came out of a Utah school.
The audible pod 31 from last week does a nice job of teasing out the Allen comp and the issues with it from Matt's pov.
And just so you know I wasn't trying to be especially snarky there. Many of the pre draft assessment of Willis could have been pulled directly from the Josh Allen pre draft analysis. Successful.... at a small school. Trouble with consistent accuracy. Strong arm. Mobile. Ball security issues. Needs to improve decision making. They look different due to size but their success stylistically is kind of similar. If it's a copy cat league I can see people reaching for Willis bases solely on his possible ceiling.
He needs to sit a year so he should be drafted by someone with a decent placeholder where he won't get rushed onto the field. This will also buy the coach/gm another year in case he can't get up to speed.
Don't you think the only way he sits through half the season is if he falls to pick #32 or something like that?
Can you give us a thumb-nail explanation of their arguments for discussion?
Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, Chad Pennington. Seems like there were more. I’m going to have to look it up now. I’m sure there were more.
Maybe not that many as I am looking. Charlie Frye, Charlie Batch, Bruce Gradkwoski, we’re floating around the NFL around that time.
Waldman. Had to do with the ‘football instincts’ when things go awry. JA bad games he was still taking off and making football plays reflective of an attempt to continue an engagement and understanding of the overall field / playcall dynamic. Vs when Willis takes off, his mental process diverted to escape with athleticism, often directly into a worse rush situation, then if he escaped, having to look back upfield and re engage with the football play/ scheme.
If you substitute Texas Tech for Liberty in the above paragraph, could you apply the same logic to Mahones.
Honestly, If someone with Reid’s acumen goes after Willis, I’ll probably change my opinion of his potential. Closest I see to that happening is Tomlin. Smith doesn’t have the same respect but it would be interesting to see if the falcons go after him when they have a really good shot at their choice next year. Should be fun to see what happens.
MAC is no joke. The best WR of the last 10 years came from Central Michigan. The NFL sack leader last year is from Eastern Michigan. Corey Davis was the 5th overall pick out of Western Michigan. Eric Fisher was the 1.01 out of Central Michigan. Kareem Hunt is from Toledo. Plus we some legends like Michael Turner, Antonio Gates, Greg Jennings, James Harrison, Jason Taylor, Randy Moss, Jack Lambert.
The only point I can make in the favor of Willis here is to question the supporting cast around him. Was the talent around him good enough to run a more complex offense? Could he trust his OL to give him time? Did he have players who could get open, break tackles, etc?
Yeah this is tough to explain away. I think we have to assume Auburn's coaching staff missed the boat here. Their QB play has been bad the last couple years. The fact that Willis is going to be a first round pick in the draft is enough to say that the Auburn coaching staff totally botched their QB room by not building the offense around Willis. Liberty is a small program but HC Hugh Freeze is a very experienced football coach so I am sure he was able to sell the program. Plus, I did hear Willis say after things not working out at Auburn, the idea of playing pro football wasn't even on his radar. So there is a good chance he just chose Liberty because he liked Freeze or liked the campus or liked the religious aspect.
As soon as they signed Trubisky I thought that Willis was going to PItt. My thoughts were they install a mobile QB friendly system and let Trubisky run the ship for a year while Willis learns and gets familiar with the offense. Then he is ready to take over next year. I didn't really see any other reason they signed Trubisky.
wasn’t behind Bama’s line but wasn’t playing against SEC corners and edge rushers.
