A thought on Collin Klein

After watching some of Klein on youtube, I am a little surprised that he is being considered a likely late round QB. He has basically a lot of the same qualities that made Brock Osweiler a 2nd round pick last year.

Klein "pushes" the ball when he throws it and doesn't show a ton of arm strength. He has a funky delivery too although many QBs in recent years have shown that if your delivery is fast enough, then it's doesn't matter as much what it looks like. Klein gets the ball out fast enough.

The thing I noticed about Klein though is that he rarely steps into throws. If he did, it would improve his velocity. Ask any pitcher and they'd tell you that lower and middle body muscles are the real force behind their 95 mph fastball. If his arm strength improves and he learns to sell a pump fake better, he would actually be a fairly complete QB- basically like a more consistent Osweiler. And for a guy that has such a fixable looking throwing problem, I was surprised to see that his footwork was actually pretty good. Good footwork is typically more uncommon in college than good throwing mechanics.

I'm not really a huge fan of Klein per se, but when I watch him I don't see why he should be any lower than Tyler Bray or Landry Jones on anyone's draft board.

Finding non-highlight footage of him from this year wasn't easy either (I only found his game from Kansas earlier this year)- indicating that most people just don't consider him to be much of a factor on draft day. I did find this gem though:

[youtube]5sUuOTYS2Po[/youtube]

Again, I'm not advocating for Klein, I just think it's curious how one fixable flaw could cause Klein to be a late rounder instead of a 2nd rounder. Could this be a case like last year where draftniks are really underestimating his draft stock, as they did for Martin and Tannehill last year?

Did draftniks underrated Tannehill and Martin? I think most people were projecting Tannehill top-ten (I didn't think he should go that early) and Martin was very much a first round talent - I think the lowest he was projected was early second.

It's worth noting that Klein hasn't even been invited to the Senior Bowl, which says a lot given his success at Kansas State and high profile. I don't see the comparison to Osweiler, who was technically a very good passer and had a lot of pro-qualities - decent arm strength, striking accuracy at times, unmatched mobility for a guy that tall. What he didn't have was a great resume in college or ideal throwing mechanics, but a low release point at 6-7 isn't such a big deal. I'm not surprised a guy like Elway chose him in round two.

Klein reminds me of a poor-man's Tebow. Funky mechanics, not a great arm. More of an athlete and facilitator. Personally I think there's a chance he goes UDFA. And the Senior Bowl snub doesn't help.

Most sites had Martin listed in round 4 this time last year. It wasn't until February at the combine or senior bowl (or maybe late January) that some NFL analyst (Mike Mayock?) basically broke the news that Martin was getting 1st round hype in NFL circles and everyone quickly fell in line.

Tannehill was assumed to have badly hurt his draft stock after a tough senior season. You did a great job being ahead of the curve on that one when you found an obscure article which showed that scouts still found him to be a top 15 talent. Most people assumed Tannehill would go 2nd round- maybe late 1st. When he went 8th overall, people laughed. They shouldn't have. He was rated very high by a lot of front offices. If he had lasted to #12, he might be a Seahawk right now.

I am surprised that Klein wasn't invited to the senior bowl. You compare him to Tim Tebow, and I get why, but Tebow was not fixable. I think Klein probably is. Again, I'm not a fan of his really, but I wasn't a fan of Osweiler either, and I thought Osweiler had obvious NFL potential if things broke right. That's how I feel about Klein too. If some team gets him to step into his throws and gives him the same kind of read option offense that Carroll/Harbaugh/Shanahan have used to help their mobile QBs, I could see him being a legitimate prospect.

You are probably right though. Groupthink can be devastating. Klein could go undrafted because evaluators never learn to dig a little deeper, and very few coaches possess the kind of imagination that Carroll has at QB. They always assume that guys like Brady or Wilson are just flukes and continue on their business. Not that I think Klein is anywhere near that good, I'm just puzzled that he is being thrown out of consideration for so little. I wouldn't draft him personally because there are many other QBs I like much more, but I like him a lot more than a lot of guys that have been drafted the last few years (Lindley, Skelton, Dan Lefevour etc).