A quick reminder on what Greg Cosell said about Ryan Lindley

Before the 2012 draft, Greg Cosell called Ryan Lindley "the most intriguing" quarterback in the draft and that he'd thrown "more NFL throws than any quarterback (I've) evaluated on film."

More intriguing that Luck, Wilson, RGIII and the rest in that 2012 group.

Greg Cosell ladies and gentlemen.

I like cosell, and I feel like he is right more than he is wrong when it comes to his nfl insights. Though, when it comes to college scouting, dude leaves me shaking my head.

Cosell is good with All-22 stuff, but yeah, he doesn't seem to be the best at predicting which college players will translate their skills to the NFL.

He should have looked at Lindley's lower half. Guys' got legs like Peter Pan. Even Steven Haushka looks like a beast next to Lindley.

The only guy that hasn't screwed up completely on draft picks is the guy that sits at home and evaluates drafts years after the fact......

mikeak":22w873pz said:

The only guy that hasn't screwed up completely on draft picks is the guy that sits at home and evaluates drafts years after the fact......

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He must be doing something right then.

It's easy to get overzealous on a late round QB prospect. I do it pretty much every year, and almost all of them have become nobodies. Adrian McPherson and Zach Collaros come immediately to mind for me, among others.

What did he say about Logan Thomas haha?

I heard he is built like Cam, has the head of Wilson, the precision of Rodgers, the pre snap understanding of Peyton... At least that's the rumor.....

I listen to Cosell on the herd every Thursday, and until last week he refused to recognize RW. Instead he would speak glowingly about every other QB and player in the NFL. I don't begrudge him for it, he's just playing to the crowd, but his break downs suffer from doing that. He tries to hard to please and misses points because of it.

Ryan Lindley: The San Diego State quarterback was a compelling study. He ran a pro offense, with the focus on five- and seven-step drops, and play action. No quarterback I evaluated attempted, and made, more big-time intermediate to deeper NFL-type throws. He was very decisive as a pocket passer. The ball came out without hesitation. If you spliced together his 25 best throws from the 2011 season — and did the same for all the passers in this draft — Lindley would have the biggest “wow” factor, without question. There were issues, however. The primary red flag was erratic accuracy, both imprecise ball location and wildly scattershot throws. He also was uncomfortable in the eye of the storm; when the pocket got muddied, his efficiency and accuracy were negatively impacted. I will be fascinated to see where Lindley gets drafted. I have spoken to some coaches who see a lot to work with.

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http://nflfilms.nfl.com/2012/04/10/cose ... the-rough/

Why the hate? His comments weren't that outlandish at the time.

To some people, late round draft prospects are more intriguing than first round picks. You know exactly what Luck was at the next level - an amazing, NFL ready QB. That certainly has to take some of the intrigue our of the evaluation process. RG3 was a Heisman winner, also a lock for the first round.

He missed on Wilson, obviously, but who didn't?

Lindley was 6'3 230 lbs with a strong arm and projected to go around the 4th. His upside at that point in the draft was intriguing. It's sort of like the intrigue of a 6'4 receiver who runs a 4.4 but doesn't have the NFL polish or the defensive end who's only been playing for a a couple years but is a 6'6 290 lb athletic freak.

His comments on NFL-throws aren't that out of the box, either. Rg3 didn't run an NFL offense. He rarely took a snap under center and that Baylor offense wasn't based on any deep timing routes. Wilson ran an NFL offense, but ran it similar to how he does now. Not a lot of attempts and wasn't a typical pocket QB.

ringless":8o3vy55i said:

What did he say about Logan Thomas haha?

I heard he is built like Cam, has the head of Wilson, the precision of Rodgers, the pre snap understanding of Peyton... At least that's the rumor.....

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Sounds like you'll find out Sunday if those evaluations are true.

*shrugs*

I remember some people around here being that high on Ryan Mallett.

Respectfully, English, I used to think it was fun to hold your feet to the fire on what you have said about draft picks. I got over it. And then I actually began to learn from most, though not all, that you write about guys. Even if I don't respect the take, I know how much time you put into it, and I respect that.

I am guessing Cosell likewise puts a lot of time into it. His takes about the Seattle offense have not been popular here, but they have been pretty accurate.

RolandDeschain":seifalcq said:

*shrugs*

I remember some people around here being that high on Ryan Mallett.

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Guilty.

Still made some of the most insane throws look routine though. If he didn't have an iq of 70, who knows.

I think Cosell is awesome. I love listening to him breaking down video and evaluating players. He forgets more every day than I'll ever know.

I don't think I've ever disagreed with any of Cosell's NFL observations. His NFL breakdowns are consistently great reads. They are incredibly informative... it's clear he knows what he's talking about with regards to established NFL players.

That said, the guy absolutely sucks at eyeing talent, pretty much 100% of the time. In the last five years I honestly can't think of a single prospect I hated that he liked and was wrong about.

And that's okay, we can't all be good at everything. I think what English is getting at is that there are a lot of people out there who worship at the altar of Cosell come draft time, without realizing how completely awful his track record in the draft has been.

Regarding Lindley, he was the same QB in college that he's been in the pros, one of the worst QBs I've ever seen that got draft hype. Every now and then, there's a bad prospect who makes good like Andy Dalton or Nick Foles, but Lindley was way below their level, IMO.

I think the reason that Cosell is so bad at evaluation is because he appears to be the type of guy that believes the draft is purely luck based. If you subscribe to this concept, then you wouldn't look for the best QBs, but rather for the QBs with the best traits in the most important areas and hope to get lucky. Basically, he is the perfect opposite of John Schneider, who follows some physical criteria but generally searches for players with high end intangibles first and foremost.

Trrrroy":3sh4jx9e said:

Guilty.

Still made some of the most insane throws look routine though. If he didn't have an iq of 70, who knows.

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That's the problem; since NFL QB is like 90% between the ears, college tape is frankly of limited value, IMO.

Mallett was a smart QB in college, even X's and O's guru Cosell himself said that Mallett was "the most NFL ready quarterback" in the 2011 draft.

If Mallett is dumb, he is dumb in a Big Ben way, by getting in trouble off the field. But on the field, he ran an pro-style offense at Arkansas and showed that he could manipulate a secondary while sporting one of the best arms in all of football.

The big knock on Mallett, aside from character concerns and rumored cocaine abuse, was that he was a statue in the pocket and was overly affected by pass rush pressure. For him to succeed, he'd need to find a team with an elite pass protecting line and a coaching staff that could take advantage of his polish.

Back in 2011, the Pats were coming off a season in which they boasted the best OL in football. The Seahawks had one of the very worst offensive lines in the league that season. JS took Mallett completely off his draft board, and instead drafted two offensive lineman. The team with the best OL, New England, drafted Mallett in the 3rd round.

It was a solid calculation by Belichick, but unfortunately Mallett never grasped his opportunity there. There was a reason why half the teams in the league took him off their boards, and by year three New England was getting fairly obvious in their attempts to showcase Mallett for trade purposes.

I spent a lot of time evaluating receivers this last year. It's my opinion, but there was no one on this board who had that WR class figured out better than me. Now I only say that because during the draft season, I listened to a couple podcast that Cosell did on the receiver groups and he was describing every receiver exactly as I saw it and in hindsight with a couple of prospects had them figured out even better.

There were a few prospects out of that class who were often argued that would fail that Cosell was confident about succeeding. Benjamin, Cooks, Moncrief, and Bryant to be specific. You can go back and listen to these podcast and its even even more impressive on how well he knew the strengths and weakness of each of these guys along with the rest of the class and how their game would translate to the next level.

Now I don't track the success rate of "professional" evaluators and I'm surprised people think they properly can, but if Cosell can grade and scout the rest of the positions as well as he did the 2014 rookie receiver class than he deserves all the attention he gets.