Bradford/Clausen now split among Mock Drafts

Basically in Clausen, I see a sound prospect (more sound than Bradford) that is a medium efficiency player (like Cutler, McNabb, Campbell, Flacco) who makes a lot of bad plays (more in the past than in 2009) and isn't really tuned in to the quarterback minutae that can seperate the franchise players from the expendable players. For a team that doesn't have any sort of passing game, he's a major upgrade, and for those (like Washington) who have an efficient passing game that needs an extra boost to get over that hump, he's not the part that will get you there.

Nicely written article GTripp! I agree that in this particular draft class, the best QB may turn out to be one taken after the top three are gone. I don't see either one being worth the risk of a #4 pick. They MAY turn out great, but IMO they have just as much chance of being the 3rd or 4th best QB's chosen in this draft.

The debate between Clausen and Bradford as the potential first round pick of the Skins is a ho-hummer to me. That's because I'm not convinced that any QB in this draft is worth a first round pick to the Skins.

I haven't been a supporter of Jason Campbell as our starting QB but the way he handled all of the adversity that was heaped on him last season and still had his best season has made me reconsider. I now think that he might be just fine as our starting QB.

I'd prefer to see us trade down in the first round and pick up another first day pick. Then I'd like to see us take a QB in the second round. I like either Zac Robinson or Tim Tebow.

I've never seen Robinson have a bad game. He is a very accurate passer, he's got good size, and he's athletic enough for the NFL. I like him a lot.

And I love Tim Tebow as a developmental QB. He is a winner. He's an unbelieveable physical specimen and a top athlete. He reminds me a lot of Big Ben in the way he can shake off tacklers and buy time to make big plays downfield. I think Tebow could be outstanding after a couple of years as a backup. Nobody will study more or work harder than Tim Tebow.

I'm hoping to go o-line with our top 2 picks, and use a later round pick on a QB to groom for the future. This draft has good depth along the OL so we could easily come out of it with 2 rookie starters at the very least.

adverse conditions = when his team is not the decisive advantage. So, you'd throw out the Washington State game, throw out the Purdue game, the Nevada game, the 200(9) Hawaii Bowl. Specifically, I'm looking at those Boston College games and Navy games when Clausen struggles to adjust to teams that take away the deep ball and make him throw underneath. His inability to sustain drives.I didn't get to see the BC and Navy games this year, but his numbers looked pretty good. I know in the Navy game he made a couple of key turnovers (fumble/INT), but I wouldn't discount the season he had for two bad plays in the Navy game. This certainly wasn't his trend this year.

Freely admitting that this is something he got better with over time, Clausen has a tendency to have second half struggles against teams who can adjust to whatever Weis wanted to attack them with in the first half. I think it was a big part of ND's end-of-year swoon, personally. Not as big as the defensive woes, obviously, but Clausens efficiency certainly declined in the second half of the season.His numbers don't show that. He had 2 INTs in the first half of the season and 2 in the second half. His Comp % was better in the second half of the year. His QB rating was 177.83 in the first half if you include the Nevada game when he threw 18 passes / 4TDs / 0 INTs. It was 152.80, not including that game. In the second half of the year his QB rating was 162.

But basically, my concerns with him are that his 62% completion percentage doesn't really off-set the negatives you have to take when you draft him. I think if he completed 67% of his passes at ND, then yeah, he'd be franchise QB material despite a high sack rate and mediocre win percentage. At 62% and 34 college starts, that's first round quality, but not anything we haven't seen in the past.You're looking at overall career 62% completion %, but if you look at his Junior season he completed 68% of his passes. So based on that, you agree that he's franchise QB material, correct?

Well written article, I don't agree with the assessment of Clausen, but the article was very good.

I posted these in another thread, Matt McGuire hits the nail on the head in his evaluation of Clausen IMO.

WalterFootball.com: The NFL Matt Draft - Matt McGuire's NFL Draft Blog (http://walterfootball.com/mattblog091229.php)

WalterFootball.com: 2010 NFL Draft Mailbag (http://walterfootball.com/draftmailbag2010_clausen2.php)

I'm hoping to go o-line with our top 2 picks, and use a later round pick on a QB to groom for the future. This draft has good depth along the OL so we could easily come out of it with 2 rookie starters at the very least.

Trade down pick a highly rated OT and then go for Iupati followed by either RB or QB.

Trade down pick a highly rated OT and then go for Iupati followed by either RB or QB.

I'm all for trading down providing we can find a partner, unless they think Russell Okung is the man at #4. I relish the idea of the extra pick (s).

From what I've seen of Clausen, I'd agree with Matt McGuire that he is the most NFL-ready QB in the draft. I wasn't aware of how well his numbers compare to the college Jr. year numbers of some of the top NFL QB's. That is very impressive.

The one criticism of Clausen I don't understand is the complaint that he is cocky. I like athletic arrogance, especially in a QB. If the complaint were that he is so cocky that he is too full of himself to work hard and improve himself as a player, then I would understand. But it's not. It's just that he's cocky. Joe Theismann was a cocky NFL QB and he was also a good one.

I'm hoping to go o-line with our top 2 picks, and use a later round pick on a QB to groom for the future. This draft has good depth along the OL so we could easily come out of it with 2 rookie starters at the very least.The NFL is a QB league, if we can get a franchise QB, we've got to get him. If we look at the Conference championships, who are the QBs; Manning, Brees, Favre, Sanchez (#1 D, #1 Rushing O). Look at the division round; Warner, Rivers, Flacco (excellent D, excellent run game), Romo (Cowpuke, he just sucks and is the exception). So unless a team can build a dominant defense and develop a dominant running game, a franchise-type QB is needed to win in the playoffs.

The only franchise QB in this draft IMO is Clausen. If STL grabs him, then we definitely go OL or trade down and get even more OL and help elsewhere.

We needed a new thread for this?