The 2018 XFL Mock Draft - Quarterbacks

Last week, Jonah shot me a text that he would like to have a Fantasy XFL Draft. I kind of hemmed and hawed at the idea, as I really didn’t want to go through that pointless of an exercise. Then I realized that I really wasn’t doing anything more important with my life, and it would be hilarious when I selected LeBron James with my first pick and OJ Simpson with my second pick. Unfortunately, Jonah clarified that they would have to realistically be able to play in the league and not currently playing another professional sport. That screwed up my entire draft plan, but I did my best to recover.

Admittedly, both Jonah and I did minimal research before the draft and did all of our analysis during the draft. This meant that there was little rhyme or reason to any picks past the first two rounds. So instead of breaking this down round by round, we are going to go by position groups. We also only did a two-team league, because I cannot imagine finding enough nerds to have a 12 or 16 team XFL mock draft. We did do a whole 53-man roster, so you could imagine these guys being spread around across the league. Today, we start with the quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks
Team Jonah: Colin Kaepernick, Zach Mettenberger, Ryan Nassib

Team Joe: Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III, Rex Grossman

Joe: Although the picks usually didn’t matter, we did both select quarterbacks with our first pick. Jonah went with the obvious choice of Colin Kaepernick, so then I panicked and went with Johnny Manziel as my number one quarterback. Although Manziel was a pariah in the NFL, he will most certainly be a fan favorite in the XFL, as this league is all about attitude. 

But Manziel is definitely not guaranteed the starting spot. I brought in some great competition as I have RG3 who is likely a more athletic version of Johnny Football and would likely be considered the favorite for the starting position, although he will inevitably get injured so it won’t be hard for Manziel to see playing time.

On top of that, I have Rex Grossman. The wily veteran who just loves to sling it deep. He is the veteran presence that can let them know what it takes to make it to a Super Bowl.

Maybe the greatest thing about these quarterbacks is that I might have three of the highest selling jerseys in the entire XFL. Manziel’s jersey could say “Johnny Football,” “J Football,” or just straight, “Football.” Griffin has “RG3” on the back of his, but my top selling jersey will inevitably be Rex Grossman’s “Sex Cannon” jersey. Sure to be a hit with the kiddos.

Jonah: Believe it or not, I took this draft very seriously.  My original idea was that I could build a roster of players that would win a few games in the NFL with nothing but available players.  Then I realized the XFL was coming back so I could just build an XFL roster that would be as talented as the lower half of the NFL.  With that, Kaep was the obvious first pick in terms of football skill and marketability.  The guy could start for 5-10 teams in the NFL so he’s a no brainer, and you either love him or you hate him.  Either way people want to watch him succeed or fail.

Mettenberger is a favorite of mine.  I watched him play as a rookie in Tennessee and he was pretty average, but a rookie playing average on a terrible team is pretty good.  I’m very confused why he hasn’t gotten another shot.

My original XFL lineup included another quarterback who should be starting in the NFL, Matt Barkley.  He was signed by the Cardinals so Mettenberger moved up to backup and Nassib got a spot on my squad.  Nassib is talented, strong armed but short for a quarterback.  Another guy I’m surprised doesn’t have a roster spot somewhere in the NFL because at least he has potential to be good instead of the potential to not be terrible like some of the quarterbacks who keep getting paid.

Joe: One thing I worry about with Jonah’s team is that he’s likely going to have to depend on Mettenberger and Nassib as Kaepernick will inevitably be fired in a grand public display if he chooses to kneel during the national anthem. And buddy, you’re going to have to trade a whole lot if you want to get the Sex Cannon on your squad. 

Jonah: I love Mettenberger and Nassib has potential, plus there’s plenty of quarterbacks out there like your boy Ricky Stanzi or my boy Nathan Enderle, or everyone’s boy John David Booty.  As for your quarterbacks, Manziel and Griffin should still be in the NFL, well Griffin at least and Manziel has the ability.  I really hope Rex Grossman finds his way onto an XFL roster because I will bet you that against XFL competition he throws more picks than TDs.

Joe: That wraps up the quarterback talk. We should have something on running backs later this week.

The Most Overrated Quarterback In The 2011 NFL Draft

Blaine Gabbert is the most overrated prospect in the entire NFL Draft.  Somehow 90% of mainstream talent evaluators have blatantly ignored the serious flaws that he has as a quarterback.  What they see is a big, strong kid who runs well and can really spin a football.  Those are all good traits for a quarterback, and I can't deny any of them.

Most evaluators believe that his shining moment came against my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes.  He was 41-57 for 434 yards.  Clearly, those are impressive numbers.  But if you watched the game and tried to evaluate him as a prospect, it was not nearly as impressive as a performance.

The majority of his passes were five-yard outs and crossing patterns where he used his receivers' speed advantage on Iowa's linebackers.  These were very easy pitch-and-catch throws that most high school quarterbacks could make.

He also showed two major flaws in the Iowa game.  He cannot read the field, and he cannot handle pressure.  All of his plays required him to read one side of the field and ideally fire the ball out of there as quickly as possible.  If that is not there, he is slow to look to the other side of the field and his first instinct is to scramble out of the pocket instead of checking out what other receivers he has available.  He also seems to get a bit of tunnel vision when throwing it to his receivers.  Against zone coverage, he will often lead his receivers into tough spots and put them in position to take big hits. 

The other big thing is that he does not handle pressure well.  The second that he feels pressure he tries to sprint at an angle that takes him backwards and towards the sideline.  When he does this, he just focuses on getting away from the defenders and completely loses track of where his receivers are.  If he manages to avoid the rush comfortably enough to look down the field again, he's usually ten yards further back, making a meaningful completion highly unlikely.  And although he has good speed, he is not especially adept at avoiding the rush, as he is not that quick, and he basically has to turn it into a straight sprint away from the defense as opposed to shuffling his feet to buy a little extra time and fire the ball down the field.

His game against Illinois provides great video evidence of what I'm talking about.

When watching Blaine Gabbert, there is one name that keeps coming to my mind.  It's a guy who was put in a very productive offense in college, much like Gabbert had at Missouri.  He put up good, but not great stats compared to other QBs in that system.  The good news is that this quarterback led his team to a Super Bowl.  The bad news is that it's Rex Grossman.

I know that anybody who likes Gabbert as a prospect would have rather had me stab their cat (Missouri Tigers, get it?), but let me explain.  The college comparisons are definitely there, and Rex Grossman was also seen as a first-round talent coming out of college.  Hence, he was drafted 22nd overall.  Most people seem to forget this, but there is such a thing as "Good Rex."  Good Rex did a very good job for the Bears in a lot of games.  But these were the games where his first option in Ron Turner's offense were open.  When that first option was not open, he went into "Fuck it, I'm throwing it deep" mode.

I basically see about the same things happening for Gabbert.  You can't tell me that this doesn't look like something Rex Grossman would do.

If he is an offense where his first look is consistently open, he will look like a pro bowler.  If not, he will have people screaming for Brian Griese to take the starting job.  I'll admit the comparison is a little on the harsh side, so if you want to call Gabbert a rich man's Rex Grossman, I won't argue against that.

While his physical attributes will make some talent evaluators salivate, I wouldn't even think about him until round two.  Could he develop into a great quarterback?  Maybe.  But I don't think it's very likely.  There are too many glaring holes in his game right now.  Calling this guy the next great QB prospect is just plain false and overlooks nearly everything that he's shown in games. 

But there's no need to fret, quarterback needing teams.  Next week, I will reveal the quarterback prospect that I feel is the most underrated in the draft.

-Joe

P.S.  Don't worry, Iowa hating readers, my underrated QB prospect is not Ricky Stanzi.

P.P.S.  In "Troy Tulowitzki is more awesome than you" news, he is allowing fans to pick out his walk-up song for next year after coming out to Party in the USA last year.  Needless to say, I sent in my suggestion of Seal's "Kiss From A Rose."