May
20
2012
I’m in the midst of doing a fairly large write-up on what I thought of Blaine as a prospect, why his rookie year went the way that it did, and what he needs to work on to be a starting caliber NFL quarterback.
These are the exact same videos I’ll be basing my writeups on (I just cut them this past week). The first two are from his final year in college, the last four are from his rookie season in the NFL.
Please feel free to leave your opinions and insights in the comments section.
Eric Stoner
Eric has been writing for Draft Breakdown for two years now, contributing by writing scouting reports, cutting video, and blogging about college football and the NFL. He was raised by a football coach and, as such, was forced to cut tape and chart personnel at an age that violates California labor law. A legal assistant by day, Eric also writes for Rotoworld NFL Draft and the SB Nation Jaguars Blog, Big Cat Country.
Follow Eric on Twitter @ECStoner. See all posts for Eric Stoner
Is this suppose to inspire me with confidence about Gabbert ????
When Gabbert was at Missouri, the biggest thing that stuck out to me was that he seemed afraid to get hit. Turns out not much has changed….
Thanks for the footage, can’t wait for the writeup. I’d love some more tape of Gabbert
s rookie season if you have it. A couple of things I noticed. Gabbert looks extremely uncomfortable with the offense. This can likely be attributed to poor coaching, but it’s unsettling to watch as a Jags fan. Number 2 is as the game progresses, he starts to peak at the rush more and gets himself out of a natural rhythm. Number 3 he has to be bigger in the pocket, oftentimes he plays small which results in some passes being deflected at the line. As the season progress he goes from missing low to missing high, I’m not exactly sure what to make of that, but he doesn’t look comfortable throwing over the middle. Still though, some plays really shine through and you can see the potential. Unrelated to Gabbert, Eugene Monroe really shines in this footage, he turned out to be a really solid pick. Also Dillard started to come on towards the end of the year, sad to see him go. Thanks for the post and I look forward to the continued progression.
Even on good plays, he drop/mechanics look ugly, so there’s much more going on than just the narrative that he is scared. The new coaching staff seems to be putting an emphasis on his mechanics, so if they can fix those, that’s a nice start, along with the added weapons around him and hopefully an offense that is better suited for him. Then it basically just comes down to what Eric has been preaching, and that is keeping his eye level up and not dropping them to peek at the rush.
his drop/mechanics look ugly*
As much as the Jag fan in me wants to defend Gabbert, he really showed a complete lack of pocket presence in his NFL rookie season. Sure there are a number of excuses to be debated, such as:
-Never played under center in college
-Lack of and/or bad coaching
-High number of drops from a questionable receiving corps
-Lack of offseason
-Release of Garrard just before the season when the 21 year old Gabbert should have been wearing the headset on the sideline all year
However, until Olsen, Bratkowski, Mularkey and company coach this kid into stepping into the pocket with a higher sight line and a little more patience, his struggles will continue. He rushed his decision making on many occasions when success was there for the taking. Had he just held the ball for half of a second more and stepped into his throw with his head high….. Well, he might not have to be asked about Michael Lombardi articles.
Will a new custom tailored coaching staff and playbook save him? I just don’t know yet.
Is it preseason yet?
I really want to know not only how Gene made him top 10 pick and how in the world he shoot up everyone’s draft boards. It is obvious he was bad in college and that transpired to nfl games. He ALL the time looks at the rush, stares at the receivers, scramble out of pocket before pocket collapses, runs sideways and get his butt kicked, throws inaccurate, uses extra arm strength to throw a 5-10 in route. Release is quick but in a bad way. Does not give his receiver a chance to set and look back, lacks the confidence in his arm on a simple go route. Checks down after 1 read. I mean is this what 10pick is. Please tell someone is paid to mess up with Jaguars
Blaine Gabbert has a big enough arm to make all the throws. However, he may have the worst footwork for a QB I have ever seen. The Jags passer consistently throws off his front foot, fails to drive the ball by the lack of thrust off his back leg and when he actually does set his feet his stance is far too wide. His carriage is a bit low, but it becomes an issue by dropping his passing arm as he “loads up” to throw, creating a small but annoying wind up. This often causes his passes to arrive late or behind his receivers. On deep throws, Gabbert pats the ball habitually before he goes into his delivery mechanics, again creating a wind up and/or late arrival. Pocket presence is downright horrid, steeped in self-preservation.
Not much of anything has changed with this QB since his Missouri days. True he did not have a full slate of off-season prep in 2011, but even in week 16 tape versus the Titans, there were zero advances made by this guy. Maybe after the 2012 season Jacksonville can bring in Matt Moore, who will be looking for a starting gig by then.
I see a lot of talent in it .. bids on coverage ex: TD against steelers, show well .. a strong pre-season with new targets and I am confident a great year
I think the Gabbert pick for the Jags was similar to the Tannehill pick by the Dolphins this year. Teams consistently reach for QBs and in this pass happy league, teams have to reach even more. It’s my belief that there are usually only about 2 QBs a year that are HONESTLY worthy of a first round pick. The need to have a strong QB will push those 2nd round guys into the first round for the foreseeable future.
Front office careers will be made and lost by the drafting of first round QBs.
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