Prisco: Lions need Stafford | Notebook: Friendly competition
INDIANAPOLIS -- There are two quarterbacks to covet at this year's NFL scouting combine, but you better be careful. One of them comes with a "Buyer: Beware" tag.
I'm talking about USC's Mark Sanchez.
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| Throwing 34 TDs last season might not be enough for Mark Sanchez. (Getty Images) |
"Outstanding player," Stafford said afterward, "and an outstanding guy."
I don't doubt it. But that doesn't mean teams here still don't have reservations about him because they do, and it has nothing to do with what Sanchez did at USC and everything to do with what he didn't -- like play more.
Not only is he a junior -- he's a one-year starter. OK, so he started three times in 2007. Big deal. He is banking his future on what he did in 2008, which was throw 34 touchdown passes and lead USC to a 12-1 record and third-place finish in the AP Top 25.
That's terrific. But it's not all that far removed from what, say, Akili Smith did in his last season at Oregon. Smith threw a school-record 32 touchdown passes, was the Pac-10's co-Offensive Player of the Year and became the third pick of the 1999 draft. Then he fell apart and went away.
The question is: Why should Sanchez be any different?
Ah, that's why they have an NFL scouting combine. Clubs interested in Sanchez are already at work on him, looking for the weakness, the flaw, the crack, that might convince them he's a gamble not worth making.
"You'd like to have the answer before you make the gamble," an AFC offensive coordinator said. "But if he can throw the ball straight what's the concern?"
Sanchez can throw the ball straight. Scouts think so highly of him that early projections put him in the top 10 or, at worst, top 15 of the April draft, which means he's about to cash a very large check. It also means his next team better make sure it's not throwing good money at a bad idea.
"There is something to that," said Washington coach Jim Zorn, a former star quarterback. "You have to be very careful. But, for the most part, if you have a good teacher -- someone who can bring him from the college level into the pro level -- it helps. With a guy who hasn't played a lot, he may have some technique things he has to work on, like how he carries himself, how he drops and how he moves -- things that he hasn't had to deal with because of the time allotted for these college coaches.
"So the thing you have to ask yourself is: Is he as good as he's going to be, or is there a lot more there? And with Mark Sanchez I see someone who's a tremendous athlete and shows his athleticism when he plays. And that's a huge plus."
But athleticism is not the question. Experience is. And Sanchez doesn't have a whole lot of it. Plus, as Minnesota's Brad Childress pointed out, Sanchez sat behind John David Booty, whom the Vikings chose in the fifth round, before starting one season. That might make you wonder what you're getting.
So would this: When Sanchez announced his decision to leave USC early, coach Pete Carroll didn't exactly endorse the idea. More to the point, he criticized it -- saying he was "disappointed" in his quarterback and walking off the stage before the news conference was over.
"I don't believe Pete has ever been selfish," Childress said. "I mean, he's let guys go early with his blessing over and over. The fact that he didn't believe that should occur puts this in a gray area."
"You mean it raises a caution flag?" I asked.
"It would to me," Childress said. "I'd have to do a lot of work on the guy."
Sanchez understands, but he went out of his way Friday to tell reporters he and Carroll "couldn't be better" and that his head coach was misunderstood -- that, as Sanchez put it, "his competitive juices were overflowing that day."
Maybe, but Carroll sure made it sound as if Sanchez wasn't ready for the pros. NFL clubs tailing the quarterback will want to know why Carroll said what he said and how he feels about Sanchez now. They'll also want to know if Carroll, who coached in the NFL, thinks his latest quarterback is ready for the next level. And, frankly, they'll want to know if he would commit to someone with a year's experience as a starter.
"The best way to answer that," Sanchez said, "is to talk about the kind of experience I've had against the top players around -- most of them in the NFL –- since I was in my freshman year. I started 16 games, played in practice every day in a pro-style offense against a pro-style defense with guys like (Brian) Cushing, (Kaluka) Maiava, (Rey) Maualuga, (Clay) Matthews, Taylor Mays, Kevin Ellison, Lawrence Jackson -- guys who are in the league or will be in the league. So the experience I've had has been very valuable.
"Then you look at the atmosphere I've played in: A big city and a large media market. Plus, we played in the Rose Bowl and nationally televised games. I'm ready for this league."
He still must prove it.
"That's why you have to do your homework," Zorn said. "I think you've got to camp out and put somebody in that area where he is and just watch him. Spend a week. Don't just work him for a couple of hours, and don't just say, 'Thumbs up or thumbs down.' You don't even have to be around him. Just observe. See what his life's like a little bit.
"Every position is critical but with that one (quarterback), you're hoping for the guy who can actually make things happen when he's on the field. There are a lot of quarterbacks out there you can win with, but you want to win because he's on the field. There's a difference there, and it's up to you to find it."
