So the biggest talk in football right now is which of these QBs will be taken first on April 30th in Chicago. Their combine stats have been gathered, their college careers are done, it is now the time to figure out who will be selected first to be the face of a franchise. Combine results will be first, then we will go into analytics of the combine, then discuss different abilities and who has the edge.
Combine Results:
Mariota Winston Edge
40-yard Dash 4.52 sec 4.97 sec Mariota
Vertical 36" 28.5" Mariota
Shuttle 4.11 sec 4.36 sec Mariota
Cone 6.87 sec 7.16 sec Mariota
Passing Stats 19/21 21/22 Winston
Combine Analysis:
Mariota clearly blew Winston away in most of the drills. He is faster, can jump higher, and is lighter on his feet. There is no denying this. But here is my question: What on earth does a vertical have to do with being a QB? The only thing I could think of was that if the ball is snapped over the head of the QB they might be able to get it. But without knowing that the ball will be high, it is still unlikely that the QB would catch that high of a snap, especially when playing with professionals.
What blew me away was in the passing drills. Both QBs had great days with getting the ball to the receiver, but that was without pressure or throwing on the run. Both players were not perfect, but Winston did something that I could not believe. On the final drill for QB passing, WRs were told to run a post-corner route and catch the ball. The distance between the WR and QB was probably at least 50 yards. Some of the QBs, like Mariota, complete all of their passes. But Jameis did something different than all of the other QBs. In each pass attempt, Winston was able to not only get the ball to his WR, but get it to him in stride. Many of the other WRs had to slow down, change their route, or even stop all together to complete the catch. Winston hit each WR and they did not miss a beat. In the NFL, that says TD.
Edge: Jameis Winston
Speed:
We know that both Jameis and Marcus are running QBs, and they're both good at it. But Marcus is better. Marcus, clearly shown above, was faster than Winston in every speed required test. Winston, while a good scrambler and runner down field, lacks the speed to be able to run an option play. This does not mean that he's bad at it. Winston has had some amazing runs, even when he does not have the ball. Mariota is lighter though. He's more agile and he is built to run the option with his RB. In this draft class, Mariota also was not only the fastest QB, but one of the faster offensive players. Compared to some of last year's combine prospects, Mariota looks like the complete package needed for a running QB, physically.
Edge: Marcus Mariota
Football IQ:
Not much was said on Mariota's ability in the classroom, but with Winston, people were raving. When brought into a room with Todd Bowles, the new HC of the Jets, Bowles showed Winston a play. With Bowles being an expert at blitzing, getting a QB to find a way to avoid that blitz was key. Winston would look at each play and know the perfect way out of it every time. This blew Bowles away. In other interviews, Winston would anticipate questions before they were even asked. In a separate interview, one coach drew a play on the board, erased it, talked to Winston about other information for about 10 minutes, and then asked Winston to draw the play from earlier. Winston was perfect.
Edge: Jameis Winston
Off-field Issues:
This could be the make or break point of who goes first. Winston has many of the stats working in his favor right now. Except for this one. Winston has been subject to making childish and nearly criminal decisions in the past few years. Putting the alleged rape case aside for a moment, Winston has done some immature things in the past few years. Shouting obscenities in the School Union, stealing soda from a Burger King, shooting out windows with a BB gun. This is not the behavior a NFL QB should be showing. Mariota, on the other hand, might just be the most level-headed person I have ever seen. With having a monotone voice and what seems like no personality, Mariota looks to be a machine in the NFL. He will show up, play ball, and go home. While the media may not like that, whatever team he is playing for will.
Edge: Marcus Mariota
Style:
This is a battle between a QB that comes from a Pro-style offense and a college-system offense. Both have their perks and their downfalls. Perk of a pro-style, more guys get to the NFL. Perk of the college-system, you win a lot of games. This can be said for both FSU (Pro) and Oregon (system). Winston is more ready for the professional game because of the coaching he received at FSU from HC Jimbo Fisher. In the last 3 years, Fisher has sent 22 players on to be drafted and 10 of them have started at least six games in the past year. In Oregon, during Mark Helfrich's tenure of 2 years, 10 players have been drafted and 3 are starting. If that shows anything, it's that Fisher can churn out some players.
Edge: Jameis Winston
Well Winston leads 3-2 on topics. But honestly, what do we know? All of the speculation around "who's gonna be drafted first" and people talking about what the GMs are thinking, let me tell you something: the GMs are laughing. Why? Because they already know what they are going to do.
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