Just watched the footage of Devlin's Delaware offense vs the E. Washington defense during the national FCS Div II Championship game this year. [video=youtube;P-TgAkXRGfY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-TgAkXRGfY[/video] There's lots to like. - More mobile than Henne - Follows through play fakes, even on running plays - Puts the ball where his receiver can easily get to it in stride, aiding in YAC - Plays with rhythm and decisiveness - Organic, creative, imporvises. has a feel for the game. For example, I LOVED the goalline play where his runningback (FB?) was running towards the sideline, but was well covered. Devlin imporvised by lofting it OVER the cover man into the endzone where only his RB could tun (like a mini wheel route with the touch of a fade pass)) to get to it. The RB adjusted and almost caught a TD. Great play. It clearly wasn;t designed because the RB was REALLY waiting on that ball to be delivered to the outside. Smart choice too by Devlin, since with his slower arm that could be a pick-six INT by the defender. Just love this play. Doing that on the fly says a lot about his creativity, imo. Creativty Henne absolutely lacks once the ball is snapped. - Good decisions. Including option decisions. Could he take a wildcat snap here and there? May be too slow to warrant it. - Through three quarters he had lead his team to a 19-0 lead and was in total command of the game. WTF happened that they lost? Concerns - Wish I'd seen him taking the snap from under center more often. - When the pocket collpases, so does he. - Played tighter and more indecisively when trying to cling to a lead and facing third downs... seemed scared to make a mistake on a throw so double-clutched. - Did not burn the blitz once they started coming after him.
the new great hope for Miami? Can he win the start like Marino did in his first year? You never know...
Re: year one starter, I don't think so. That said, I don't think David Lee can develop QB's worth a crap right now, so I don;t think letting him fester under Lee's tutelage will help much either. I do think Devlin will surprise people in camp and actually be in the discussion if Henne falters. If Henne plays horrendously this season we'll probably see a veteran backup take over. Only way Devlin gets in is if Henne stinks and the back-up gets injured. So there's a chance.
Looks promising. I'm not going to get too excited though. He's not exactly playing against the best talent in the country here. Same could be said for the talent on his side though too I suppose. I'm not going to get to excited about the addition of a UDFA QB at this point, now if we see him doing good things like this in our preseason games, well, then were maybe in business. It'd be nice though if we'd found our Davone Bess of the QB world, although that's awfully hard to do at that position with UDFA's
Agreed, Brandon. It's a testament to how crap Henne and the offensive coaches were last year that we are even tempted to hang any hopes on a UDFA.
I'll sit back in my corner and not get too excited watching a Div. II QB play good in Div II play. Just me.
I'd be more interested to see what Daboll himself can do with him. I think he's the quarterback whisperer on the team, if we have one.
I got the opportunity to watch Devlin 3 times in person the past few years... Delaware plays in the same conference as my school and just from sitting in the stand you can tell the guy was a very good QB in the CAA (the division is not a pushover division, we compete regularly with schools from the ACC and such) but he wasn't exactly dominant. Definitely has the ability to be a good QB, but it will take time to put it together.
Frayser, what's Daboll's track record working directly with QBs? Did he do much with Colt McCoy, or did the Browns QB's coach develop him?
His weak natural arm infects his ability to handle pressure. It also infects his decision-making about how to attack the defense. Everything is dink and dunk. He'll look off to his fourth option just to use his eyes to try and open up that fourth shorter underneath option. He needed to show that he can cut loose at Shrine practices and the game, and he botched it. Then showed up 30 minutes late to his own pro day. And then had kind of a blah pro day on top of it.
i dont think his arm is even something worth criticizing.. very many good qbs in this league lack strong arms, matt ryan, flacco, even manning is more of a weaker armed high trajectory passer, i think his arm will be fine with just slight development
lol, did you day Peyton has a weak arm? Not sure why we signed him. We already have a starting QB who can't accurately throw beyond 10 yards and checks down every pass attempt.
What? I'll just mention Flacco, and mildly point out that he has one of the better arms in the league - period. How he would ever be mentioned as a weak armed passer is beyond me, and Ryan is odd too.
Appeared to me in this vid his head locks on the first option almost ever pass attempt. Great follow through on fake for run plays but the noodle arm has some touch if nothing else. Going to need work for NFL not a starter yet.
You realize a check down isn't just a short pass right? A check down is short and to a specific player, RB, FB, or TE, after you can't get anything to the WR's or are to afraid to try. We had the second best QB in terms of passes to WR's in 2010. Also, beyond ten yards to about 20 yards is Henne's specialty. He's a great intermediate passer. He won't hit you deep, yet, but if you want him to hit the intermediate passes, he can do that very well.
