Executives look for ways to get QBS to throw,
Top two wait until pro day
INDIANAPOLIS — It’s the NFL scouting combine equivalent of going to watch the New York Knicks when Jeremy Lin has the night off.
More and more top quarterbacks are choosing not to risk their draft status by throwing to unfamiliar receivers while the NFL’S 32 teams evaluate them at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III, perhaps the top two picks when the draft begins April 26, were the latest to decline the opportunity Sunday.
Luck made the decision after conferring with his father, Oliver, a former Houston Oilers backup to Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon. Griffin also chose to wait until his March 21 pro day. The next two quarterbacks projected to come off the draft board, Texas A&M’S Ryan Tannehill and Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler, didn’t throw because of foot injuries.
“You don’t go somewhere and run a game plan you never practice, throw to guys you don’t practice with,” Griffin III said.
Many evaluators would like to see the no-throwing trend change, especially since Sunday’s workouts for quarterbacks and receivers were open to 250 fans for the first time.
“We interview guys and try to convey to them if they throw here, it shows us, ‘Hey, I’m not afraid to throw in front of anybody,’ ” New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese said. “But their agents feel if they come out and don’t have a good showing, they’ll get brutally penalized for it.”
What if the league awarded a combine MVP award to the best performer voted by fans invited to watch? What if quarterbacks were allowed to throw to their own receivers in what amounts to a pre-pro day?
“It should be up for discussion to be able to somehow incentivize these quarterbacks to do all their work at the combine, because it’s hard when these guys don’t compete,” said former NFL quarterback Chris Weinke, director of the IMG Madden Football Academy. “Let’s also keep in mind this is the biggest job interview of their lives. They want to be presented in the right light.”
Denver Broncos executive vice president John Elway declined to throw at the 1983 combine — all four of them — and it didn’t hurt his Hall of Fame career. “I didn’t throw at any of them,” Elway said. “I had a bad knee I didn’t want them to see. From the side I’m on now, I would love to see them throw. But I understand where they’re coming from.”
The Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton bucked Moon’s advice and threw last year. His performance was subpar, but Newton worked with quarterback guru George Whitfield Jr., aced his pro day and was the league’s offensive rookie of the year.
“I give Cam Newton credit,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. “He came out and threw the football erratically and still became the first pick.”
The key is convincing prospects they have more to gain than lose.
“We understand when there’s a receiver a quarterback has never thrown to. We’re looking at basics, not grading on accuracy,” Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said. “Come here, show your skills, then go to your pro day and improve on it. You’re never going to hurt yourself by throwing at the combine. Ever.”