Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots February 27, 2018 - Timeline Takes Tuesday

Episode Date: February 27, 2018

Lamar Jackson may tear apart the football media world. Until he does, Mark Schofield will stay on the side of Jackson being a quarterback.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome back to Locked On Patriots for Tuesday, February 27th, 2018. Mark Schofield, still alive, down at Great Wolf Lodge, Williamsburg, Virginia, wrapping up a quick little family vacation. Oy. But still having a good time down here, but the takes never stop. Reminder to check out the work over at insidethepylon.com. I'm going to be talking about something I did over there.

Check out the work. You can follow me on Twitter, at Mark Schofield. If you want a good sampling of what I've been doing, go to insidethepylon.com. You will see two hubs. One for all the first sound videos I've done on a bunch of the quarterbacks in this draft class, as well as a hub for the interception series where I break down all the interceptions thrown by the quarterbacks in the top of the draft class here. We're gonna talk one timeline

take. We're gonna spend an entire show on it because let's face it, it's my show, okay? I'm coming to you live from vacation, so if I want to drop some takes on one issue and one issue only, I'm going to drop some takes on one issue and one issue only. But before we dive into it, I got to fill in some backstory. Last summer, when the proud analysts over at InsideThePylon.com were getting ready to set our initial boards for this draft class and for the next iteration of the Inside the Pylon draft guide, we were putting together watch lists and things like that. A very near and dear friend of mine, who shall rename nameless,

posited that the Lamar Jackson question might tear the fabric of football Twitter apart. And here in February, it seems like that prediction might be coming true. And also by means of backstory, most of you probably know this, a lot of you don't. Maybe some of you don't, maybe one of you doesn't, but some backstory on me, because before I started doing Inside the Pylon, Bleacher Report, Locked On Patriots. I was a lawyer. I was a lawyer in the Washington DC area practicing for about 10 years until I realized that yeah it just wasn't really the best thing for me. And I've talked about that on shows and in other places and I don't want to dwell on that too

much because I don't want to go down that dark path because yes, I'm still on vacation, kids. But every once in a while, that part of my past comes up again. I will always be a lawyer. You can take me out of the courtroom, but you can't take my mind out of the practice of law. And there have been a couple of times when I felt it necessary to draw on my past and my experiences as a lawyer in some of my writing. I did this before the 2016 draft with Carson Wentz. I was one of the first on Wentz. And I've always said, don't be first, be right. But I was one of the first to ID Wentz. I was writing about him in 2014 before anybody thought he would be a draft prospect. I saw him evolve from, hey, this is a curious day three type guy

to, man, he might get drafted first overall. Back before his senior year even started, Matt Waldman and I did a video on him before all the hype really got out of control. But near the end of his sort of draft cycle, when he went from that day three prospect to potential first overall pick, the knives came on. And this happens with so many draft quarterbacks. It happens every single year. In August, they are surefire number one type guys. Then they get picked apart. Then they get nitpicked. The flaws are exposed.

The scabs are picked and they fall down draft boards as other guys rise up. Look at Jared Goff, who was similarly viewed as a top prospect coming into that season. He was my QB1 going into that season and he fell. Look at Deshaun Watson. Look at Sam Donald. Guys fall as they play. That's sort of the cycle. But with Wentz, I sort of said enough. I'm going to sit down and address some of the flaws that people have identified. And I wrote what I called defendant's reply brief in the case of draft evaluators versus Carson Wentz. And I went through all the arguments that were being used to sort of state that he wasn't worth a top pick. And I tried to rebut them. And some of them, look, I had stronger arguments in the case of some issues than others. Footwork has

always been an issue for Carson Wentz. He's getting better, but still. And I felt the need to do that again recently with Lamar Jackson. And some very recognizable names are still making the argument that Lamar Jackson is a wide receiver in the National Football League. Bill Pullian, Mel Kuyper Jr., guys that are titans of this industry, guys that have accomplished more in the National Football League than I will ever accomplish. And I get that.

But some of the reasons that they're citing for Lamar Jackson being a wide receiver in the National Football League, I disagree with. And I disagree with the overall pluralists. I believe that Lamar Jackson in today's NFL can be a very effective quarterback very early in his career. So what I did, I wrote defendant's reply brief, big draft versus Lamar Jackson. And I went into some of the issues that people have identified with him and tried to flesh out those arguments. The first one is this, his athletic ability in space.

And when you watch Lamar Jackson, that's the first thing that jumps out at you. He's a wizard with the football out of the pocket, in the open field, as a runner. Elite quickness, elite change of direction, the ability to make people miss in the open field. It's almost game-changing. So people like Paulian, I've looked at that and said, look, get the guy the football in space as much as you can.

Let's move him to receiver because that's the best way to do it. Because you want to get the football into his hands in open space. Now, when I hear that argument, I flash to a Simpsons scene and I think, step one, remove the football from Lamar's hands on every play. Step two, series of question marks. Step three, profit. Because it doesn't fully make sense to me. He's a quarterback. You're going to take the football out of his hands on every single play and then rely on somebody else to get it back into his hands? We've sort of let Jackson's athletic ability become a detractor from his ability to play the quarterback position.

We need to flip that script back. His raw talent and his athleticism are a positive from just an offensive playmaking perspective, of course, but they're a positive in the passing game. And I've got a video to check out on this point over at the Inside the Pylon YouTube page and the argument is this. Look, his athletic ability,

it can mask mistakes in protection. Somebody misses a block up front, who's going to escape from that? Lamar Jackson or Sam Donald or Josh Rosen? I know who I'm putting my money on. People point to his throw mechanics, which we'll get to in a bit, and they say, oh, the wrist flick and stuff like that. No, we can't have that.

We'll get to that more in a second. But similarly, he can get the ball out so quickly. So his ability to make those type of splash plays, it isn't a detraction from his ability as a quarterback. It's a component to consider. It can be part of your offense. He can cover up mistakes in the pass protection game. I broke down a play where he's blitzed from the inside.

And it's a deeper vertical concept where if he hands in the pocket to let it develop, he's sacked. Well, even though other defenders have the angle on him, he beats everybody at the edge in terms of what should have been a loss of seven into a long run on the first down. I mean, those are the types of things he can do. So this idea that we need to take the ball out of his hands and put him into space and then get the ball to him doesn't make sense to me. And then when you factor in, he hasn't run a ton of routes other than like throwbacks and stuff.

You're now asking him to go up against the Jalen Ramseys, the Patrick Petersons, the Stephon Gilmores of the world and now run routes? How does that make sense? So that's the first argument that's been used to sort of look at Lamar Jackson as a wide receiver. Up ahead, I'm going to get into the rest of the arguments

and how I sort of rebut them and have some closing thoughts on Lamar Jackson. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Tuesday edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Tuesday edition of Locked on Patriots. Again, live from Great Wolf Lodge down in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Check that out if you can. Look, I've joked about it a little bit, but it has been a really fun time. It's a great setup, particularly if you have young kids. But diving back into the Lamar Jackson question here, and another issue that's been raised with Lamar Jackson question here. And another issue that's been raised with Lamar Jackson is his size, his frame.

Polian said that, look, he's too short to play quarterback, which is interesting considering some of Polian's previous takes. Johnny Manziel was just basically six feet and he said that the Cleveland had to draft him with the fourth overall pick also I don't in the article I've got a still of him next to Baker Mayfield Baker measured into just a hair over six feet and looks to me unless we've got a

serious Fletch type situation going on that Lamar Jackson is going to be a lot taller so I don't think the height is one to really focus on. People talk about the frame and they say, look, because of his playstyle, because of his size, that he's going to take too much abuse. And I'll just say this. There weren't many people talking about Carson Wentz's frame when he came out. There weren't too many people raising concerns about his running style and saying that that's going to be an issue. I do know two who were, myself and Matt Waldman. When we did the video I was talking about earlier,

we talked about at a couple of points in one of his games where he was too aggressive trying to run people over and said, look, he's going to need to learn to get down. Wentz got hurt running the football. And nobody talked about his frame. It wasn't a concern. Football is a violent game. It's a collision game. People are going to get down. Wentz got hurt running the football. And nobody talked about his frame. It wasn't a concern. Football is a violent game. It's a collision game.

People are going to get hurt. All quarterbacks that come into the league, whether pure runners, athletic guys, whatever, they need to learn to get down. They need to learn to protect themselves. Because now your franchise, your team, your employer has invested millions of dollars into you and you need to be on the field. So Jackson doesn't face any sort of size concern that anybody else doesn't face because they all need to learn to protect themselves. And people make this sort of RG3 comparison. Well, RG3 got hit from a blindside, number one.

And number two, it was the field service at FedEx Field that sort of contributed to re-injuring his knee. So the size and the frame issue doesn't really make that much sense to me particularly when the the argument the next step in the argument is let's move him to receiver where there is literally a portion of the rule book carved out to protect defenseless players you're going to worry about his size and his frame and then ask him to go over the middle against Vontaze Perfect? How does that make sense? At least at quarterback, nine times out of ten, he can protect himself.

Now you put him in a position where there's literally a portion of the rulebook saying, some of these guys, hey man, they're defenseless. It doesn't make sense to me. Another issue that's been raised with him, he's a run-first quarterback. And I would make two arguments here. First, there was a time when, yeah,

you look back earlier in his career at Louisville, yeah, Jackson would tuck it and go. Yeah, he would give up on plays at times. And the other part to this is it's also built into a lot of offenses that he is the third or the second progression read. First two reads aren't there. Read number three is you tuck it and go. That was built into my offense in college

a long time ago. But I think if you look at Jackson this past season, you've seen development in him from a pocket passer perspective. And in the article, I highlight two plays, one against North Carolina, the other against Wake Forest as an aside if you want to see what Lamar Jackson can do as a quarterback go back and watch his game against North Carolina it's worth your time but on the first play that I break down

it's a play action passing concept out of the pistol he's pressured quickly on the play he evades the initial defender starts to climb the. You can see there is a crease for him to exploit as a runner, but he stops, resets his feet, takes a deep shot downfield, and hits on a deep touchdown. That's the quote narrative buster in my mind, because if there was going to be a moment where he was going to just tuck it and go, it was there. But he resets his feet, keeps his eyes downfield, and makes a play. The other one I look at is actually an interception.

It's part of that interception series I do. It's a play against Wake Forest. It's 31 in the red zone. Coverage is good. He starts to extend with his feet, rolls to his right. He's got the first down marker. He can run for the first down, but he forces a late throw and throws a pick. Now, Mark, why do we care about that?

He threw an interception. Because he's trying to break the narrative himself. Previous versions of Lamar Jackson would have tucked and go there, but he doesn't. And you can almost see in these two plays, and I try not to read too much into a single player two plays even though they're emblematic of an overall thing that i'm seeing on all the film on

tape on all the film and all the tape i'm watching we can almost see in his mind he's like no i gotta throw here i gotta throw here got to break this narrative. I've got to break this mold that people are trying to put me into. So this idea that he's a run first quarterback. No, he's not a run first quarterback. People also raise his mechanics. And there are mechanical issues to deal with. His footwork, his base is too narrow. There are times when his feet

are almost together when he starts his throwing motion. But people say he's inaccurate and they point to his completion percentage, which is sub 60. He struggled to get to 57, as Kuyper put it, which is interesting considering Josh Allen couldn't even get to 57. But that's a debate for another time. But with Jackson, I think it's more, and I credit Mike Kay from First Coast News down in Florida. I saw him use this phrase on Twitter, and I think he's exactly right. It's more inconsistent than inaccurate. And I break down two post routes, one against North Carolina, one against North Carolina State, where basically everything happens the same.

It's a fairly clean pocket. He starts to climb. He makes a throw. One is put pretty much right on the receiver, maybe slightly to his back shoulder a bit, but it goes for a good gain. And the other could have been a touchdown, but he air mails it. And everything else is the same. He's just inconsistent.

And that gets to coaching. And also it might be a scheme issue where maybe you want him more in quick game air raid west coast type stuff and maybe that also goes to coaching which brings up another point all these guys need work and development why are we assuming that it might help with quarterback a but it can't help with quarterback lamar jackson there seems to be some inconsistency there too. If the argument's going to be that, look, this guy could be great, he just needs some development, Jackson deserves the same arguments.

But it seems like we're somewhat pushing Jackson towards a new position where the other guys or guys are being viewed through the, oh, we can develop him lens. And that just seems to me to be a bit unfair. Finally, the other thing that sort of comes up with mechanics is his release point. He sort of flicks the wrist. It's just a wrist flick. I think it's a positive for him. It allows him to get the ball out quickly. There are times when he has to reset and move.

But the ball gets out so quickly that if he's slow with a read, if he's got pressure around him, he can still get it out quicker, much quicker than, say, Sam Donald. And as far as a wrist flick being something you can't work with in the NFL, well, as pointed out to me by Jeff Rizdan, Warren Moon made that work. So I think Lamar Jackson should be afforded the opportunity to make it work as well. The final piece to this argument has been his offense. And this sort of resulted into,

sort of where we started, Lamar Jackson tearing the fabric of football Twitter apart. There was an absolute blow up between Chris Brown and Greg Gabriel on Friday. They worked it out apparently behind the scenes. But Greg Gabriel, who I mentioned in the piece that I did, put together a well-reasoned discussion

of Lamar Jackson and how he's a quarterback but his NFL team is going to have to tailor an offense around what he does, which I agree with. 100%. It should be that for all these guys. I think that Josh Rosen is perhaps the only one that's truly scheme diverse. I have no qualms with what Greg said about tailoring an offense to what Lamar Jackson does. The one bone that I would

pick was he makes the argument that Bobby Petrino's offense was very quarterback friendly. And having sat down and gone through a Petrino playbook when I did Lamar's interception series video, and I went through the reads he was asked to do on every single play, I took the time to read the playbook, identify the plays, go through his reads and what he was supposed to do, and then break it down. He's running pro concepts. and that was the point that Chris Brown raised, is that Lamar Jackson is running pro concepts. And so this idea that he's not ready to handle an offense and it's a simplistic offense, I think just looking at the playbook, I think you get the sense that that's a little bit unfair.

It kind of understates what he does. And then let's remember, Petrino was rooted in Aaron Perkins, that coaching tree, which is the same sort of offense that the Patriots run. And so I think that if you look at what Jackson was supposed to do,

what he was asked to do on each play, the re-progressions he was asked, the protection stuff he was supposed to know, the conversions on routes he was supposed to know based on coverage. I think he was asked to do a lot. And the underlying point to all of this is, oh, the pro-style offense stuff. A pro-style offense is whatever you want it to be. I don't think people would say what the Philadelphia Eagles were running in Super Bowl 51 was your quote,

pro-style offense, but were they docked artistic points? Did the Russian judge say, well, that touchdown was only worth three because you threw it to Nick Foles? I wish he had. No, but no. I mean, whatever works on Sundaysays is a pro style offense and lamar jackson can come in and function in an offense tailored to his skill set on sundays and so i just want to close with this it's interesting to see sometimes that people who maybe view lamar jack Jackson as a wide receiver

wonder why people are sort of dying on this hill that he's not, that he's a quarterback. And I'm not here to convince people that he's the best quarterback in this class. I'm not here to convince people that he's a surefire quarterback in the NFL. I don't know. A lot of that ends up being determined by where he ends up. But my point is just that we should view all these guys sort of in the same, through the same set of lenses. And Lamar Jackson has done enough in my mind to convince me that he can play quarterback in the National Football League. He's not going to be my top quarterback.

I don't think he's going to be my top three. But I just think when you watch him play, when you watch, again, the developmental arc from two years ago to this year, we're seeing a guy becoming a better pocket passer. We're seeing a guy becoming a more

well-rounded quarterback. And the bulk of people listening to the show are Patriots fans. The bulk of people listening to the show know that their team needs to get a new quarterback for some time in the future. Lamar Jackson could be that guy. The Patriots would be an ideal spot for him. And there might be many of you out there who disagree, who think that he's still a wide receiver. I've made my case. Again, I'm not here to convince people that I'm right. I'm not here to convince people that I know everything because I don't.

That's one of the things that I've uncovered as I've been doing this, as I've been trying to evaluate quarterbacks and evaluate offenses, I don't know everything. I don't know a lot. There's more that I don't know than I do. But I just think watching Lamar Jackson, in my mind, he's a quarterback. In my mind, he could be a good one. And so if you're one of those that's listening

that thinks, no, I'm wrong. Schofield, you're an idiot. Delete the account. I would just ask that you maybe go back, no, I'm wrong. Schofield, you're an idiot. Delete the account. I would just ask that you maybe go back, watch that North Carolina game. And if you still feel that way, fine. But I think if you watch that North Carolina game,

keep it in mind some of the things I've been talking about, you might have a little bit of a different opinion. And maybe you'll never get there. Maybe you'll still view him as a wide receiver. And that's okay because in the end we're talking about a game. But I think he's a quarterback. I think he can be a good one.

And if the Patriots draft him, I'm buying my first Patriots jersey in a long time. That would do it for today's show. Prov provided we get home and don't drive ourselves crazy on the ride home

I'll be back for a Wednesday episode what I'm going to do I don't know I'll think about it on the ride until then keep it locked right here to me Mark Schofield and Locked on Patriots