QBs on parade at Senior Bowl … The 2020 Senior Bowl wrapped up yesterday with the North winning rather easily 34-17. The difference in the game was that the North edge rushers led by DEs Brad Anae of Utah, Syracuse’s Alton Robinson and Josh Uche of Michigan simply dominated their OT counterparts and just didn’t give the South QBs much time to throw. Which was kind of unfortunate because with so much sorting out to be done at at the position before the picks start coming off the board on April 23rd. And while they were very much the focus on Saturday, in fact, one should never really read very much at all into how the QBs perform at the Senior Bowl as they barely play much more than a quarter all the while working in an unfamiliar offense with unfamiliar receivers. However, that didn’t stop a bunch of analysts who probably should know better from gushing about the performance of Oregon QB Justin Herbert here and here and here. Indeed, at least on paper, Herbert had a solid outing completing 9 of 12 passes for 83 yards and a TD. Herbert also had a nifty 19-yard run that kept the South scoring drive alive. When one breaks the tape down, though, the numbers don’t look quite as impressive. None of the completions was over ten yards, for example, while at least a couple looked more like ducks (no pun intended) and the TD came on a screen pass on which the back had to make a one-handed catch. On the 2-3 downfield passes Herbert did attempt weren’t all that accurate. Even his big run came with a caveat as a North edge rusher (Uche) had him all lined up for a potentially devastating hit, but pulled up at the last moment and just tagged him. This is not to say that Herbert didn’t show some tantalizing skill in the Senior Bowl game. He clearly has a strong arm and throws darts with a really quick release, especially when he has the time to set his feet. Herbert also has elite athletic talent with the quickness to escape trouble in the pocket; he is also reasonably comfortable throwing the ball on the move, but his accuracy does drop off a bit when on the run. The impression one gets after watching the tape of Herbert in the Senior Bowl game was that there is clearly a ton of talent there, but didn’t really address the lingering questions about his game including his decision-making in the pocket and lack of overall consistency. Read more
