Yesterday, Hog Heaven wondered whether the Washington Redskins could “lose” Robert Griffin III to the Indianapolis Colts and would have to “settle” for Andrew Luck in the 2012 NFL Draft. While the question is not quite silly, we do have to get a grip. Settling for Luck will never be a catch phrase like that other S-word for Luck.
Luck is destined to go the the team that sucked the most to get him, lucky him. Just in case, the Redskins coaching staff and Mr. Snyder joined the scouts at the Andrew Luck Stanford Pro Day. I’ve watched a lot of football and cannot recall seeing ESPN broadcast a Pro Day as they did for Baylor and Stanford. It was must-see TV around Washington and Indianapolis and for diehard fans everywhere.
Some of you have real lives involving employment, inflexible schedules and nuisance bosses. Thankfully, we have the wonders of Youtube to save you. Here’s a clip of Luck running his passing drills yesterday. It is 15 minutes long, so watch it during a break, or when the cat’s away. This clip is part one of four.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yUNKiTazC9w
For comparison, here’s the Youtube clip of Robert Griffin III’s passing drill.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bx9bPYrphy0
Fans do not watch these things with a coach’s eye. Both Luck and Griffin looked good — without pads or James Harrison bearing down on them. Here are some thoughts.
Luck or Griffin is a no-lose proposition for ‘Skins fans. That decision is up Jim Irsay in any case.
Griffin looks like he moves faster than Luck, but that’s pure perception based on size. A Porsche looks like it goes faster than a Benz, even when they both move at 80 MPH.
Griffin has no tats.
Baylor’s receivers looked better than Stanford’s receivers. Did they make Griffin look better than he is? That’s no small matter to fans of a team with question marks at wide receiver.
Oliver Luck is the AD for West Virginia University. Andrew, his son, played for far away Stanford. What does that say about the Mountaineer football program? Just saying.
My admiration for NFL marketing only grows and grows. I mean, passing drills on ESPN for hot prospects who might succeed as pros? Really? Did the Disney sports network do that for Brandon Weeden’s Pro Day? Ryan Tannehill will work out for NFL scouts on March 29.
Several analysts pointed out that both Griffin’s and Luck’s reluctance to throw at the NFL Combine after Cam Newton’s experience last year. Newton did not show well for completions when throwing to unfamilair receivers. That didn’t hurt his Draft stock with real professionals, despite the rants of Mel Kiper and worries of obsessed fans. But this could be a trend for first round quarterbacks. So, expect to see top prospects skip passing drills at the Combine in favor of on campus Pro Days.
We will repeat this fun in the 2013 offseason when Matt Barkley and Denard Robinson hit the market. Circle the date when the NFL schedules their Pro Day.
We would not have had such suspense if Matt Barkely declared for the NFL Draft this year. There would have been enough quarterbacks to go around then. Do ya think Roger Goodell had something to do with Barkley’s return to USC? (Sarcasm, in case you didn’t recognize it.)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
