With all the new drafted players on board for the Black and Gold I took the time to reach out to some of the most knowledgeable fans, beat writers and bloggers for information on what to expect from the newest crop of talent. Without question the pick that was met with the most displeasure from the fan base was the 3rd round selection for quarterback Garrett Grayson. But what kind of player are the Saints getting and can he take over for Brees one day as the leader of the future? I asked Joshua Carvalho of Mountain West Connections to give us his thoughts. Colorado State is of course in the Mountain West and Joshua specifically covers the Colorado State sports portion of the site. There’s almost no one out there better than him for an educated evaluation of Grayson. Here’s what he had to say:
Grayson has shown tremendous growth over the past two seasons at CSU and comes into the league with all the intangibles you could ask of a “developmental” quarterback. Playing for head coach Jim McElwain, Grayson played in a pro style offense where he was expected to check plays at the line of scrimmage. Along with that, he is used to controlling a huddle, just a small thing that not all “top” quarterbacks in this draft class can claim. Grayson can make all the throws and can improvise (for a good example of this, check his game winning play against Boston College). Overall, I think that the Saints and Grayson are a perfect match for each other because he has time to learn the playbook and study under Drew Brees and Sean Payton. In return, when Brees finally hangs up the cleats, I think that Grayson is going to be able to be able to take over the offense and continue to produce good numbers as a starting quarterback. I think that his experiences as a quarterback in a pro system will make his transition as a back up to a starter smoother than Spread quarterbacks that get thrown into pro style offenses in the NFL. Grayson did benefit from having a great rushing attack throughout his career and was only asked to throw the ball 40 plus times in four games. If Payton and his staff can put Grayson into a situation similar to how he played at CSU, I think he could have become a very successful starting quarterback in this league.
Feeling any better about this selection?
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