mav1234

My problem with Teddy wasn't the scheme, nor that he took what the defense gave him... it was he actively avoided the shots that were there down field or was physically unable to make others... If Darnold can make a couple more of those deep throws per game it'll open up so much more of the short and intermediate stuff too.

He did, but they kept him in way way way too long. I can't help but wonder how things could have been different if Rivera and co were better at reading and managing Cam's real physical condition. Cam was such a competitor he would go no matter what...

Lol he did, but I don't consider that an *injury* if you're talking about concerns of someone playing a preseason game and risking his health.

Oof. I went and looked and Cam actually did have a lower intended air yards per attempt than Teddy last year. But the receivers Cam had around him... Hopefully this year is different.

We all knew Cam was injured in 2018, and had been banged up before that. Frankly Cam should have missed more games than he did, and how many of us blame the coaches for letting him play injured? Cam didn't need preseason reps and it seemed a risk not worth the benefit, was my point As to Darnold, he's had an ankle and seemingly a minor shoulder issue. The relative risk in preseason is minor compared to getting him reps. There's a difference between a season ending injury and a couple missed games imo.

Right. Different league, no? Mother Grabber mentioned the XFL specifically. Warner is a great story. PJ could become an amazing backup. We don't have a QB controversy, just a big unknown at long term solutions to QB.

RE the backup QB battle that was actually my point... I don't even think there is a battle anymore and we are just keeping Grier around since we need a QB for practices, heh. I also don't think PJ actually sucks, he's just not shown me enough to have confidence he's a great backup. He's exciting to watch at least.

Warner played in the XFL?

Definitely not the QB I was expecting... Nor the second for that matter...

By 2019 Cam had an injury history, remember ... Darnold is like 23 without one. Put him in some game situations to get him reps... The offense needs it. Our backup QB battle isn't so intense that they can't spare a quarter and a half or two...

After reading thru the morning tweets the receiver comments weren't just Rhule protecting Darnold. Lots of drops. It's okay... They are a great group and allowed to have off days.

The reason I'd like to see Darnold get some snaps in a preseason game is that it is just more reps, and it's even more of a 'real' environment than the joint practices... I'm not concerned with how well or poorly he plays... I'd like to see him get as much exposure to our offense as possible... Plays and players he'll be playing with. I'm not going to scream and curse Rhule if he doesn't, just seems like Darnold could benefit from it.

Not crap if true. Everyone has bad days and our receivers could have too. Few others talking about drops on social media too.

I think the gap is significantly more than that... Guess we will see, though.

I didn't say that PJ isn't going to or can't improve... I hope he does. I just think it's ... A little crazy there are multiple threads talking about how we have QB controversy or maybe PJ will be better than Darnold etc.

I agree he could, and is Already far ahead of Grier... but this isn't a thread about that. I don't think it's really possible he's better than Darnold.

Yeesh guys. Even in Darnold's worst year he looked better than PJ did in his game time last year. PJ had fewer on target passes and more bad throws than Darnold last year and that is unfortunately saying something since it was also Darnold's worst year to date I would love PJ to be a good backup but some of the posts here lately are making me desperate for the season to start lol

I'd love for PJ to turn a corner and look like he could be a good backup ... But we are in serious trouble if he's starting because of how bad Darnold has played lol.

..."but I don't want to invest more draft capital in long shots after Darnold."

Depends if we get Darnold from the last few games of his rookie year or Darnold from last year, I suppose. I don't think Darnold can be particularly mediocre... He seems too prone to trying to make things happen. Either those risks are the right ones and it pays off or he's going to ruin some games for us.

Minshew was pretty good but we just spent two seasons complaining about QBs without sufficient arm strength. Yes, Teddy had issues going deep beyond that, but Minshew doesn't have anything close to Darnold's arm. There was some debate about this pre draft... And I was surprised when I did some digging into their advanced stats now much closer Minshew and Teddy were than I expected in terms of depth of targets and what not. But Minshew 'feels' in game situations more willing to take risks than Teddy did. Plus, Minshew had pretty much the same percent of bad throws as Darnold, far fewer drops, about the same percent of on target passes, and a couple yards less depth to his average attempt thru each of their first two years. Now I agree advanced stats can be misleading, and Minshew did play better with a better cast around him. A much better one lol

I don't think worst case scenario is Darnold isn't competent and we have a bad season. I think worst case is a season in which we win enough games to be out of position to have our pick of a few QBs and we still don't have an answer at QB because of whomever played not being the answer . But I agree backup qb seems a big problem overall . I'm all in for Darnold now. I would like a veteran backup on waivers, but Minshew isn't that. If he really would be totally dirt cheap then maybe, but I don't want to invest more draft capital in long shots after Darnold. As to the potential, that relates to physical strengths. Minshew isn't terrible in those regards,and has played a lot better than Darnold mostly, but he really isn't physically gifted and while it's certainly early enough for us to be wrong, he just doesn't seem like he's a long term solution at QB.

Minshew MAY be better than Darnold. But if he is, he still doesn't seem like he's likely to be good enough to be a franchise kind of QB. He also may not be. The bet on Darnold is about potential, not play so far, and it's hard to argue Minshew has more potential than Darnold. I'd rather fail with Darnold than suffer with Minshew, now that he's our QB. And if Darnold is as bad as some fear, he might just help us get our next QB.

A couple preseason series per game when we are still figuring the OL out aren't going to make or break Darnold's year, and frankly those series' are more valuable to our backups / depth players.

I really wish we had gotten Fields... Wish him the best in Chicago tho.