Brains vs Brawn

[Mr. Scot]

Sheena Quick asks the question...

The vast majority of her responses are 70/30 in favor of football IQ. My own would probably be 75/25.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Mr. Scot

[LinvilleGorge]

It depends. There's obviously prerequisites. I mean, you can have a guy who has all the football savvy in the world but if he can only throw a football 35 yards then he was probably a great HS QB who maybe played some DIII ball before going into coaching.

[CarolinaRideorDie]

I agree with 70/30, Brain/Brawn. Jamarcus Russell was 1/99, brain/brawn, look how that turned out for him. Brock Purdy apparently scored the highest on the S2 test and I don't think he is physically empowering but he won a lot of games with SF. 

[Mr. Scot]

19 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

It depends. There's obviously prerequisites. I mean, you can have a guy who has all the football savvy in the world but if he can only throw a football 35 yards then he was probably a great HS QB who maybe played some DIII ball before going into coaching.

I think the premise of the question assumes that a player is average to adequate in the less preferred department.

[SmokinwithWilly]

We've seen the brain vs brawn thing here the past 2 years. Darnold and Baker both have the physical gifts to play in the NFL, but lack the brain power to do it well. Doesn't matter if you can throw it a mile if you can't read the field and get it out of your hands before you're leveled. 

[mrcompletely11]

3 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

We've seen the brain vs brawn thing here the past 2 years. Darnold and Baker both have the physical gifts to play in the NFL, but lack the brain power to do it well. Doesn't matter if you can throw it a mile if you can't read the field and get it out of your hands before you're leveled. 

Coaching goes a loooonnnnnnnggggggg way as well as we are about to see. 

[OldhamA]

50/50.

It's the NFL - you have to have clear certain physical requirements to even sniff the league. The coaching ranks are full of really smart ex-QBs who couldn't physically hack it in the NFL. 

[rayzor]

elite football IQ will carry a QB further for longer than elite physical traits. 

[Mr. Scot]

 

[SmokinwithWilly]

12 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Coaching goes a loooonnnnnnnggggggg way as well as we are about to see. 

It does, but there's only so much that can be coached. Certain traits you either have or don't. Fortunately the questions is only about the traits, and doesn't include all the mitigating factors that play into the development of those traits. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

It does, but there's only so much that can be coached. Certain traits you either have or don't. Fortunately the questions is only about the traits, and doesn't include all the mitigating factors that play into the development of those traits. 

I've seen it argued that you can teach passing accuracy.

I just don't see it.

[t96]

There's no one answer to this question, it all depends. Brady had no positive physical attributes except height and just enough of a deep ball (a pretty weak one) to keep defenses honest while utilizing his other strengths to become great at the position. Realistically in this day and age I think you need a bit more agility and arm strength than Brady to be a true franchise QB so there is a physical pre-requisite.

It's less about the physical traits once you meet those minimums, although an elite deep ball arm like a Mahomes or Allen or prime Cam had is a factor, and running ability is a factor; factors which can outweigh some of the football IQ deficiencies but if a guy just barely meets the physical pre-requisites he damn well better have an elite football IQ.

And on the other hand I don't think Cam's football IQ was elite, it was above average but not elite. All his other traits combined with that made him a top tier elite QB when he was in his prime and healthy. Same with Josh Allen.

But guys like Kenny Pickett and Mac Jones just don't have NFL arms to keep a defense truly honest and that is enough of a negative that I don't think guys like that can ever be franchise QBs. 

All of the top 4 QBs in this draft meet the physical pre-requisites in my opinion. Young's size is more a question of durability than whether he can have success at the position. If we had a magic 8 ball that said he'd stay healthy his entire career here I'm running to the podium with his name on the card. But his frame is just so small that durability is enough of a concern that I think CJ is the better bet at 1st overall. But either way both meet the brains AND brawn as prospects strictly as it relates to playing the position. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

I've seen it argued that you can teach passing accuracy.

I just don't see it.

I'm sure you can. The ability to read, dissect, process, decide and release in under 3 seconds while being accurate is much more difficult to teach. It's kind of the same question as which is better, power hitter or contact hitter. Each have their advantages, but I'd take contact hitter over power hitter in most situations. 

 

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

I'm sure you can. The ability to read, dissect, process, decide and release in under 3 seconds while being accurate is much more difficult to teach. It's kind of the same question as which is better, power hitter or contact hitter. Each have their advantages, but I'd take contact hitter over power hitter in most situations. 

I think you can teach stuff like footwork, technique, etc.

Accuracy though? To me I think that's just something you either have or you don't.