SI on JaMarcus Russell

Versatile · Oct 30, 2011

LanceyHoward said:

Versatile said:

Michael_ Gee said:

The list of current and future Hall of Fame quarterbacks who had their arm strength questioned before and even after they joined the NFL is a very long one. Start with Tom Brady and work backwards until you get to Bobby Layne.
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I concur, but I don't think that stopped NFL GMs from overvaluing it for decades. I think, five years ago, Ryan Mallett would have been a first rounder.

It should also be pointed out that a strong arm can be an asset; John Elway, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning and Michael Vick have done well for themselves.
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I think Bill Walsh said it best. A quarterback needs to achieve a threshold where he he has the arm strength to make the throws necessary to be successful. Montana and Young did not have cannon arms but they did not hang the deep post. Pat Haden did hang the deep post and was not a particualry successful quarterback. But once the threshold is reached then it becomes relatively unimportant to the success of a quarterback.
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Chad Pennington was on the Pat Haden side of the threshold for the most part, but his best offensive coordinators understood that and schemed around his weak arm because he was so accurate and made such quick reads.

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SI on JaMarcus Russell

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