Robert Griffin III

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Robert Griffin III 2012 NFL Draft Scouting Report





What makes Baylor’s Robert Griffin III a great NFL draft prospect? Let’s get inside the game of the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback to see what traits he brings to the next level and what areas need improvement.
As part of the pre-draft process, all draft-eligible players are scouted a minimum of three games and graded on seven traits. The traits for a quarterback are shown below, with Griffin’s grade for each and his overall score—an average of the seven traits.

Height: 6’2″ Weight: 220lbs 40 Time: 4.49 (projected)
Accuracy: 8



Film Study: Throwing accurately on the run is a skill few quarterbacks have. Griffin has it. Few quarterbacks have the balance, flexibility or strength to make this throw the way Griffin does. Watch the ball to see how he keeps it at throwing-level while running. When RG3 throws, the ball doesn’t arc, but travels on a line to the target, who is able to catch the ball without extending. This is perfection.
Overall: While Griffin’s accuracy is very good, especially for a mobile quarterback, I would like to see him more consistent on both out routes and up the seam. You will see Griffin slightly overthrow players if you spend time watching his film, something that can be helped in the NFL by faster receivers, but more patience in his throwing motion and more consistency in his drop steps and follow through will help Griffin become more accurate.
What I like to see is accuracy to all levels, and RG3 has that. His throw to beat Oklahoma showed the deep accuracy to attack defenses, and his throw here shows the intermediate accuracy and timing to pick apart a zone or press bail coverage while in the pocket or on the move.

Arm Strength: 10



Film Study: An underrated characteristic of RG3 is his arm strength. Too many look at the Baylor offense and assume Griffin is throwing check downs and bubble screens. Not so. On this play, which is now infamous, Griffin delivers a strike across the field, under pressure, and does so accurately to a receiver with two defenders in the area.
Two things to note on this play, just on the throw alone. The ball traveled 42 yards in the air and did so on a line. The football wasn’t thrown up for the receiver to jump and catch, this was a straight throw to the end zone. That’s impressive. Second, the accuracy with which this ball is delivered is unreal. Watch this play over and over again if you need proof that RG3 can succeed in the NFL.
Overall: Among Griffin’s best traits is his ability to throw the football to all levels of the field with velocity. Griffin has a live arm and can attack deep coverage. He has an easy, smooth throwing motion that shows little effort, but the ball jumps out of his hands with surprising speed and tight spirals. Much like Cam Newton’s rookie season, Griffin could be an immediate impact if asked to stretch the field and exploit deep coverage.

Athleticism/Mobility: 10



Film Study: This play is a great example of how Griffin’s mobility translates to the NFL. Too often we see college quarterbacks simply outrun the defense, which isn’t always valid once they are facing faster defenders in the NFL. What I look for is the presence of mind to feel the rush, the vision to find the opening and then the speed to pick up available yards. That’s what RG3 does here.
Overall: A former track star, Griffin is an electric and dangerous runner. He has the speed and agility to jump out of the pocket and pick up yards, or can be used on designed runs. Throws well on the move and has the strength to throw across his body. Is able to start-and-stop on the move to set up for deep throws, but also has the arm strength to throw deep routes on the move without setting up.

Decision Making: 7



Film Study: The film shows a rare mistake by Griffin, who gets frustrated with the lack of protection and starts to work away from the line of scrimmage instead of throwing the ball away. As RG3 moves to the next level he will have to learn when to throw the ball away, and also to never work away from the line of scrimmage to avoid a pass rush.
Overall: Does a fair amount of pre-snap recognition based on Baylor game film study. Griffin, unlike many college quarterbacks, does not take direction from the sideline and is tasked with reading the defense.

Field Vision: 9



Film Study: Two plays to look at here. The first play shows Baylor with two wide receivers at the bottom of the screen. What’s important to note here is how quickly Griffin recognizes the coverage and that he makes the right read in getting the football to Kendall Wright, who sat down against the off coverage from Rice. This is the same read Tom Brady makes when deciding if he should hit Wes Welker or Rob Gronkowski.
The second play gives RG3 a run/pass option, and again he makes the right decision by pulling two defenders toward him (being a run threat will do this in the NFL too) and then throwing the ball behind the defenders who pursued him. This is easy pitch-and-catch, but shows the threat that RG3 will be against defenses.
Overall: Most mobile quarterbacks struggle to maintain field vision as they lock in on defenders coming at them instead of keeping their eyes up-field and toward the coverage. Griffin does a great job keeping his eyes up, and continuing to read the defense even as he moves around and out of the pocket. Griffin doesn’t have the experience of Andrew Luck at reading a defense and making checks at the line, but he does have a very high IQ and a high football IQ, two things that will quickly enable him to learn and adapt at the NFL level.

Mechanics: 9



Film Study: Here we see a rear-view shot of Griffin throwing under pressure. Note that while his release point drops to below his shoulder, the ball comes out with good velocity and with good arc. The key here is that Griffin’s foot work is solid. He sees the pressure coming, but sets his feet and doesn’t throw off his back foot, which would be what most young quarterbacks do in this situation as they shy away from the big hit.
Overall: Griffin has a quick delivery and does not waste time or motion in delivering the ball. While his motion can change, generally seen as a negative, there is no change in accuracy or velocity from various release points. Does not have classic over-the-top motion, but the end result is the same.
Has played both under center and in shotgun sets and has the feet to quickly transition if asked to move to a system that requires him to come under center. Will need coached up to time his drop steps.

Pocket Presence: 9



Film Study: On this play we see a breakdown by the Baylor offensive line, but RG3 stands tall in the pocket and delivers the football without backing down, and without making the mistake of backing into his end-zone to evade the pass rush coming off both edges and up the middle of the field. This is a trait that is very hard to teach, and can be the difference between Cam Newton-like success and Blaine Gabbert-like failure.
Overall: Griffin does need work to become more consistent in his pocket presence. At the college level he has the speed to quickly jump outside the pocket and pick up yards, or out-run the defenders to gain a passing window. That will not be the case in the NFL. If RG3 is to make a successful transition to the next level, learning to be a pocket passer first and runner second will be his biggest hurdle.

Overall: 8.85

Robert Griffin has made a fast climb up my pre-draft rankings, starting the season as No. 33 overall and ending the regular season as the No. 2 overall player in the country. Griffin answered doubts about his deep accuracy, his mechanics and his ability to lead.
No player in college football or in the 2012 NFL draft class has the ability to take over a game like Griffin. His threat as a run/pass option and his exceptional arm strength and deep accuracy make him as exciting a prospect as I can remember scouting.

Originally Posted by Masters

Struggles reading defenses and, at times, relies too much on his raw athleticism
Never had role in play calling at Baylor (can he call plays?)
Needs to work on his pre-snap defensive recognition
Lean frame (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) could lead to injuries in the pros
Shaky footwork
Suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2009
Mostly played from a spread offense
Fast, ¾ release that doesn’t quite come completely over-the-top. Combined with his height, batted balls could be a concern in the NFL
Has a tendency to throw behind his target on timing routes to the outside and throws over the middle.
Can play very hurried and frenetic at times, and his pocket presence is average at best.
Doesn’t feel blindside pressure well, and takes a lot of hits and sacks and is prone to giving up fumbles because of backside pressure.
Can be indecisive in deciding whether to scramble or find someone downfield.
http://nflsoup.com/?p=16888
http://nflmocks.com/2011/09/03/rober...outing-report/
http://www.kffl.com/a.php/129614/nfl...II--QB--Baylor

jason j's seal of approval:

http://www.barkinghard.com/forums/20...tml#post162483
http://www.barkinghard.com/forums/20...tml#post162603
http://www.barkinghard.com/forums/20...tml#post162632

[hiramb]

This guy should be wearing Orange and Brown next year. I want to be the first to say it that I think he will be better than Luck!!!

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Funny you say that:

PASSING YDS:

RG3: 4293
Luck: 3517
-------------------------------------------------- -----
PASSING TDs:

RG3: 37
Luck: 37
-------------------------------------------------- -----

INTERCEPTIONS

RG3: 6
Luck: 7
-------------------------------------------------- ----
COMPLETION PERCENTAGE:

RG3: 72.4%
Luck: 71.3%
-------------------------------------------------- --

YARDS PER PASS ATTEMPT:

RG3: 10.7 YDS (1st in NCAA)
Luck: 8.7 YDS


-------------------------------------------------- --
QB RATING

RG3: 189.5 (2nd in NCAA)
Luck: 169.7
-------------------------------------------------- -------
-------------------------------------------------- --------
-------------------------------------------------- --------



Some other facts about RG3:


Comes from a 2 parent household.

Both his parents are Sergeants in the U.S. Army.

Graduated High school early.

Graduated college early.

Will get his masters degree this spring.

3.67 GPA

Made the Honor Roll every semester in college.


Was invited to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials for the 400m hurdles when he was just a junior in high school. He placed 11th in the country, despite the fact that he had never run the 400m hurdle. (Thats not a distance they run in high school, they run the 300m.) Was widely considered an early favorite for the 2012 Olympic team before he switched his focus to football.

Also please note:

Luck played behind the Best Oline in the country in one of the weakest conferences (as far as D goes) in the country. He played 8 games against teams with a defense rated 80 or above. The best D he faced all year was ND, ranked 29th. After that there were 3 teams ranked in the 40 and the majority was against crap teams.

Did you not notice the RBs for Stanford averaging nearly 6 yards a carry, or the ton of easy PA passes to wide open TEs down the seam thanks to the great Oline/Running game.

Out of the past 10 QBs drafted in the first round from the Pac 10 only one is worth their rank, that is Aaron Rogers. After that, there is a whole bunch of garbage from the Pac 10, which just shows how bad the D is in that conference.

[Solon16]

I'll add beat Oklahoma for the first time ever and beat texas 1st time since the fifties and Baylor never beat them both in the same season. Do you guys realize what Baylor was before Mr. Griffin?
It very much equates to Indiana beating Michigan and OhiO state in the same year!

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Originally Posted by Solon16

It very much equates to Indiana beating Michigan and OhiO state in the same year!

When you put it like that ....I'm drafting RG3 #1 over all. lol That really is unreal.

But come on Solon, Graham Harrell & Colt McCoy could both accomplish that feat with their eyes shut!

[King of Kings]

Wow, it truly IS silly season.

[jason j]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

Film Study: Two plays to look at here. The first play shows Baylor with two wide receivers at the bottom of the screen. What’s important to note here is how quickly Griffin recognizes the coverage and that he makes the right read in getting the football to Kendall Wright, who sat down against the off coverage from Rice. This is the same read Tom Brady makes when deciding if he should hit Wes Welker or Rob Gronkowski. The second play gives RG3 a run/pass option, and again he makes the right decision by pulling two defenders toward him (being a run threat will do this in the NFL too) and then throwing the ball behind the defenders who pursued him. This is easy pitch-and-catch, but shows the threat that RG3 will be against defenses. Overall: Most mobile quarterbacks struggle to maintain field vision as they lock in on defenders coming at them instead of keeping their eyes up-field and toward the coverage. Griffin does a great job keeping his eyes up, and continuing to read the defense even as he moves around and out of the pocket. Griffin doesn’t have the experience of Andrew Luck at reading a defense and making checks at the line, but he does have a very high IQ and a high football IQ, two things that will quickly enable him to learn and adapt at the NFL level.

Now, many of you know how I feel about... well... quarterbacks in general. But, there are some interesting contributing factors that make this particular prospect very, very intriguing. Not the least of which is the revamping of the NFL rookie wage scale. This makes top draft picks more affordable and top draft disasters less, well, disastrous.


This particular clip, labeled "field vision" illustrates a couple of things. Let me go on record saying initial read doesn't impress me much. That's a simple pre-snap man read. You're in a 3x2 empty set, with off coverage to the boundary. He already knows before he takes the snap, where he's going with the ball. He just has to see the free safety commit to the tight end and he's got a hi/lo man read to the boundary. That's straight, high school spread offense stuff.

However, watch the subtleties of his body motion. Rather than taking a regular three step drop, turning his hips, crossing over, and planting his back foot; he squares his shoulders to the line of scrimmage and sort of backpedals. Then he snaps his base around. You'll see his feet sort of float, then snap into place - then he's in perfect throwing position. Let me go on record and say, this kid's feet are f-ing amazing.


Why does he do that?

Watch the weak side backer. If RGIII takes a traditional dropback, the weakside backer is going to float out into the right flat, reading his shoulders and closing off the window to any hitches or out routes to the boundary. By staying parallel to the line of scrimmage, then snapping his feet around, Mr. Griffin has forced that LB to respect what he has to suspect is a shallow cross from the tight end. Instead he created a window in the right flat to get a clean look at his target. One false step, he's dead in the water.

If you watch enough tape on this guy, you'll see little things like this over and over. Tiny manipulations of defenders, and the uncanny balance and athletic ability to get himself in near perfect throwing position.

If you go over to the Kendall Wright thread, you can watch the 35 Yard Diving Catch clip... yes... nice catch by the way.

Better though is the shoulder fake. Watch RGIII get to the top of his drop off play action. He gives the slightest shoulder fake, pops and throws. Look at the distance he creates with the help defender, who (I believe is wearing #32) barely pokes his head into the shot as the ball is coming down in the endzone.

Let's also not overlook the fact that he didn't get to step into that throw or follow through and still managed to put that on a spot 52 yards down field.

I don't know how this guy isn't at the top of everyone's draft board. He's easily 1-2 with Luck.

Other than wanting to measure him... I don't think he's actually 6'2". And I'm not sure it's a big deal if he isn't. I believe if you're the Browns, you've got to at least find out what it takes to get up from #4 to #2. I think you can plug this guy into a West Coast Offense on day 1 and never look back.

-jj

[damajuki]

Whoa. JJ has spoken. That's enough for me to be convinced.

I was already getting on board with TBPP's position (very well argued, TBPP, btw) but getting JJ to say RG3 does things the right way is pretty big.

Sorry, KoK, you're going to have to bring more than catchy nicknames (HarrellIII is good, I must admit) to offset a guy with JJ's acumen.

I'm officially with the "find out what it takes to move up to #2" train.

[Legendary]

If RG3 sign for Browns I will get myself new Nike Browns Jersey with his number in the summer.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Originally Posted by jason j

Let me go on record and say, this kid's feet are f-ing amazing.

Ah, an opinion that carries much more weight than mine in this forum. Glad you're on board with this kid, as I think he has it all (except for a couple of inches) ..I just hope the Browns are on board as well.

I might actually be truly excited about the Browns again if we can land a talent like this and continue to build around him.

[handbanana]

Originally Posted by damajuki

Whoa. JJ has spoken. That's enough for me to be convinced.

I was already getting on board with TBPP's position (very well argued, TBPP, btw) but getting JJ to say RG3 does things the right way is pretty big.

Sorry, KoK, you're going to have to bring more than catchy nicknames (HarrellIII is good, I must admit) to offset a guy with JJ's acumen.

I'm officially with the "find out what it takes to move up to #2" train.

Two completely different QB prospects that shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath. Comparing Colt to Harrell makes a hell of a lot more sense than RG3.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

Ah, an opinion that carries much more weight than mine in this forum. Glad you're on board with this kid, as I think he has it all (except for a couple of inches) ..I just hope the Browns are on board as well.

I might actually be truly excited about the Browns again if we can land a talent like this and continue to build around him.

It's not that his opinion carries more weight, his posts just weigh more due the the volume of words

but seriously. As I've said to you before, I was on the fence about RGIII, and I still belive I'd prefer to stay with Colt. However reading JJs analysis makes me feel MUCH better about the idea of us drafting RGIII.