Is Brady Quinn Being Selfish By Holding Out?

[wilsowilso]

Heath Shuler is my example. He showed up in the pros and the high expectations and different skill sets that he thought he had mastered didn't really exist. His inability to meet basic read and react requirements was completely foreign to him and it gave him an extra large bitch slap the second he arrived in Washington. He got his fragile football pscyhe knocked loose and never recovered. He was in fact regressing in his development as a QB every day he played as a pro because in a sense he was just treading water trying to stay afloat.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by wilsowilso

Heath Shuler is my example. He showed up in the pros and the high expectations and different skill sets that he thought he had mastered didn't really exist. His inability to meet basic read and react requirements was completely foreign to him and it gave him an extra large bitch slap the second he arrived in Washington. He got his fragile football pscyhe knocked loose and never recovered. He was in fact regressing in his development as a QB every day he played as a pro because in a sense he was just treading water trying to stay afloat.

Heath Shuler statistics - pro-football-reference.com

Shuler was every bit as bad as you say, but even he did improve while in the NFL. He completed a pathetic 45% his rookie year, but then managed a Vick-esque 52% his sophomore year. Obviously he did not have the mental skill set to succeed at the NFL level, but he did learn on the same curve that all the other QBs of his era did. It just didn't matter in his case because he was so horrible.

Shuler was a bad NFL prospect anyway you slice it. But it can't be said that he couldn't get any better after age 22. He could and did improve beyond his rookie year, and then his career was cut short...because he still sucked.

[wilsowilso]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Heath Shuler statistics - pro-football-reference.com

Shuler was every bit as bad as you say, but even he did improve while in the NFL. He completed a pathetic 45% his rookie year, but then managed a Vick-esque 52% his sophomore year. Obviously he did not have the mental skill set to succeed at the NFL level, but he did learn on the same curve that all the other QBs of his era did. It just didn't matter in his case because he was so horrible.

Shuler was a bad NFL prospect anyway you slice it. But it can't be said that he couldn't get any better after age 22. He could and did improve beyond his rookie year, and then his career was cut short...because he still sucked.

My point is that even though the stats did improve he was already broken mentally. Dosn't matter necessarily if it happens to an elite prospect or an undrafted free agent. Once your mind says I'm not confident anymore it's very hard to fight back. Not saying it doesn't happen. Shuler was broken and therefore was actually much much worse than where he was just before he came to that realization in the first place.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by wilsowilso

My point is that even though the stats did improve he was already broken mentally. Dosn't matter necessarily if it happens to an elite prospect or an undrafted free agent. Once your mind says I'm not confident anymore it's very hard to fight back. Not saying it doesn't happen. Shuler was broken and therefore was actually much much worse than where he was just before he came to that realization in the first place.

Uhhh...ok? Not sure that you or I should be playing Shuler's psychatrist here. He just wasn't very good at football. That's not a mental condition, that just throws him in with 99% of the population.

I'm sure being horrible does a lot to break ones confidence, but this hardly means he peaked at age 22.

And how can we be sure that Quinn will suffer the same fate?

[wilsowilso]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Uhhh...ok? Not sure that you or I should be playing Shuler's psychatrist here. He just wasn't very good at football. That's not a mental condition, that just throws him in with 99% of the population.

I'm sure being horrible does a lot to break ones confidence, but this hardly means he peaked at age 22.

And how can we be sure that Quinn will suffer the same fate?

Shuler was a very good football player until he had to make the giant transition to the NFL. Not saying Quinn will suffer the same fate. That would almost be impossible to match that kind of meltdown, but make no mistake the NFL makes rookie QB's meltdown right from the start on a regular basis.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by wilsowilso

Shuler was a very good football player until he had to make the giant transition to the NFL. Not saying Quinn will suffer same fate. That would almost be impossible to match that kind of meltdown, but make no mistake the NFL makes rookie QB's meltdown right from the start on a regular basis.

I really don't think Shuler had a meltdown, I just don't think that he was ever a very good NFL prospect.

Remember, Shuler got selected in an era where the first round QB was not an every year thing. So scouts really had no idea that good college QBs aren't always good pro QB's.

Now we know that. Shuler was the first QB in a long line of college studs who didnt have the mental skill set to be successful at QB in the NFL. Back in 93, very few teams had successful QBs in general. Nowadays, pretty much every team has one somewhere on their roster (even Oakland now!).

Still, Shuler hit the league as a historically bad rookie, and left it as a still pretty bad 4 year player, but with experience to boot. He was a better QB when he left the league than when he entered it. Had some sadistic team picked him up and kept starting him, he likely would have improved steadily for another three years. He just never would have been good.

All QBs improve when exposed to NFL experience and Shuler is no exception. It's just that not all NFL QBs will ever been any good, despite improvement. If you are bad, you're bad.

[wilsowilso]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

All QBs improve when exposed to NFL experience and Shuler is no exception.

Still don't agree with that statement three pages later. Anyways have a good one.