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Best Quarterback In The Draft?


Hypothetical: You're an NFL Scout. Dream job right? Not so fast...Your team needs a new field general and you are lucky enough to pick in the top 5. You've got 30 Million reasons to get this right. Who do you take? The National Champion? The Heisman winner/Hollywood Type?

One misstep, and you're out a boatload of cash (and a job), plus you're looking to pick up free agent "The Bachelor", Jesse Palmer, as damage control. You think back to Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith. Ouch! What happened to those guys? More importantly, what happened to the poor bastards that endorsed them? Your stomach starts to turn. You better do your homework. You better go to The Combine and pray for a sign from the Football gods.

Such is life in the NFL.

You're not gonna take a flyer on a guy who is just "a great athlete" or was "a winner" in college. Those characteristics alone won't get you a damn thing in The League (Read: Eric Crouch or Ken Dorsey respectively) No no, my friend. You Demand the Complete Package. When Millions of dollars, your job and the emotional stability of thousands of slovenly, overweight men hang in the balance, you better bring your "A" game.

What do you do? You trash everything you knew before.

All the Media Hype, all the Bullshit collegiate awards, all the ridiculous stats (See Texas Tech) and you come up with your own criteria on a level playing field. This is the NFL Combine.

Strength, Speed, Ability, Size, Toughness, Work Ethic, and most importantly for a QB, Smarts and decision Making.


These are the reasons NFL Scouts are starting to see what SEC Fans have known for years. Jay Cutler is the Real Deal Holyfield. Not only did he show up to The Combine workouts, (unlike "Hollywood" Lienart, and Vince "Wonderlick" Young) Cutler is blowing people away for all the right reasons...

You Want Strength: 23 reps of 225lbs! No, that's not a type-o. Ball Speed tops out at 60 MPH. Second fastest on record this weekend.

You Want Speed: 1,256 career rushing yards from the QB spot in the SEC (See Toughest Ds this side of the AFC). Ran a 4.7 40 on Sunday.

Ability: After the Senior Bowl most scouts were caught wondering aloud if Jay should be the first quarterback taken. He has all the throws.

Size: 6'4" 225 - Can you say prototype?

Work Ethic and Toughness: Like I said, he's the only big time QBs that opted to work out for the pros. Plus, he played at Vandy. He's a glutton for punishment!

Smarts and Decision Making: The Wonderlick scores should be out in the next few weeks. I would be shocked if his scores are not in the high 30s or better. Oh, and did I mention he went to college at Vanderbilt.

But what about the intangibles? He's got those too...

He is a gamebreaker at Quarterback. The kind of player that seems to gain composure as the game wears on. He was known for his 4th quarter comebacks during the best season in Vandy's recent history. Just ask the mighty Volunteers.

Most impressively, Cutler wants to compete. In a time when the big names are too worried about hurting their draft position under the imperfect conditions of this strange event, Cutler did everything they asked of him.

For once, Vanderbilt will do the SEC Proud.

NFL Quarterback Class of '06: Jay Cutler - Most Likely to Succeed.