For quarterbacks, what’s the difference between arm strength and arm talent?
Let’s say you’re a guitar player, and you own the loudest amplifier in the world. This thing goes even louder than Nigel Tufnel’s famed amps, which of course, go to 11. If your arm is “two louder” than anybody else’s, you are able to move air in ways other people can’t, just as that amp which goes to 12 can blow a wall right out of your house. This is useful to a point in that you’re able to create velocity with that arm strength. Where it is not useful is if you don’t have a GPS attached to that cannon of yours. If you can’t align things on the field with your bazooka, it’s the football equivalent of plugging a guitar into that Amp of Doom and letting the thing feed back until everybody calls the cops.
Now, if you have arm talent… well, that includes everything from mechanically-led accuracy, to the ability to throw downfield with anticipation, to the ability to create magic while under pressure. Then, you’re a complete quarterback, and your arm strength isn’t the only thing. Now, you’re the guitarist who can make a ten-dollar pawnshop special sing, and God help everybody if you get hold of that Amp of Doom.
Recently, I put forth my list of the NFL’s best deep throwers — the ones with real arm talent. Now, it’s time to review the quarterbacks who tend to do less with more — the league’s worst deep-ball throwers in 2019.
The feedback is not pleasant. You might want to get some earplugs for this one.