This is probably not what the schedule makers had in mind when they crafted the 2020 NFL regular season. A primetime game in front of a national audience on a Thursday night with Sam Darnold and the 0-3 New York Jets set to square off against the Denver Broncos and Brett Rypien.
But that is what we get tonight, so as they say: When life hands you lemons, make lemon martinis.
Okay I tweaked that a little bit.
At first blush, however, you might think a martini or two is necessary to get you through tonight, but much like last week I am here to make a case for watching tonight. Last week I extolled the virtues of Gardner Minshew and Laviska Shenault Jr., and they lost. So as I embark on selling you on Brett Rypien I might be dooming the Broncos to an 0-4 start, but here I go.
In the buildup to the 2019 draft there were many questions about the quarterbacks. Was Kyler Murray worth the first-overall selection? What about Dwayne Haskins, or Daniel Jones? In the next tier of prospects who was worthy of selection?
As always, #DraftTwitter thought they had the answers. That led many – this author included – to Boise, Idaho. Home of the Boise State Broncos, and their four-year starting quarterback. He has an NFL name, an athletic lineage, and his combination of accuracy, experience and mental acumen for the position convinced some that Rypien was perhaps a true diamond in the rough.
However, the NFL did not seem to agree. He earned an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game, but the Senior Bowl passed on the chance to give him an invite. While some other passers heard their names called, Rypien went undrafted, signing with Denver as a free agent.
What was it that #DraftTwitter saw, that the NFL did not?
From where I sit, Rypien checked many of the boxes, but perhaps those boxes are leftovers from a bygone NFL. He is a smart, accurate, heady quarterback. The kind of player who can make adjustments at the line of scrimmage call out protections, and then hang in the pocket against the blitz, throw an out route on time and in rhythm, and move the chains.
As he did on a play against San Diego State. In this video breakdown, you’ll see Rypien convert a 3rd and 9 against SDSU while checking all of those boxes:
There were other elements to his game that I appreciated, including his ability to move defenders with his eyes, manipulate them out of position, and then exploit their response. He showed that on this touchdown pass against Troy University in last year’s season opener:
He also did that on this throw against Colorado State:
Here, the Rams show a two-high safety look before rotating to a single-high safety at the snap. Rypien still moves the free safety or gets him to open his hips to the middle of the field before throwing the go route along the right sideline, but in this instance, the safety never really strays from the hashmark. So with less ground to cover, the safety actually could make a play on this throw. Rypien’s manipulation, and then the perfect throw, prevent that chance.
However, the league did view him differently than I did. Perhaps the ultimate piece of evidence was in the run up to the draft, Greg Gabriel did not even list Rypien as a draftable quarterback in the Pro Football Weekly draft magazine.
With that writing on the wall, I wrote this of Rypien just before the draft:
Yet, that might work in Rypien’s favor in a sense. Yes, players drafted earlier get more chances to stick in the league. But for Rypien, a player with his skill set and mental approach is still valuable. There are aspects to his game that he needs to develop and refine, sure, but he is well ahead of many other quarterbacks in this group when it comes to doing the little – but important – things at the quarterback position. The value a player like Rypien provides say, in the sixth round, might even outweigh the value other quarterbacks who will be taken earlier provide. Rypien’s floor, in my mind, is a high-end backup/spot-starter, and that is higher than the floors of most other quarterbacks in this class. That value he offers would be beneficial for many organizations.
Ultimately, the NFL’s view of Rypien might be more in line with the view shared by those around the league, such as the Senior Bowl, Gabriel, and others. I might be wrong with my evaluation of Rypien. But I still think from a valuation perspective, even if I am too high on him as a prospect, the value he will provide being selected later in the draft is still impressive, and might make his future employers very, very happy they took a chance on him.
Tonight, we will get a chance to see if I was right about that.
As mentioned earlier, he does have a bit of an NFL lineage to him. His uncle, Mark, was a quarterback for Washington and a former Super Bowl MVP. He passed on some advice for his nephew prior to his first NFL start:
One of the things he needs to do, or to be asked to do, is manage the game and make decisions — quick decisions. I’ve always been a huge advocate of when you’re in the scoring territory, you have to be able to secure the ball and get points. I think he understands. He’s not a guy who will take a lot of sacks, so he’ll get the ball out and make quick decisions and do what he’s coached to do. He’s very cerebral. I talked to him about this in the past, when he first started as a young kid in college [at Boise State] as a freshman. The good ones are the ones who make plays and slow the game down.
One thing you really think watching from the sidelines, ‘The game is way too fast. I can’t do it.’ So when you get in you feel you have to make quick, fast decisions that get you in more trouble. But I was amazed when I first played that it didn’t look as fast on the field when I’m playing as it did when I was watching from the sidelines. He understands that and he knows he has to play well.
Tonight, we get to see if the nephew can put that advice into action.