The NFL is an ever-changing business, and that applies just as much (if not more) to the prospects coming into the NFL as it does to the players who are already there. Schemes and trends and concepts are so different now than they were 10 years ago, or even five years ago, and you’d better be ahead of the game on that in how you evaluate college players for your NFL team.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into the differences in evaluation for these positions:
Quarterback — There are about as many snaps with quarterbacks moving around and throwing outside the pocket as there were a decade ago, but how have things changed in how these mobile quarterbacks are evaluated? And can you even succeed in the league anymore without those movement skills?
Receiver — The massive increase in pre-snap motion over the last decade has teams thinking differently about receivers, especially smaller receivers who might not have even made an NFL team in 2014. How has this changed the receiver prototypes teams really want?
Offensive Guard — With the increase in quick game passes in the NFL, edge-rushers don’t always have time to get to the quarterback before the ball is out, which means that interior protection is more important than ever. The NFL is paying guards on an entirely different wage scale than it did a decade ago, so why are guards so much more crucial to offensive success than they used to be?
Interior Defensive Lineman — Correspondingly, the league now has a group of massive defensive tackles who can get to the quarterback in some really freaky ways for their various sizes. Where did this group of agile Godzillas come from, and how has their presence shaped what defenses do?
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…