61 Comments

Great QBs are more likely to have “high football IQ” than “freak of nature” athletic skills. Richardson reminds me more of Taysom Hill than Tom Brady, and I know which of those I want leading my team.

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I agree! Nobody really claims to know unknowable things with certainty and no one is an asshole if they disagree with you. Some people over at FGs man, it gets tiring.

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Caught some highlights from AR's Pro Day - absolutely nothing of interest. That he can throw well in those conditions was never in doubt. At least he looked more solid and with better core mechanics than Levis. If a team was going to pick him they still will, if not they still won't, didn't change a single thing. He still has a ceiling alongside the MVP level seasons of Cam & Lamar, and a floor that would make XFL thrid-string QBs look good. But that upside is kinda worth taking the shot on, if he's there at #20. The #5 would be better spent on Carter/Bijan/Anderson/CB.

So I carried watching other game tape to try and give myself some chance at actual analysis and thought. Actually I ended up getting hung up on Tennessee's offensive scheme, and whether it will help or hurt Hooker going forwards - and I couldn't figure it out . What I did decide was that i've been too harsh on Jalin Hyatt. Still convinced this WR class doesn't get close to the last two years, but ok there are a couple of 1st Rd talents and a bit of gap behind them i'm working around to being ok taking one at #20 if that's how things fall.

Above all, I remain pumped for the Draft. Picking #5 is a luxury bonus for us. And in this open a draft class it's just all the more exciting.

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The selfies with the QBs provide no information on whether or not we even have one of them on our board. You know how you can tell? Because we condoned them being posted. If they provided one ounce of insight, we wouldn't have done it. Why give away information freely?

I've been saying it for over a month. I think we got our eye on Hooker in the third, possibly our 2nd, 2nd rounder. Anything else would shock me. If he's gone by then, oh well. If we play a rookie QB next year, we've given up the season.

Why waste our first chance in years to have better, younger talent than the 49ers? Cab we do that and still draft a QB at 5? Yes. But if we can do that, imagine what also hitting on a pick at 5 would do for us. Getting the best from the Hawks over the next 2 years doesn't involve a QB with our first 3 picks, and that doesb't seem very Pete-like. I could be wrong and disappointed. And Like Joe I root for all our guys. But please just let us hit another draft with 3+ potential pro bowlers.

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The non-traitors had the single best method available for sussing out the traitors and refused to use it - see who Quentin thought were traitors and then pick somebody else. The guy was 0 for the entire show but never in doubt.

And somebody please explain to me what happened in the final episode. The 2 faithful still remaining knew there was at least 3 traitors in the beginning, they had only found two by the final episode yet voted to end the game in the belief they were guaranteed to split the pot despite there still being at least one traitor still in the game. And of course Quentin was one of the last of the Faithfuls because why would the Traitors ever vote him out? I was screaming at my TV...

I'd never noticed how much Kurt Warner looks like Josh Allen if Allen was 30 years older.

It's my belief that all these Pro-Day selfies are the Hawks turning the dial to 11 on QB subterfuge and hoping to make it more likely someone will trade up with them or Arizona.

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I tend to think the Panthers moved up to take Young but could be second guessed and otherwise talked into going with Stroud. I imagine the Texans will take the other but it wouldn't shock me if they went with a defensive guy like Anderson. Assuming both QBs are gone, I think the Cards take Anderson. If not, they probably trade out to a team who will grab the second. After that, things get murkier.

Indianapolis has major QB blue balls so it wouldn't shock me if they went with Richardson or Levis. Hard to say which one because Richardson probably has the higher ceiling but some folks are saying Levis' style is more in line with what the Colts' coaches prefer. I really don't know and, frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if the Colts went with a non-QB.

My hope is that Seattle gets Carter. There's risk and he could bust but I think he's our best chance to improve significantly. I'm not that impressed with Wilson. Hard to see us going with Witherspoon. Trading down is a definite possibility. If we went with Richardson I'd live. My soul would die a tiny bit more if we chose Levis.

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Seaside Joe is going to totally intolerable if Levis and Richardson drop out of the first round.

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For his own sake, I hope he gets drafted no earlier than the late first round and by a team who doesn't need him for a couple years. He wouldn't earn as much short-term, but it's at least feasible a competent NFL coaching squad could then mold him into a Cam Newton-esque starter capable of decent success (and a larger second contract). I would hate to see him go someplace currently QB-needy: everything about that screams disappointment.

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founding

From the perspective of someone whose earliest memory of the NFL is the 1964 championship game between Cleveland and Baltimore*, I’d say that there are two truly great QBs today: Mahomes and Burrow. Then there are the Really Really Good: Herbert, Allen, Rogers, and maybe Lamar Jackson, with Trevor Lawrence bearing down on them all. Anyway...

* The Browns upset the Colts 27-0 behind three TD passes from Frank Ryan to flanker Gary Collins. How much has the game changed since then? Those three TDs accounted for 111 of Ryan’s 206 yards passing and 3 of his 11 completions (of 20 attempts, with one INT). The Browns eighth and last NFL championship.

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Richardson is a bad bet. Sorry to put it as fact, but that is at least an easily defended position for a guy with "all the tools" but without the only really critical tool is the brain. The vision. The decision making. The reading before the snap. The reading after the snap. None of those things require a cannon arm, or a fast 40, or the ability to jump high. Joe Montana's arm was marginal. A certain minimum mobility, and a certain minimum strength of arm, but accuracy and the brain are what determines success as an NFL QB.

Richardson has not demonstrated any of the mental or accuracy parts of being a QB. Why choose someone like that when there are guys who will get drafted much later than the first round who have indeed demonstrated the ability to play QB at the college level.

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author

Very funny that today there’s a report that the Raiders crossed Jalen Carter off of their board… Rob Staton shared that as proof that Carter is falling as well as that he “only has 4 visits” scheduled… Well apparently one of those visits is with THE RAIDERS.

Every report just confirms the bias. And if it doesn’t, then just don’t mention that one.

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founding

It just SLAYS me that people try to interpret what the Hawks will do in the draft based on a picture. On Twitter.

Unless a GM is picking first and says “that’s who we’re drafting, no ifs ands or buts.”...I don’t think you should believe them.

I think the Hawks brain trust has done a great job of making sure we really have no real clue who they will take. I’m good with that. It makes the draft so much fun!

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I used to post this article up on Twitter every so often when a conversation turns to "why do people believe THAT?!!"

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds

Tl;dr it is a social impulse to believe what the group you want to be a part of believes, regardless of whether the objective facts support it.

What makes Seaside Joe unique as a sports site is that Joe (Ken) tries very hard to not present just one POV and makes a conscious effort to see both sides (or several sides). That makes it FUN to be HERE!

My own "belief" for whatever it's worth is that PCJS have set the team up in FA to draft the best DLs they can, starting with #5, and they will be drafting RBs, too! But QB? Unless their preferred #1 drops to them at 5, I strongly doubt it (ok maybe Hooker lol).

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Joe my friend you are a crackerjack (As my amazing grandfather used to say) Brilliant article. I am down with running back at 5 it would be amazing to watch the heads explode.

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100% Guaranteed Draft Prediction!

(actually, a two-fer)

We can all most certainly count on the two - absolutely Certain - 2023 NFL Draft 'picks'...

1) Pete Carroll will be "Fired Up"

and

2) John Schneider will say "We got our guy."

Or the Hawks will trade the picks for a lot of loot and then they may say something else. But IF we pick at 5. Wait. Shoot, where ever we pick in this draft, Pete and John will be Fired Up about getting their Guy.

Yes, 100% Certain.

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I don't think PC/JS or the new QB coach are swayed by the pundits playing their game of "who said it first" when they aren't even privy to the criteria the coaches have as their non-negotiables in choosing players. The only thing I'm getting from this city hoping in Jody's private jet is that it is clear the Hawks want a fresh young QB if one is available, but they are okay if they don't get one of the hot dogs at the draft concession stand. Best part of all this is the suspense while waiting to see what they do on draft days. Speculating and calculating is always fun...and if right it feels like winning the lottery is within reach.

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