INDIANAPOLIS -- Chronicling the most interesting quotes of note from front office executives, coaches, national reporters and more from the 2017 NFL Combine on Thursday.
On the Most Important Things When Evaluating Quarterbacks
"Well, it's a lot of things you're looking for, but I think, most importantly, obviously guys have arm talent and can a guy process football at the rate that you need him to be able to do it. Is he a guy who can lead an organization? Because I think we all know the quarterback becomes the face of the organization, I think that's really important and a lot of pressure comes with that, so a guy's got to be able to handle that." -- Hue Jackson
"I was very fortunate in my career to spend a lot of time with Bill Walsh … to me it all starts with the fundamentals of the position. It starts with the footwork, their balance, their ball position … if you are reducing the throwing part to its simplest terms you want to see the quarterback throw the ball to the right receiver, at the right time with accuracy." -- Greg Cosell, NFL Films
On Which Quarterback Traits are the Most Important: Leadership, Arm Talent, Decision-Making/Processing Speed, Accuracy, Dual-Threat Ability?
"The dual threat ability is definitely last. You have to play to the strength of the player. I think if I had to build a perfect quarterback, first it would be accuracy. He's gotta be able to throw the ball straight, he's gotta be able to throw the ball to the person he intended to throw it to. You have to have arm talent. I think that's really important. And I don't know if you mentioned this, but this is really important to me, he has to be able to process football at a high level. I think football IQ is really important. And then I think leadership is paramount. A guy has to be able to lead and uplift a football team to get them to follow him to get them the best they can be because sometimes as the quarterback you've got to go challenge people to do a little bit more than what they're used to. And I think it's important that a guy has that trait." -- Jackson
Quarterback Combine measurements
DeShone Kizer 6042, 233, 9 7/8 inch hands
Mitch Trubisky 6021, 222, 9 ½ inch hands
DeShaun Watson 6024, 221, 9 ¾ inch hands
Patrick Mahomes 6020, 225, 9 ¼ inch hands
On Mitch Trubisky Clearing the 6'2" Threshold
"I think that's great. It's good that he's over 6-2. We all have a profile for what we like a quarterback to be and I think you kind of work through that. I like a guy that's a little taller and he is over 6-2 so that's great for him." -- Jackson
On Robert Griffin III
"Obviously Robert's on our roster right now. I think there are some things that he did well, some things he needs to continue to improve at and we're going to keep working with him until we don't." -- Jackson
On DeShone Kizer
"I heard that. 6-foot-4, 233 pounds. That's a big guy." -- Jackson
"(Regarding his 2016 win-loss record) We'll definitely dig into that and understand why but I try not to, again, I try to look at the player and what he's able to do and where he is. Those things are also things you gotta know and understand about the player because he's very talented and we want to know why that happened. But we'll cross all the T's and dot all the I's to know everything about the player." -- Jackson
"This whole thing is not just about an interview, but if you were grading him on that alone, he blew the doors off. He's an impressive young man, his film's very impressive." John Lynch, GM of the San Francisco 49ers
"Kizer is a really good thrower of the football, he is a big kid. He has the size you want in the quarterback position, so the talent in terms of throwing the ball is there. I think the concerns you would have with Kizer - he is a beat late with a lot of throws, he has what Bill Polian has often called slow eyes. You have to really study that hard and understand why that's the case … but when you just look at the physical talent and the size, he is what you want in a quarterback." -- Cosell
"I think Kizer, to me, the slow eyes are a concern, but the traits are there (to be the best quarterback in this class) … my sense with Hue, is that at his core, Hue would ideally like the Carson Palmer (type of quarterback) … he understands the need to have his quarterback be efficient from the pocket … and have the arm to make the big-time NFL throws." -- Cosell
On Mitch Trubisky
"(On only 13 starts) Well it is a small sample size, but at the same time, he still played. He shows — I don't think that's what's important — but if a guy demonstrates the characteristics that you're looking for then it's important to keep digging and find out more. But I don't get concerned about that part of it as long as a guy can do what we need him to do." -- Jackson
"Somewhat polished as a pocket player, but does leave the pocket too early, which as a one-year starter does not surprise me. I think that's something you have to decide how you feel about that because you don't want to disrupt the timing of your own offense. You can't build an offense around unstructured plays." -- Cosell
"Now there is one thing that bothers me a little about Trubisky, normally guys can't correct this, he's what we call a locked front leg thrower and when you lock your front leg, it limits your ability to drive the ball with velocity and at times it negatively impacts your accuracy. I'm always leery of guys who when they throw lock their front leg." -- Cosell
Cosell's full write-up on Trubisky: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/greg-cosells-nfl-draft-preview-mitch-trubisky-faces-some-challenges-with-his-nfl-transition-162606775.html
On Deshaun Watson
"I think all that's important, because obviously he had a great college career, won a national championship, competed at a high level. Very talented player." -- Jackson
"The talent level is not quite what you want … the size, the throwing ability … he is going to do exceptionally well in the interviews. There is not a better kid than Deshaun Watson and the fact that he has played in a lot of big games and performed in critical moments absolutely does mean something. But the reason he is not a consensus top-three pick is because what you ultimately look for in an NFL quarterback is not quite there. He is an orchestrator, he's a distributor, that's what his game is. Ultimately he is a player that needs other pieces in the context of his offense. He needs a run game. He needs quality skill position players … You have to look real hard at the number of head-scratching throws. He had too many throws that were just bad reads with bad understanding of where to throw the ball and from a quarterback with his experience, they were surprising plays." -- Cosell
Cosell's full write-up on Watson: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/greg-cosells-nfl-draft-breakdown-accomplished-deshaun-watson-has-areas-to-work-on-164552341.html
On Patrick Mahomes
"Mahomes to me, look he has got talent, he made a ton of plays outside of structure. He's a very loose, undisciplined player. The way I best would describe him is buried beneath a lot of talent is an almost alarming lack of any refinement. You have to have a real hardcore coaching plan in place and you must be willing and he must be willing to inculcate all the subtle nuances and disciplines of playing quarterback." -- Cosell
On Nathan Peterman
"In my view, in the right situation, Nathan Peterman can become an Andy Dalton like player ...if you build around him, you can run an efficient NFL offense." -- Cosell
On Davis Webb
"Another guy in the Air Raid offense … another guy that needs a lot of work with his footwork and his balance … I look at a guy like Davis Webb as a guy who would best be suited by being drafted by Arizona or San Diego and sitting behind a Carson Palmer or a Philip Rivers. I think his ultimate skill set fits that more … You know, a bigger pocket guy, not immobile, but he's not going to really be an outside the pocket player. I think he would be best served in that kind of situation learning how to play the position from the pocket from guys like Palmer and Rivers who are masters of playing from the pocket." -- Cosell
On Wide Receiver Terrelle Pryor
"(Getting that deal done) It's important. Obviously Terrelle was a huge piece of what we did a year ago. Obviously we're working through that. And it has to work both ways for all involved – for him, for us and hopefully it will. Hopefully we can get that done soon." -- Jackson
"I think he's trending up, I've said that. I think his best football is ahead of him. He's very talented, very big, very athletic, knows how to play. I think — hopefully we get this guy back and playing well for us." -- Jackson
On Josh Gordon
"He's not reinstated yet so I think it's be premature to get into any discussion of that." -- Jackson
On Free Agency
"It will be another piece and opportunity to supplement our team. We're going to look at every avenue to get our team better. I totally understand we'll do that and we'll do it to the best of our ability. We're not going to do anything that's way over the top because I think it's important we do it very smartly but also very aggressively, but we'll do everything we can to improve this football team." -- Jackson
"(When it comes to recruitment )I'll do whatever it takes to help us put the best possible players on our football team." -- Jackson
