Matt Scott: Scouting Report

[CampinWithaMissingPerson 2,025]

Along with Aaron Rodgers' lil bro Jordan Rodgers, the Jags picked up Matt Scott in undrafted free agency. I watched Matt Scott throughout the year, just off the fact that Arizona had an exciting offense. Later I went through replays of his cut-ups as it became obvious he'd be a mid-round QB prospect, and on the Jags radar given their new QB coach had Scott at Arizona his freshman year (though he never started for the Wildcats while Scelfo was there, that was Nick Foles.)

 

Negatives:

 

Overly confident in his arm. Consistently throws into tight windows, which obviously sometimes leads to trouble.

 

Too many batted balls. Which is ironically due to a strength in his game — he keeps his eyes up-field and away from the rush. Also could be caused by poor offensive line play, not giving him clean throwing lanes.

 

Inconsistent deep ball accuracy. When he loads up to go deep, he gets his trajectory off sometimes, leans back too far and overthrows his target. Mechanics stuff.

 

When running (which he did often), takes unnecessary shots, which leads to injuries. Also has average lateral quickness, he's not going to juke anyone out.

 

Bad mechanics overall. Lots of throws off balance, shotty footwork, leads to inconsistent accuracy on some routine throws.

 

Questionable decision making. This is likely more a product of the offense he ran, more than due to him — though he is part at fault of course. Their offense was first read heavy, like most up tempo offenses. This causes Scott to throw passes he shouldn't of thrown. This isn't totally his fault in my opinion, due to the system he's being asked to run.

 

Positives:

 

Overly confident in his arm. Yes, it's both a positive and a negative. What this boils down to is he takes chances. He wants to make a play. Give me that over someone scared to make a play, constantly checking down at the first sign of good coverage.

 

Excellent touch. Throws a very nice fade route. He can finesse some throws in there when it seems like there's no way the play will end up a good throw.

 

Good velocity, as well as arm strength. Along with the touch, he can fire it in there as well. No noodle arm here folks.

 

When running, displays good vision, following blocks and knowing when to hit creases. This is why he is a threat in the read-option. Along of course, with good straight line speed for a QB.

 

Great eye level. Keeps his eyes away from the rush, he is always looking to make a play, and often does.

 

Tough, tough, tough. This guy is a gamer. This makes him a great leader. Fiery personalty, shows intensity on the field. Stands in the pocket and takes shots when a play is to be made. This is of course, a good and bad thing. Makes him more injury prone, but in my opinion this won't be as big of a problem in the pros as college. Due to the NFL being much more protective of QBs than the NCAA. But in running plays, he does put his body on the line for the potential of making a play. This can get him into trouble, as we've seen far too often with Mike Vick and RGIII.

Overall

 

I love his skill set. I feel like his flaws are very coachable. Mostly mechanics. Too many people judge QBs who come out of these spread systems and lump them in with every other spread system QB. Isolate the player, always. Look beyond the system. Most view the system as a handicap, in my case, I often view it as a disadvantage. Yeah it makes the stats looks lofty, but the key is to not look at the stats. Watch the player, his mechanics, his awareness, his eye level, his arm ability, his ability under pressure, etc. Due to the system he was asked to run under RichRod, there's a bit we still don't know about Scott. It limits freedom to do certain things, in Scott's case — to make multiple reads. They favored recruiting more talented skill players over beef on the lines. It shows, there was consistent pressure against talented front sevens. Thus you see the reliance on first reads, designed to be open by the scheme. Smarter defenses jumped on them right away. I don't fault the QB in this case because he's playing within the scheme as the coach asked.

 

But with that, we still don't know if he can make reads and go through progressions. The scheme dictated all the decisions. No one can really call what Matt Scott will be in the pros. More so than guys that came from more traditional offenses. But the strengths are all things you want in an NFL QB. Good arm, good velocity, good eye level, and a noticeable fire and competitiveness. The flaws are things that can be coached, almost exclusively mechanics. Since it is mechanics, he's not likely to come out the gates flashing as the Jags new starting QB, it would be best for him to sit a year and get those wrinkles ironed out. But given his competition in Jacksonville, he still might be a better option over Gabbert and Henne. We'll see. But I like his pro potential.

Edited April 29, 2013 by CampinWithGoatSampson

[Vin+ 3,121]

Really curious to see what Scott and Rodgers can bring to the table. They went undrafted for a reason, so I'm not expecting much, but I'd be happy if one of them could knock Henne (assuming he loses the battle) out of the backup spot.

 

I would guess that this is Gabbert's last year should he not progress. What do you want to see from him (stat-line, play, etc.) this season that would make you want to keep him around as a starter?

[CampinWithaMissingPerson 2,025]

Really curious to see what Scott and Rodgers can bring to the table. They went undrafted for a reason, so I'm not expecting much, but I'd be happy if one of them could knock Henne (assuming he loses the battle) out of the backup spot.

 

I would guess that this is Gabbert's last year should he not progress. What do you want to see from him (stat-line, play, etc.) this season that would make you want to keep him around as a starter?

 

Not worried about stats, except maybe YPA. I wanna see Blaine keep his eye level up, and down field (very hard to correct though, guys who struggle with it, usually always do.) To not worry about the rush as much. Be patient and trust his OL more (internal clock, which he should be able to do with potential elite tackles on each side of him.) Nwaneri will be healthy again (played on a bad leg most of last year.) They get Rackley back and have some competition behind both of them too. Meester is declining but in a ZBS I think he'll be a better fit, given he's a smaller center anyways. He's got depth behind him too to push him.

 

Along with that, I want to see him take chances. He's shown it a few times, like the game winner post route bullet to Cecil Shorts in the Colts game. The other potential game winner back shoulder deep ball to Cecil in the Vikings game (til the defense blew it with 30 seconds left.) He's had plays here and there where he gives you hope. His mechanics should continue to improve, he made big strides there last year. Which helped him to be a little more accurate. That's why I don't worry as much about QBs having mechanics issues out of college for the most part (the exception being a bad throwing motion, or a slow release like Leftwich had.)

 

His biggest flaws as I've said often are his low eye level and his fast internal clock — which causes constant check downs and inaccurate throws out of panic. The internal clock issue is more fixable with better protection, the eye level stuff you would think would be too, but he feels ghost pressure still. Because sometimes guys seem like they might get to you, but the OL is just readjusting and ends up recovering to solidify the block. It's a trust issue, and it takes QBs who've been hit a lot a long time to get rid of that eye level habit. That's Blaine's biggest hurdle.

 

Also, he needs to work the middle of the field more. That's why you saw an immediate jump in Marcedes Lewis' and Justin Blackmon's production when Henne played. Henne lives in the middle, yet is inconsistent in looking to the outside (Blaine is the opposite, lives on the outside but doesn't look to the middle.) That's a been a problem with Blaine and teams' picked up on it, they know to cover the outside WRs and don't worry as much about the middle, because for some reason Gabbert's not comfortable throwing into there (fear of making mistakes/interceptions IMO.)

 

Those are the three things I want to see him at least cut in half this year if he's the starter. It's too much to ask of him to completely correct those bad habits, so if he at least significantly makes strides, I'd buy into his future. He's got the measurables, and he's a smart kid. I don't know how true those "Blame Gabbert" rumors are, or his leadership ability, likely just a spurned ex-coach venting after getting canned after only one year. But we'll see. May the best man win At this point, it doesn't matter who does because the GM has no ties with any of the QBs, and Gabbert and Henne are on low money deals. Cutting Gabbert would end up with $7 million in dead money penalties, Henne cut would cause $1.5 mill in dead money. With as much cap room as the Jags have, that's not a problem (although I think they already have something like $30 mill in dead money this year from Robinson, Ross and Landry.) But the point is they're not financially or regime tied to anyone. So the best guy is gonna start, and the second best will be backup and so on. The legit competition will be good for all, we'll get the best they got, however good that is.