More Evidence Josh Freeman Will Be A Stiff
April 26th, 2009
By popular demand, Joe is re-posting this item after receiving many requests to retrieve it from the JoeBucsFan.com archives. This story first ran March 30 documenting how first round QBs who did not complete at least 60 percent of their passes in their final year of college were colossal busts in the NFL. Joe’s fans ask; Joe’s fans receive.
Wes Bunting of the NationalFootballPost.com, via Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, offers sobering evidence that suggests if the Bucs select Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman with the No. 19 pick, the Bucs will long rue the day they ever pulled such a move.
Bunting documents some criteria scouts need to evaluate for a QB prospect. One such element is completion percentage, specifically the quarterback in his final year of college must connect on 60 percent of this throws.
Notice, there isn’t a prerequisite of a rocket arm or elite athletic ability for a quarterback to be successful in the NFL. Quarterback success is all about decision making, accuracy and timing in the pass game. Therefore, when identifying a possible number or statistic to aid in the evaluation of a college quarterback, nothing may be more helpful than considering his completion percentage. It boggles my mind to see a quarterback drafted high based on his pure physical skill set, especially when he never completed a high percentage of passes in his college career. What makes you think a QB who never completed 60 percent of his passes in college will be able to complete 60 percent of his passes in the NFL?
To add some substance to my thoughts, I want to look at every quarterback drafted in the first round from 1997-2004 who didn’t complete 60 percent of his passes during his final college season to show the alarming rate of failure.
In short, Freeman didn’t meet that standard despite competing in a conference that was collectively one of the worst defensive conferences in all of college football.
Unless the Bucs are constructing a massive smoke screen with all the talk of Freeman, if the guy couldn’t compete 60 percent of his passes against the swiss cheese defenses of the Big XII, then what makes anyone in their right mind not named Mel Kiper think the guy can succeed in the NFL?
Bunting lists a veritible NFL dregs of society of quarterbacks who didn’t complete 60 percent of their attempts in their final college football season, yet were still drafted in the first round. Read this list and tell Joe you’d want one of these guys in a Bucs uniform:
Jim Druckenmiller
Ryan Leaf
Akili Smith
Cade McNown
Michael Vick
Joey Harrington
Patrick Ramsey
Kyle Boller
Rex Grossman
J.P. Losman
Joe only prays that this Freeman nonsense is nothing more than a massive smoke screen by the Bucs.
Bunting sums up Freeman thusly:
Freeman has never been a real accurate passer from the pocket and is slow to recognize coverage and anticipate throws. Those are three traits that don’t bode well for his overall development and should be red flags to teams interested in drafting him.
Please Mark Dominik, you already made one terrible mistake in cutting Derrick Brooks. Don’t crucify your career only weeks into your new job by picking this stiff Freeman.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
LOOK OUT: 2 of those guys have been with the Bucs already, Leaf and Smtih
March 30th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Take Vick, take Vick !!
April 26th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
This is OLD news, it’s been out for awhile. Morris and Dominik went into this draft with tunnel vision. Freeman was destined to be the pick the moment Morris got the job. He’s hitched his and Dominiks entire careers’ to this guy. The unnerving part to me, is the immature, almost juvenile approach Morris seems to take. He seems very unprofessional and seems to make decisions without using better jucgement. Again, I think this is the beginning of the end of the Glazer era. The Glazers have NO business running this franchise. These two clowns(Morris&Dominik) should not be in the positions they’re in. The Glazers will pay the ultimate price.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Oops, sorry for the beginning comment, as you’re aware it old news.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
LOL No problem Dave. Joe appreciates you keeping him on his toes. Thanks for the kind words recently and thanks for being a loyal reader.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I just recently found your site from PFT. And I like it. But enough of the Freeman bashing. He’s a Buc now like it or not, and I hope you like all Bucs fans want him to succeed.
April 26th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
How about the Bucs going after Leroy Hill now that he is a free agent? They said they want competion and he’s a good linebacker.
April 26th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Come on Joe…Let the guy fall on his face first, then bash…
This kind of reminds me of the Steve Mcnair project. That didn’t turn out so bad.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Raheem can not even speak coherently. I gave DayDream & Dummynick a chance, but I’m done now. Just how stupid is this Dynamic Duo? The Joker makes better picks. At 17, we could have drafted Cat Woman for all the sense it makes. Percy Harvin at least would have filled seats. Who was that idiot that coached the Oilers years ago? The guy that always minced words and left the team Baffled? Well Raheem is right there with him. At least we got a few defenders today. Did Bates lock Raheem in the closet on day 2 to get in a few picks. Great site JoeBucsFan Company. Keep up the good work and more pics of Rachel Watson helps soften the blow from a miserable draft weekend. Dumber & Dumberer strike again.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:37 am
BigMacAttack:
Welcome and thanks so much for the kind words. Much appreciated.
Joe doesn’t believe there is such a thing as too many pictures of the lovely Rachel Watson (sigh).
I believe the answer to your question about the Oilers coach is Bill Peterson. Terrible coach but for one thing: the man knew how to pick assistants (same talent as Tony Dungy has).
At one time in the 1960s when Peterson coached at Florida State, he had Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs and Bobby Bowden on his staff. Not bad.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Is this a complete list?
Were successfull QB’s conveiniently left off the list?
Jay Cutler had a 59.1% his senior season in college.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Don’t forget Dan Marino
April 27th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I’m certain there are a number of busts that did complete 60% and a few successes who did not. Besides, Freeman completed 63% as a junior and 58% as a senior. So had he came out as a junior your point would be moot, but as it is your nitpicking.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Joe here,
Buccanay,
Thanks for visiting JoeBucsFan.com. Freeman was a true junior in 2008, at Kansas State, not a senior. He recently turned 21.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Sorry, this article I was reading – I took each paragraph as a season, when in reality he graduated high school early, played as a true freshman and received all those honors and broke all those records as a sophomore and junior- oh, now I see your point.
“Freeman graduated from high school early and enrolled at Kansas State in time to participate in 2006 spring drills. He played in 11 games as a true freshman, starting the final eight contests as the blue-chip prospect from head coach Ron Prince’s first recruiting class. The Freshman All-American honorable mention earned Big Twelve Conference Player of the Week honors vs. Colorado and Texas, becoming the first Wildcat freshman to earn those honors in back-to-back weeks and the first KSU player to accomplish that feat since 2001.
His pass completion percentage of .846 vs. Colorado is the second-best average in a game by a Wildcats passer.
As a sophomore, Freeman earned All-Big Twelve Conference honorable mention from league coaches. The strong-armed quarterback started all 12 games, set five school passing records — most completions in a game and season, most attempts in a season, most passing yards in a season and most 300-yard passing games in a season.
Freeman totaled 3,353 yards on 316-of-499 passing, completing 63.33% of those attempts while adding 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He completed at least 20 passes in 11-of-12 games, scoring four times of 53 carries. His 276.08-yard per-game average in total offense ranked 26th in the nation and he led a passing attack that ranked 19th in the major college ranks in 2007, averaging 269.58 yards per game.
In 2008, Freeman ranked 17th in the nation in total offense (279.08 yards per game) and 11th in points responsible for (17.17 per game). While his passing yards were down from the previous season (2,945), he did complete 58.64% of his attempts (224-of-382), a career-high 20 touchdowns and a career-low eight interceptions. He exploded for 14 scores and 404 yards on the ground. Only Colin Kaepernick of Nevada (17) ran for more touchdowns among major college quarterbacks in 2008.”
Over 2 years I see 881 pass attempts and only 19 picks, I think that speaks to accuracy
April 27th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Nice Stats Buccanay, and the big 12 Defenses were akin to a sieve. I would have to say your case doesn’t hold water. Way too many holes. I wonder how Josh Freeman would have faired in the SEC. Hmmm….can you say 3’rd string backup… at maybe Kentucky, and only seeing the field in practice. He would have been a professional clip board holder. Oh wait, that’s what he’ll be doing here in Tampa. Only getting way overpaid to do so. Morris will be fired before Week 8. His tenure with the Bucs will be annulled, as if it never happened. ManUre.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
ManUre !! That about sums up the TB organization since the fans gave them a revenue producing RayJay. The cheap route seems to be in play and the one person deserving to go out on his terms was cast away ! I hope he goes to a division foe ! Glazers will reap what they sew ! Going to be a long couple of years ! Heem and Dom the honeymoons over and Your lifes a b%$#@ !!!
April 28th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
BigMacAttack,
I’m not sticking up for the Big 12, I agree. But are you trying to imply the SEC produces quality first round QBs because they play against tougher defenses? Nice try. Historically, the SEC QB game does not translate well to the NFL. I’ll give you the Mannings (they were NFL bound no matter what college they attended), but they are the exception. The SEC also produced NFL legends Tim Couch, Heath Schuler, Rex Grossman, Danny Wuerffel and Jamarcus; we’ll give Jason Campbell a couple more years to flounder before we add him to this list of QBs who honed their skills in the SEC.