re: Is the death of the Pocket Passer coming in CFB?

Blake sims was fast as hell he was definitely a dual threat. He just wasn't used that way in the system often.

In my opinion, Winston could have been as well - he had run capabilities out of high school. Again, it just wasn't necessary in the system he played.

I think the whole analysis above misses the ball. There are quarterbacks who play in a more run heavy system and are required to hoof it out more often and there are quarterbacks that could play WR because of their hands and speed but are almost exclusively pocket passers.

It's more of a question of whether a college player who plays quarterback in a less traditional offense can translate to the next level when required to learn to be a pocket passer. Then you throw in another variable by evaluating whether they were actually a dual threat.

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In my opinion, Winston could have been as well - he had run capabilities out of high school. Again, it just wasn't necessary in the system he played.

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So any QB who isn't a statue in the backfield can be labeled a DT?

Well frick. Andrew Luck is pretty good at running too (ran for almost 500 yards in 2010 @ 8 yards a carry). Guess he should be labeled a DT.

ETA: plus over 900 yards in three seasons in the NFL

Not to get philosophical, but yeah I guess so. Dual "threat" implies he's a threat. You're only a threat of you are capable of running/scrambling, but you don't nexessarily have to actually do it.

I think the point I'm making is "dual threat" is an individual measurement, whereas the offensive style a player runs is more often a "team/coach" measurement. You can be a dual threat but never run. I don't think the dual threat or pocket passer status is really what dictates whether you will translate to the NFL.

I'm not arguing that they may at one point have been classified that way, but Winston and Petty are not dual-threat QBs.

Not as long as pocket passers are dominating the NFL

Some thoughts:

College and high school are better suited to DT than the NFL for a number of reasons

1. The mandatory limit of 4 year careers in both College and High school means the risk of performance loss due to injury is substantially less.

2. The players are always in the ideal age range for the physical demands of dual threat.

3. There are tons of starting jobs. High School used to be dominated by pocket passers because they coach picked his son at QB and then did everything he could to ensure success. This meant the high school QBs good enough to start in college had excellent schematic training. Coaches now go for the win first, which means putting the best athlete at the most important position. This didn't happen because high school coaches stopped giving a crap about their sons, it's because the sport has become more important. Schools aren't just handing a clipboard to the dad who has son and wants to coach.

For these reasons, College has and will see a decline in pocket passers. But it won’t see the ‘death’ of the pocket passer for the same reasons, indirectly. Directly, the reason is because the NFL is the final goal for the best players, and the NFL is better suited to the pocket passer.

1. The NFL wants a guy who can be a great QB for 10-15 years. A serious injury not only forces them to punt on that season, but possibly be stuck with a diminished player until they can replace him, which is incredibly difficult.

2. 10-15 years in the NFL means your QB is old by the end. Way past the ideal of running around and getting crunched by the lunatic brotherhood (or LB for short.)

3. There are very few starting jobs. The NFL doesn’t have to care if college wants to produce mostly dual threats.


As long as the NFL wants pocket passers, there will be some college programs that play pro-style offense, the distinction is a valuable recruiting tool.

PS Winston is totally a PP, he runs like big ben.

Well if you want a national championship, a dual threat, or mobile pocket passer, is the way to go unless you are ridiculously loaded everywhere else like Bama was with McCarron and McElroy.

Dual threats are becoming much better passers now and it just makes them super deadly paired with their athleticism. IMO, if Mett could run, we'd have faced FSU in the championship game in 2013.

LSU killed it years ago...

Their rankings out of HS are skewed too. Shea Patterson is rated as a Pocket Passer, Franks is rated the #1 Dual Threat QB in the nation. Go watch the film and tell me who runs more.......

What the NFL wants is Aaron Rogers a pocket passig style who can extend plays.

Cam is huge and that is why it works pretty well for him, but most others shouldn't run enough due to injury risk.

Andrew luck, like someone said, is super athletic based on his combine but is still a pocket passer who has the ability.

The Smaller ones in the usual dual threat vein I don't think translate to the punishment of the nfl well. They will get some more tries recently, but if there aren't a lot of successes then they will probably go back to preferring the pp by a large margin.

I think the biggest potential effect will be qb's having to spend a couple years learning before starting due to the lack of experience in that style.