Eric Barriere QB Eastern Washington

The War Room Detroit Lions — The Den
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Let me preface this by saying I HATE running QB’s with a passion that borders on religious. Inevitably, the running QB makes their way by freezing defenses just long enough that their sloppy passes aren’t as big of an issue. The first time they get a good leg injury, they’re exposed and their shelf life just expired.

That being said, I like this kid. I started reviewing him expecting to see one thing and came away with a completely different opinion. Is he mobile? Yes. However, he uses his mobility to extend plays in the pocket more often than running. Oh, he’ll run, and he makes defenses pay when he does, but his is a pass first game. Take a look at some highlights.

Now, quite interestingly, Barriere meets or exceeds all seven of Bill Parcells rules for drafting a QB. As Campbell is considered to be from the Parcells tree, its a possible factor. He has also collected some post season hardware as the Walter Payton Award winner :trophy:

Does he fit with the Lions? Yes and no. If you’re looking for a Goff Xerox, this kid isn’t it, but given Campbell’s proclivity for tricks, Barriere could fit in and see the field soon in a variety of gadget roles while making the adjustment to the pro level.

I’ve watched some game film and Barriere has some definite weaknesses, but many of these are coachable, sloppy mechanics outside the pocket being chief among them. He also lacks plus arm strength, but can make all the throws with ease. His trust in his receivers to come down with 50/50 balls could get him in trouble, as well as his pocket extension that could lead to 20+ yard sacks. Something that will certainly be held against him is his height. Generously listed at 6’1", the truth is suspected to be more around 5’11".

On the other side of the ledger, Barriere is a high character prospect with incredible tools. He looks fluid and at ease. Some of the location placement on balls he throws into traffic is borderline magical. I’ve seldom seen someone who can drop it in the bucket of their receiver, in stride from 49 yards, and make it look so routine. The kid never gets rattled. The week of his Aunt’s death in a traffic accident, he threw for 600 yards and seven touchdowns against Idaho and ran for another in a 71-21 victory where he dedicated the game ball to her memory.

While we have seen fellow FCS QB’s 6’5" Carson Wentz and 6’4" Trey Lance go 2 and 3 OA in their respective draft classes, Barriere is expected to be a Day 3 prospect despite blowing the aforementioned out of the water, statistically.

For the price of admission, I’m a huge Eric Barriere fan who is hoping the Lions call his number this April.

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Why doesn’t he grad transfer? He should have the Covid year. I get that then he goes into the '23 draft as a '24 year old but if he tears it up at an upper tier school it’s hard to see how he doesn’t go much higher then he would this year. Not many QB spots open at this point of course.

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I don’t know if that helps him much. Some teams are going to take one look at his height and take him right off the board. Russell Wilson is a good comparison. He transferred to Wisconsin and was 1st team All Big 10, and still ended up being picked in the 3rd round. That was after a prolific career at NC State.

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His name makes me think of derrière…

which could make for some fun jokes… so you have piqued my curiosity about him.

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Thanks for this. Yeah he looks great! Where do you think he goes in the draft?

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I’m guessing 5th round, plus or minus a round at this point in time. You’ve seen similarly built players like Kordell Stewart and Russell Wilson go in the 2nd and 3rd round, but level of competition is going to be another strike against him.

Of course, it only takes one team to take the plunge, but that’s my preliminary guess.

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2020 Walter Payton Award winner, Cole Kelley.

2021…6’7" 260 406-552 73.6% completion 5,124 yards 44 TD’s 10 int’s ran for 491 yards and 16 TD’s.

As good as Eastern Washington was they ended up 3rd in the Big Sky Conference. The fewest points they scored was vs Northern Iowa, 19. Too bad my Panthers could only manage 9 and got beat.

I’ve seen film of both Barriere and Kelley and the fact is there’s very little chance that either get’s drafted. A normal draft for QB’s is around 12 taken I believe and neither of these guys are ranked any where near that high. I give Kelley the edge because of his size and the fact he was a starter in the SEC at Arkansas. Barriere was 47-80 in his final game, a 2nd round loss to Montana in the FCS playoffs.

I believe both will end up UDFA’s but because of our depth at QB I have posted my preference for Kelley as a late pick just in case.

The defensive player we should watch from the FCS is LB Dante Olson from Montana. He was the 2019 Buck Buchanan Award winner for best FCS Defensive player.

"Olson, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound redshirt senior, led the FCS in tackles per game (12.8) for the second consecutive season, setting Big Sky Conference and Montana single-season records with 179 tackles. "

This years winner Isiah Land from Florida A&M, not sure if he has declared as he is a junior.
" Florida A&M’s Isaiah Land Receives 2021 Buck Buchanan Award as FCS Defensive Player of the Year. … Land produced 25.5 tackles for loss, 147 yards in losses, 19 sacks and 121 sack yards in losses , which were all FCS-leading totals during the regular season." At 6’4" and only 215 his size would obviously be a limitation.

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Abbreviation for bare derrière

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I like Kelly too, I just think that Barriere brings more immediate returns to the table as a gadget/trick option. In what is considered a weak QB class, I think they are both in play.

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Barriere averaged 2.5 ypc this year, 89 carries for 222 yards, Kelley was like 4.4 I think, neither are really what I think of as gadget options.

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Just an FYI, Tony Romo won the Walter Payton Award and went undrafted.

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To be fair I was on the Tyler Huntley in the 5th round bandwagon a couple years ago and was a little shocked that he went undrafted.

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QB Sanchez says, “I own the Butt Fumble!!”. “Get lost Barriere, poseur, if that is your real name!”

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Just as an FYI, I think quite highly of Cole Kelley as well. In fact, if they both go undrafted, I would be all for the Lions signing both Kelley AND Barriere and see if both of them could find a home on this roster based on merit.

Kelley is a fantastic prospect that has received NFL level coaching at a small school level. He has a fantastic arm and a good head. Barriere has put up some equally impressive numbers with a higher ypc average this year (14.47 ypc) and has areas that can be further improved with instruction.

If both of them earned the #2, and #3 spots on the depth chart, that’s a win by any definition. Boyle sucks and Blough apparently can’t beat him out. Boyle was a UDFA with far less on his resume coming into the league than either of these guys, and people need to quit treating this like its a sacred :cow2:. Competition makes good teams better and makes good players great.

Deng Xiaoping once said, “It doesn’t matter whether a cat is white or black, so long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat.”. Anyone dismissive of leaving potential talent under unturned stones will soon be usurped by those who do.

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I think you see around 12 QB’s drafted, on average, every single draft regardless of the perceived quality or lack thereof, of that particular class. Huntley happened to enter in the same class that featured Burrow, Tua, and Herbert, and got pushed down the board a bit, imo. Without a clear cut upper tier in this draft class, I there’s a lot more room for QB’s to rise and fall with more volatility than in recent years.

In the end, there’ll be eleven to thirteen drafted, and it’s complete scattershot as to who, or where, they will be after the top seven. This is a QB hungry league that simply has too much turnover at the position not to run through a certain number in any given year.

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You should never take a developmental QB in the late rounds. Way too risky.

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Not if you’re looking for a backup who could develop into more. Both of our backups have no ceiling and aren’t very good. No risk at all, both of our backups are gone after today.

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I was kidding of course. There’s virtually no risk. I’m all in favor of drafting a later round QB to compete every few years

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Going undrafted isn’t getting pushed “a little” down the board. That’s the scouts and the GM saying we don’t believe in your skills enough to draft you. I was just shocked because I thought he was better then 6 of the QBs that were drafted.