It was to five games where Florida was one of the opponents.
Those 5 games were. Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Kentucky was @ Florida
Vanderbilt was @ Vanderbilt
Tennessee was @ Florida
Georgia was @ Georgia
Texas A&M was @ Texas A&M
Our scouts actually only went to two Florida games in Florida. Then to 3 games where Florida was the opponent.
They go to every team in the SEC 3 times a year. So there’s always going to be teams they’ve visited 4 and sometimes 5 times as a cross over. It just happens.
If you take a deep dive into the Lions scout team you’ll notice we have several that live or have homes in the south eastern part of the US too.
This is how a profile reads when a “talent evaluator” simply copy and pastes “black quarterback.” You just put this guy on blast for not doing his homework. Would you like to highlight his embarassment…I mean name?
I have brought this up numerous times in regards the “5 visits to UF for Richardson” theme promoted here.
Yes, they scouted him heavily, no doubt doing their due diligence and he may be high on their list. But, the opponents matter. SEC is heavily scouted, add in cross checking and you have more games/teams being scouted.
So why did a guy who covers the Gators for a living and presumably would know such things point out that it was the 5th Gators game in 11 games the Lions scouted a game with the Gators in it.
Kinda goes against it being routine like you guys are trying to claim for whatever reason
Why would they need to be convinced on him in Sept/Oct? I don’t think they are looking at it the way you are whatsoever.
That’s fine, I get it, but that is also agenda driven isn’t it? I mean I could see them agreeing with you, but I could also see them drafting Richardson in the first if they really like him. Because they may be thinking longer term than you are.
Who doesn’t want to draft a high level QB in the 2nd or 3rd? But its a bit of a pipedream. There is a penchant for fans to say lets wait until next year on a QB. Hell, we did it last year (not that there wasn’t good reason), and it turns out that this QB class isn’t quite what a lot of people thought a year ago. A lot can happen between now and next year, I’ll leave it at that.
The ball sailing on Richardson happens on short outs. Its definitely a problem area for him and it has to do with his footwork. JT O’Sullivan’s video is a good breakdown of his flaws. But as he pointed out, despite it all, teams are going to love him in the end because of what he has that can’t be taught.
The interview process is going to huge for Richardson. I was listening to Bucky Brooks and DJ talking about how they weren’t really sold on Patrick Mahomes during his draft year until he came into the studio for a visit and they were completely blown away by him. After the interview they were convinced he was the real deal. If there are any head issues with Richardson they will get sorted out in the course of the process by teams who know what they are doing.
We just watched a pipe dream 2nd round QB get to the Super bowl. I’d submit that drafting a project QB at 6 overall, who started barely a year in college with just over 50% completions and expecting him to be the next great QB is as big a pipe dream. But bigger. And riskier
Agenda driven? Sure. If wanting a better defense and a competent DB corps is my agenda then my desire for the Lions to draft one of the top CBs is ‘agenda driven’. I suspect the Lions are thinking long term but not at the expense of fielding a defense that is at least average
I guess my biggest problem is that I watched a bunch of his games. It’s not just on short outs. When you’re barely hitting on half your throws it’s not just short outs you’re missing. Yes he has a crazy arm and escapability but he also needs a lot of coaching. His tools alone should get him drafted in the second or third but some team will overdraft him hoping he can pull it all together. That means paying a backup 30 million dollars to sit on the bench for a couple years
I think it’s been shown pretty thoroughly by other posters here that seeing five FL games isn’t out of the ordinary. So the premise of this entire thread is moot, unless it’s changed to ‘AR is a QB who Lions scouts saw. They may consider him as they do every prospect’
They can address their defense in FA and the draft and still take a qb early. The two are not mutually exclusive. The lions are happy to an extent with what they got on defense. They need pieces but there are going to be offensive pieces taken early in the draft. I will go out on a limb as say at least 2 if the first 4 picks will be offense.
He is a top 15 player and most likely going in the top 10. This is Malik Willis we are talking about. If they were to draft him OR stroud….Goff isn’t here being paid 30 million in 2 years as a backup. And that would be better then paying Goff 40-50 million on a new contract.
That is not accurate. @Thats2 did a really good job of presenting an argument for why a qb, or AR15 specifically, might be in play at 6. He listed 6 separate points to support his thinking and the 5 visits to see AR15 was one of the points but not the only point so maybe they went 5 times to see him maybe they didn’t……it does not make the overall premise a moot one.
I doubt they are happy at all with the 30th ranked defense with very little DB talent. We don’t even know if they will take the option on Okudah. JJ is scrappy and behind them it’s pretty dismal.
It’s not easy at all and all but impossible to get a very good young CB with upside in FA. I assume they will sign a veteran and draft at least one CB if not two. Gonzalez and Witherspoon have a ton of upside and fit the man-press scheme our defense likes. I doubt either will be there at 18. If I were to bet money, barring a trade down we take one of them at 6
If they were to give Goff a three year extension this off-season, it most likely doesn’t hit 50 million and would likely pace 30 plus million like now. Which in a couple years would be around 10% of the cap. Which seems to be a sweet spot historically on average for a SB run
Note I do want to draft a backup to develop but six overall is rich for a developmental backup. When you pay a kid 30 million he will need be starting by year two. That means you’ve committed to moving on from Goff. And if your developmental guy doesn’t develop, it would put them in a much more difficult spot. If they don’t plan on playing the number six overall pick by year two, the biggest thing it would accomplish would be a QB controversy. Every time Goff made a mistake the media howling and here for AR would be loud enough to hear in outer space
Every point except the visits was normal speculation. That was the only really compelling point for me. And that dissolved into illusion.
We already covered this. He made a comment but that wasn’t his only one. Its just the one people ran with. It was in a tweet. He had been tracking every single NFL team’s presence at Gators games and reported the results at the end of the year (good job by him). The Lions were not even the team that visited the most, and the Chargers were there as often as the Lions.
Again, anyone who is saying AR is in play at 6 for the Lions has not been paying attention to Brad and Dan since the end of the year or what the lions are looking for at QB. He is a bust waiting to happen
And there is that O’Cyrus Torrance guy who plays for Florida that would look pretty darned good at the biggest position of need on our entire offense. Him being a guy who could walk in, elevate the position and help us win day one.
Yet what about 2018 at Alabama? He did have 70 pass attempts which would be a small sample size (yet about 1/4 of everything we have total on AR so…), but he managed a 72.9% completion rate at Alabama with a pretty nice 10.9 YPA over that span. Yes, I agree with coaching mechanics CAN be improved, and that improvement WILL lead to better accuracy. But we really are talking about TERRIBLE accuracy right now.
Look at how long Goff has been in the league. I would love it and I’m sure the coaches would love it, if he didn’t have a slow, wind up release where the ball actually dips down by his waist during his throwing motion. It would be more protected and the ball would get out faster if he simply did what every QB is trained to do from Pee Wee, which is to bring the ball straight to the shoulder and keep it up there throughout the release. But he has NOT fixed it. Why? Because it isn’t that easy to do, even IF you are a tireless worker and a great coachable human being. Some just won’t, or can’t change it because that is their natural motion.
To me everything about Levis translates better to the NFL game than AR which is why he will go ahead of him. Levis isn’t the runner AR is and he’s a little smaller, but Levis IS highly mobile as well, still has good size and has 10 points in Completion % on the guy in the same conference. If you want a toolsy project guy that you think you can coach up, I say take the guy who isn’t a little more accurate, but A LOT more accurate.
Totally valid and rational take. If the rumors are to be believed then it shouldn’t shock anyone if the lions take a OL in the first or early second. Torrance is someone they are rumored to really like……no doubt they were looking at multiple people……
What was reported by a gator media guy was how many times each NFL team went to a game involving the Florida gators. Not just the Lions.
It takes lots of speculation to connect those dots into the Lions were only interested in gator players. Specifically one Gator player too.
He reported that the dolphins went 7 times, Vikings 6 times, Ravens 5 times, and Jags, Chargers, SF, and many more went 4 times.
This must mean that….
The Dolphins went the most so they must be the most interested in AR15.
Baltimore is moving on from Jackson, trading up and drafting AR15.
Vikings are they dealing Cousins and trading up to 6 to take AR15.
Jacksonville is giving up on Lawrence and drafting AR15 to replace him.
Chargers have to be giving up on Herbert and taking AR15. There can be no other explanation.
We all know SF could stand to add another QB to the mix so they must be drafting AR15 too.
40% of the NFL went 4 or more times to games involving the Gators. That can only mean they all must want AR15. There can’t be any other explanation?
It must be that….Or…maybe it means nothing.
It is possible the Lions were getting trade offers when it looked like they could be 1OA and they just wanted to scout the top players in the draft?
We could speculate all day as to why but the truth is that this is more common than it’s being made out to be.
A Lions reporter got wind of the fact that the Lions had been to five games involving the gators and twisted it into the Lions like AR15. He had a clicks agenda and some fans are eating it up. That’s all this is … 100% pure speculation based on a common stat. Nothing more.
