To begin, I want to clear up the headline. Ken Whisenhunt was not present at Missouri's Pro Day, but the Cardinals were represented. Offensive coordinator Mike Miller and a scout were in attendance for the Cards. Blaine Gabbert is considered one of the top three quarterback prospects. He did not throw at the NFL Combine, so how he threw on Thursday was very important for the NFL personnel to see what he could do, especially taking snaps from under center.
So how did Gabbert do? He completed 44 of 49 pass attempts and showed very good accuracy and very good arm strength. He looked comfortable with his footwork from under center and overall had a solid day.
Of the five incompletions, there were three drops, so he only misfired twice.
NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said that "he did nothing but endorse" the number one quarterback ranking he has given him and that "he should be the number one pick in the draft."
He admittedly missed one deep throw, and he responded like this:
"I missed a dig, I missed that deep ball down the sideline. That's going to happen. It's pretty hard to be accurate at 65 yards. You're going to hit about one out of every eight of those. I missed it by a few yards, but that's fine. I overthrew him a little bit."
Let us not read too much into Ken Whisenhunt's absence. He may yet see him in an individual workout. He may have had other engagements. Perhaps his attendance to Cam Newton's Pro Day was more about his having more questions about Newton. He may have seen what he needs from Gabbert and just sent Miller to get another look.
As I have said before, with the likely rookie salary scale, I am much less wary about drafting a quarterback, but my number one preference is to draft a guy (Von Miller, Patrick Peterson) who could make a significant impact immediately.
Is Gabbert the answer? That, unfortunately, is impossible answer now, but he would not be a bad pick.