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While Arians is an NFL head coach with all the usual misdirection trappings, he typically is very honest about his rookie and young player evaluations.
I looked at his college statistics to see how he compares with his closest direct competition in Logan Thomas.
Phillip Sims had a turbulent college career. Recruited by Nick Saban lost the starting position to AJ McCarron. The following year he transferred to Virginia and split time at quarterback with Michael Rocco. He was declared academically ineligible in 2013 (because he was clearly transferring for the better academic opportunities). He finished his career at Winston-Salem State, a Div-II school, again splitting time with QB Rudy Johnson.
Quite the history, how were his stats at these three places?
|
Year
|
School
|
Class
|
G
|
Cmp
|
Att
|
Pct
|
Yds
|
Y/A
|
TD
|
Int
|
|
*2011
|
|
FR
|
8
|
18
|
28
|
64.3
|
163
|
5.8
|
0
|
2
|
|
|
|
SO
|
12
|
114
|
203
|
56.2
|
1263
|
6.2
|
9
|
4
|
|
2014
|
Winston-Salem
|
SR
|
11
|
118
|
198
|
59.6
|
1560
|
7.8
|
15
|
4
|
|
Career
|
Overall
|
|
|
132
|
231
|
57.1
|
1426
|
6.2
|
9
|
6
|
Sims' season at Winston-Salem does show improvement, but keep in mind his was more than likely playing against weaker talent. That said he made improvements on yards per attempt and his TD:INT ratio, which typically coincide with improved decision making and throwing.
Now look at Logan Thomas' college statistics:
|
Year
|
School
|
Class
|
G
|
Cmp
|
Att
|
Pct
|
Yds
|
Y/A
|
TD
|
Int
|
|
*2010
|
|
SO
|
7
|
12
|
26
|
46.2
|
107
|
4.1
|
0
|
0
|
|
*2011
|
|
JR
|
14
|
234
|
391
|
59.8
|
3013
|
7.7
|
19
|
10
|
|
*2012
|
|
SR
|
13
|
220
|
429
|
51.3
|
2976
|
6.9
|
18
|
16
|
|
|
|
SR
|
13
|
227
|
402
|
56.5
|
2907
|
7.2
|
16
|
13
|
|
Career
|
|
693
|
1248
|
55.5
|
9003
|
7.2
|
53
|
39
|
As you can tell their careers were very different. So why sign Sims?
Sims' is a mystery, originally recruited by a high profile school and ran into problems during college. It helps that Saban still had praise enough to write a letter on his behalf.
The biggest reason he was signed is because he is a talented, undeveloped rookie. A low-risk, high-reward player brought in to land on the practice squad, at best. He is not pushing Thomas for the 3rd QB on the depth chart.
There are two reasons why Phillip Sims' was signed.
First, the Cardinals need more quarterbacks to know and understand their system. Ryan Lindley and Logan Thomas are a rock and a hard place, The team never wants to be in a situation again.
Secondly, we all saw the value in having a good backup quarterback. Drew Stanton is in his last year of his contract, If Sims can develop into a solid backup quarterback over the next year, then the Cardinals won't have that as an issue in 2016.
Man, I just spent way to much time dissecting this situation. I'm ready for the season.
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