Zac Shomler is a 22 year old QB at Pacific Lutheran University who has three main goals: (1) to make his mark as a QB at PLU; (2) to turn his sports op-ed endeavor Strong Opinion Sports into a rewarding full-time job; (3) to encourage those who are contemplating suicide to reach out and get the proper help they need, for Zac lost a brother to suicide. Hand in hand with his support for Hilinski’s Hope (Washington St.), Zac wants to do everything he can to help those in despair.
In this video, Zac breaks down a number of plays that he feels defined Josh Rosen’s rookie season with the Cardinals. Clearly, as a college QB, Zac demonstrates a strong understanding of passing mechanics and the kind of offensive schemes that work best against man and/or zone defenses.
According to Zac, there are 8 aspects that he feels defined Rosen’s first season: (1) late throws; sometimes as a result of a hitch in his delivery; (2) despite makeshift offensive lines, his numbers were similar to Sam Darnold’s and Josh Allen’s and were typical of rookie starters; (3) bad play designs; (4) missing reads; (5) tipped passes; (6) WRs not winning man battles; (7) mobility issues; (8) some really good throws.
I think Zac’s analysis is fair, well detailed and delivered with impressive alacrity. In conclusion, it provides a good deal of evidence as to what Josh Rosen needs to correct in order to become a very good NFL QB. Zac firmly believes that Josh is not that far off from getting the best aspects of his game on track.
I had the opportunity yesterday to speak with Zac. Here were some of the highlights of our discussion:
Zac believes:
- Josh Rosen wasn’t given enough freedom to change the plays at the line of scrimmage based on what the defense was showing him.
- The best player comp to Josh Rosen as a pocket passer is Eli Manning.
- Josh Rosen deserves a great deal of credit for battling through the barrage of QB hits and setbacks.
- Kliff Kingsbury is a charismatic leader who should have a better chance to succeed in the NFL because he no longer has to rely on college recruiting and can build strong personnel through the draft and free agency.
- In today’s NFL and college games, QBs have to be able to buy time and extend plays.
- His 3 favorite recent college QBs are (1) Jalen Hurts—-he admires the way Hurts handled his benching and the way he supported Tua and the way he made the most of his opportunity when he got the chance to play; (2) Gardner Minshew—-brings chemistry and leadership to the position and could be a very good QB2 in the NFL because of his competitiveness; (3) Baker Mayfield—-for his extraordinary college journey, from walk-on at Texas Tech to Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma to fiery rookie leader with the Browns.
- While Kyler Murray is not loud a leader as Baker Mayfield, Murray’s leadership is influential in subtle, but effective ways.
- If the Cardinals draft Kyler Murray, then they should trade Josh Rosen and not try to keep them both—-because it would send the players and the team the wrong message.
- If the Cardinals were to trade Rosen, the two best scenarios for Rosen would be with the Chargers and Patriots where he can learn the tricks of the trade from Philip Rivers or Tom Brady and then be the best possible successor.
- The Patriots may not be willing to trade the #32 pick for Rosen, but they might be wise to offer the #56 (2nd round) and #73 (3rd round) picks for him.
Zac is currently working on an analysis of Kyler Murray, which he intends to post on Tuesday afternoon. I am going to ask him at that time whether he thinks it would be best for the Cardinals to draft Kyler Murray, or to stay the course with Josh Rosen. Thus, I am planning to write the follow-up article on Wednesday.
What do you think of Zac’s analysis of Josh Rosen? Thank you in advance for your feedback.