When do you know?

Living here in the Cleveland area I am utterly amazed at how ignorant the media and fans are when it comes to football in the NFL. The talk shows and fans have Mayfield as a lock for the HOF and they will NOT be reasoned with.

So I started thinking, when am I willing to say "yep. that guy is the real deal" or "Nope, he's a bust"?

1. For a QB, it's after his third year.
2. For a LB, it's after his second year.
3. For WR, it's a split decision. You can tell if he can run routes and get separation pretty quickly but it takes a couple years before you know if you can depend on him to always be where he is supposed to be so the QB doesn't throw that pick where there was not a receiver in the zip code.
4. For a RB, it's like a WR. You can tell if he has moves and quickness right away, but when has he learned to pick up blitzes and release off of blocks?

What say you?

 

It's like children in how they all grow at their own pace. Some QB's flourish early like Marino and some take quite a wile like Plunkett.Cedric Benson was a bust in Chicago but quite produtive in Cinci a few years later.

 

Tough call. There have been some who started out strong only to drop off after a few years. I do know when the Steelers drafted Ben I said we got a HOF QB for years to come.

 

Depends on the player. You can't lump them all together. Some start well and turn to the darkside. Baker has already started running his mouth about other players from his team and other teams. Success sometimes goes to your head.

 

I was elated that day too, and it turned out to be true, but as a whole, you wouldn't want to bet too awful much on a QB until he's had a few years.

 

I’m going to aim mostly at the first sentence. Cleveland hasn’t had professional football in a whole generation. They don’t have anything to base it on.

With regard to the rest, in my opinion longevity is part of it and not brief snippets. If a guy is good for 5 or more years, then yes, real deal.

 

Exactly! 90% of Browns fans have never seen a good football organization and the fact that the Steelers were the model franchise for decades made Browns fans shy away from thinking about it even more. They place no importance on culture, leadership, ownership, a system, etc. etc. This is why they will fall harder than ever before when the Browns end up being something between 5-11 and 7-9 this year.

 

Wrong section bro.

 

Baker could prove to be a great QB, he hasn't come close to proving anything yet. I'm not even sure what they base their assumptions on in the first place. He looked ok last year, his numbers were very pedestrian at best. Just shaking my head.

 

Thanks bro! I don't know what I'd do if you didn't follow me around disliking my posts and correcting me. You are such a huge help to this board!

 

Once you understand Browns fans it makes a little more sense. While Mayfields performance last year was average, it was leaps and bounds better than anything the Browns have seen in a long time so "he is great".

It's like an inbred family who thinks their 16 year old daughter/sister could win any beauty contest! This is because their world consists only of what goes on inside their home. After all, she only has two warts on her face, her boobs aren't too saggy yet, and she is a wildcat in bed!

 

This. I suspect Baker will be stuck in an Andy-Dalton-limbo, just good enough to be frustrating that he isn't a better leader.
(Be a better leader like Ben! )

There have been too many QBs that look great in their rookie year, and come crashing to earth when other teams study film in the off season. If Baker puts up decent numbers this 2nd year, I'd say he is good enough.

 

Hey no problem glad I could help bro. You forgot to mention that I gave you some likes on your post too.

 

I never said you didn't know how to kiss ass.

 

Holy crap! Where do you live??
Bro....

 

I live south of Cleveland but I grew up an hour north of the Burgh and yes, it was so far out in the boonies there were a few families that acted like they never saw other people. Our school bus had to drive many miles back dirt roads to pick them up and they looked like they never bathed, never brushed their hair or teeth, and had the fear of God in them when they got on the bus People abused them but I felt bad for them.

I don't feel sorry for Browns fans!

 

Damn! And people out here joke about Santee! It's called everything, from "Klantee" to "Santucky"! But anyone who lives in San Diego county knows, those kind of people moved to Lakeside 30 years ago!

I don't feel bad for Charger fans either!

 

They are starved for a winner, you must remember Art Modell ripping the team from
the city and moving it to Baltimore. They have a very good nucleus of players on paper.
They will have to show the world they can do it on the field and I think they can play with anybody now.

 

Up around Slippery Rock, or more NE like up in Armstrong County/Jefferson County? I've been fishing and hunting up there all of my life and there are lots of a areas where you might hear banjo music if you listen carefully.

 

I live up in Hooterville in NW PA. There was a guy for years down the holler who would play bagpipes at dusk. It was eerie but nice.

 

The area he is talking about has to be the Moniteau region. There is almost no cell phone service there and even electricity is spotty. Some of the roads are closed in the winter because they are impassable. You drive for miles and miles and suddenly in the middle of a cornfield beside a giant lake is the high school. A referee at one of their football games said the homecoming queen and her court came riding onto the football field at halftime on ATV's.

 

My “local” high school does have drive your tractor to school day. And a friend in a rural NY region had a sauerkraut queen.

 

My class had the Salmon Queen, but I'm not sure it was school sanctioned.