No position is harder to rate than QB. Sure there are a bunch of QBs I’ve reviewed who were easy to project failure. Often a fatal flaw is evident. Like every position there are a few overachievers who are hard to spot. Essentially guys who should fail but somehow overcome issues that have sunk dozens of other QBs. Bradshaw was the classic example.
There are also a few factors that a rare QB excels at to such a degree that they succeed. Warner didn’t have a great arm, but was one of the best at sizing up a defensive alignment and calling an audible to a winning play. Watch some YouTube on Fran Tarkenton. If you like Murray’s elusiveness you’ll love Tarkenton. He had a mediocre arm but he found ways to make plays.
That elusive factor alone might make you expect I’d put Murray in that class. However, he’s too fragile to run consistently. He’d never last. So what’s the deal with Murray? Is he a franchise QB? As many of you know I talk with numerous well-placed people. Questions about Murray are my most frequent interrogatives. The bottomline is I don’t know. Why?
Murray began his NFL career with the worst possible coach for Murray’s development. Kingsbury was more a fan than a coach. He constantly ran empty backfields, exposing Murray to continual pressure. Kingsbury made no effort to improve Murray’s mechanics or his ability to read defenses. Kingsbury didn’t insist on Murray using progressions. There was no evidence of teaching Murray how to move in the pocket, the few times one was available.
So I don’t know Murray’s capabilities because in many ways he’s still a rookie. He’s a great runner with enough arm to throw a good tree. He’s simply not polished. Whether he can be after all this time is a major unknown. He’s got the tools, but can he be a game general?
It’s very hard to find an athlete of Murray’s talent level. If you get one, you don’t give up easily. You can teach game management and mechanics, but you can’t teach athleticism. So I want to see another year before I give up on Murray.