Quarterback 

Texas

6-1 216

40 time: 4.77

Draft board overall prospect rank: #106

Draft board quarterback rank: #6

Overall rating: 69*

2/26/10: McCoy measured in at 6-1 at his weigh in. Might as well add that to the list of reasons why he won’t work out in the NFL, no experience in a pro style offense, a weak arm, and now a small frame.

1/16/10: A proven winner with a very weak arm by NFL standards. He’ll fit a spread style offense in the NFL well and to his luck, more and more teams are switching to the spread in the NFL, but he’s still not a good fit for a good majority of the NFL scheme despite his amazing accomplishments in college.

Update (11/2/09): Throws like a girl, but he’s a smart quarterback and extremely accurate. Reminds me of Trent Edwards in that respect.

            6/14/09: The first person people compare Colt McCoy to is Alex Smith, a former #1 pick turned bust. Like Smith did, McCoy plays in an offense in college where the majority of the snaps are taken from shotgun, and not from center. Like Smith did, McCoy is putting up amazing numbers in this gimmick offense. However, I like McCoy’s chances of being a successful NFL quarterback more than I like Smith’s. Smith was an absolute worst case scenario. When Smith declared, he was a junior who had started a mere 26 games. When McCoy declares, he will be a 5^th year senior who has started, barring injury, 52 games. Smith was drafted by a team that threw him out there in his first season, without giving him proper time to learn the Niners’ pro style offense. Smith was thrown out there to be the savior and had very little around him. Smith then had to learn a different offensive system every year because the Niners kept changing offensive coordinators. So you have Smith, a quarterback who had very little college experience, comes into an offense that he is not given proper time to learn, has mediocre talent around him, and then every summer, he has to learn a different offense, without fully mastering the whole taking snaps from under center thing, because of the coaching changes. McCoy runs a similar offense to Smith in college, yes, but that does not mean he’s doomed to be Smith. McCoy has more football experience. McCoy is a better learner than Smith. McCoy is not necessarily going to be drafted into the worst possible situation. In fact, and this was not the case when Smith came into the league, several teams actually use college style offenses in the pros, including the Chiefs and Broncos who use it the majority of the time. If I’m the Broncos, who could need a quarterback next season depending on Kyle Orton, how he performs and whether or not he leaves as a free agent, I consider McCoy early in the 2^nd round. McCoy comes in, with a great offensive line in front of him, a good running game to support him, good, possibly great receivers, depending on how the Brandon Marshall situation plays out, and has to only learn an offense similar to the offense he ran at Texas, and he’s got it made, he’ll do a great job. If McCoy gets drafted by someone like Seattle in the 2^nd round, comes in, sits 2 years behind Matt Hasselbeck, learns an offense, the west coast offense, that, while it is not a college style offense, is not that different. McCoy won’t have to master 5 and 7 step drops, only 3 step drops. McCoy starts in his 3^rd year, with what should be a good supporting cast, with full knowledge of the offense, and he can do a good job. However, say McCoy gets drafted by the St. Louis Rams. Unless the Rams somehow pull an NFL caliber starting quarterback out of their ass sometime between now and draft day 2010, McCoy is going to start some time in his first year. He will have a bad supporting cast and will probably, depending on how fast he learns, start playing without having mastered a pro style offense, with 3, 5, and 7 step drops. It could be Alex Smith all over again. Say he gets drafted by Cleveland. If Cleveland struggles, nothing will stop Eric Mangini from doing what he’s wanted to do since he got there, Brady Quinn, goodbye, Derek Anderson, goodbye, and take his own quarterback. If Mangini decides McCoy is that quarterback, that will be very bad. McCoy will likely have to start in his first year, if not right away. The running game is a mess, his receivers could be a big mess depending on how the Braylon Edwards contract negotiations go, the defense is as ugly as Al Davis and just as old. Colt McCoy likely then would become Alex Smith. Basically, in the right situation, McCoy could be a solid NFL quarterback, maybe even better than solid. In the wrong situation, like the one Smith was put into in 2005, McCoy could be the next Alex Smith.

NFL Comparison: Tyler Thigpen

*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here