In the last week we have been given big pieces of news about some project players, including Michigan Quarterback Denard "Shoelace" Robinson, a player who has gotten me in trouble many times with over predicting his ability as a passer. They also had news come out about a player who has made many a sports analyst look like a fool by over predicting his passing ability, JaMarcus "The DoughBoy" Russell.
Ahh Denard Robinson......where did I go wrong. Oh right, thinking that a 5'11'' track star could become a QB. Well I'm going to go out on another limb, and probably fall off of it and die again. I'll say Denard will be a success as a Darren Sproles/LaMichael James/Randall Cobb/Percy Harvin, or more historically, Brad Smith/Kordell Stewart type of player. I could see him being drafted by Andy Reid in Kansas City to add another rushing/receiving threat. With a player like Jamaal Charles in the backfield and guys like Shoelace and Dexter McCluster in the slot, Reid could add a lot of versatility to Kansas City's offense. Other potential landing spots could be in Carolina as their answer to Darren Sproles, Jaquizz Rodgers, and Doug Martin in the NFC south, and could be a potential backup/emergency QB so they could run the zone read plays if Cam went down. Dallas is crazy enough to draft Denard and if Al Davis was still alive I could see the Raiders going after him. Other landing spots could be the 49ers (Jim's crazy and has been adding speed to his offense), Jets (anything for the headlines.....), Falcons (Dimitrioff is a Belichick disciple and as such should love shoelace's versatility.), and Patriots (Bill loves versatility and will need a new slot receiver next year since Wes Welker will more than likely not be wearing a flying elvis on his helmet next year).
JaMarcus Russell, one of the, if not the biggest bust in NFL draft history. Everybody thought this guy was going to be the greatest QB ever, okay maybe a bit over done but still, they thought this kid was going to be good. Regardless, I've been a guy who has always thought if JaMarcus ever got serious about football he could be a great QB. He appears to have done that, as he has gotten together with former NFL greats Marshall Faulk and Jeff Garcia to help him with his reads and accuracy as well as football IQ. He also has Olympian Ato Boldo helping him on fitness and speed training, and his mentor Mike Clayton (former LSU/NFL receiver) being the driving force behind Russell's newfound dedication.
JaMarcus is going to have to dispel the notion that he has rightfully earned as an overweight quitter with no mental toughness. If I'm Bruce Arians, I offer this kid an incentive based contract, similar to Randy Moss's contract with 49ers, and bring him in to be my QB in Arizona. Now, you don't give him anything, if he wants to start he'll have to beat out Kevin Kolb or whatever QB's are on the roster. You don't give the man a thing unless he earns it. If he truly has changed you now have one of the more notable QB guru's who's worked with another jelly doughnut loving QB named Ben as well as rookie Andrew Luck. A now dedicated QB with a bazooka for an arm throwing to Larry Fitzgerald. That sounds like a winning formula to me. Other QB needy teams that could give him a shot would be Kansas City,NYJ(again, anything for a headline), Cleveland, and possibly Buffalo as Doug Marrone has indicated he wants to run an offense similar to the offense the Saints have run (Saints OC '06-'08) and a QB with a cannon would be good. Come to think of it their is one more possibly fit, the Saints. Sean Payton has expressed interest in JaMarcus before and Chase Daniel could be on his way out and some team's are so QB desperate they might consider giving Chase a shot to start. JaMarcus could be a great project for Sean to turn into the next great Saints QB after Drew Brees takes his place in Canton.
All in all I think both of these places have near infinite upside if they continue to work hard and could both be starters in the 2013 or 2014 season.
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