I know this is all speculation and hindsight but we don't play football again until Aug ---

Did Armanti come along a couple of years too early? - I don't mean for APP because those years made APP a household name - BUT, regarding his pro career ---
When he was at APP and while Russell Wilson was at State I thought AE was the better QB - he was faster and a better passer (I have always liked Wilson) --- I certainly think Manziel got a lot of hype because he was at Texas A&M (big program) and he was "flashy" and he was kind of a white Michael Vick - He was a really good college football QB but was he that much better than Armanti? - I say NO --- Now Mariota will be a very high draft choice and is he that much better than Armanti? --- None of these guys have the size of Cam Newton or Winston or Luck so that's a whole different category - Just wondered what you guys think? ---

All good questions with, unfortunately answers that will never be know. Lots of speculation. It looks more and more that some NFL QBs are just in the right place at the right time. I would really love to hear the bottom line with AE as it pertains to his QB shot in the NFL. I am by know means trying to compare him to other QBs but from a size standpoint he can't be that far off from Brees or Wilson. He must have the speed and arm strength to get the job done. I always say that despite what us fans say or think ultimately those NFL guys know what they are doing with personnnel decisions but as far as AE and being able to play QB in the NFL, I am just not so sure that he can't (or couldn't). The level of college competition is valid but not a sole reason to write the guy off. I'll bet that even the most astute NFL fan could not rattle off the college for half of the current QBs in the league.

I think that AE simply went to wrong team at the wrong time. I would love to see the list of guys who made radical position changes from college to the pros and succeeded. I am pretty sure the list is very short. Not talking minor changes like D Tackle to D End. College QB to NFL receiver has to be incredibly difficult if not impossible. How many bonafide college receivers never make it in the NFL?

As far as Manziel goes...never going to make it. The guy could not even get out of bounds yesterday before my Panthers crushed him. Too small, too slow.

He got drafted by the wrong team. If he had fallen to the 4th or 5th round and been drafted by the Patriots and been allowed to develop in better circumstances he may still be playing.

WVAPPeer wrote:I know this is all speculation and hindsight but we don't play football again until Aug ---

Did Armanti come along a couple of years too early? - I don't mean for APP because those years made APP a household name - BUT, regarding his pro career ---
When he was at APP and while Russell Wilson was at State I thought AE was the better QB - he was faster and a better passer (I have always liked Wilson) --- I certainly think Manziel got a lot of hype because he was at Texas A&M (big program) and he was "flashy" and he was kind of a white Michael Vick - He was a really good college football QB but was he that much better than Armanti? - I say NO --- Now Mariota will be a very high draft choice and is he that much better than Armanti? --- None of these guys have the size of Cam Newton or Winston or Luck so that's a whole different category - Just wondered what you guys think? ---

Mariota is 6'4".

I agree with what you're saying Saint - my question is if he had come along a little later would he have been drafted as a QB? ---

Great point, and I do think he'd get a shot, if he could show he has the requisite arm strength. Five years ago, NFL conventional wisdom was that the read option couldn't work at that level, so there was no room for a QB who specialized in that system. Now it's widely used.

Armanti still wouldn't get drafted as a starter, but with the concern about the read option being the amount of hits the QB takes, there's a lot of value in having a backup who can come in and run the same offense as the starter. Armanti could have filled that role IMO.

I think that the injuries he suffered in his Jr. & Sr. Years cost him a valuable half to a full step of quickness. A healthy AE succeeds in the league no matter where they used him.

Has Armanti ever played a full, healthy season?

For me, Armanti is the candle burning at both ends but only in the sense that while he was so brilliant on the field, he was quite susceptible to injury.

He won the Walter Payton Award in a season where he only started 9 games. Let that sink in.

For my money, assuming full health, Armanti Edwards was an NFL quality QB.

But, as it has been mentioned, we will never know.

I have what I thought were the skinniest legs on earth, but having met Armanti several times, his legs are skinnier than mine. Jus sayin' and half kidding. Armanti would have been in the minority of NFL QB's had he had he made it at that position given his overall physique..

I hoped everyday, that he would make it at whatever position he chose.

APPARJ wrote:Has Armanti ever played a full, healthy season?

For me, Armanti is the candle burning at both ends but only in the sense that while he was so brilliant on the field, he was quite. susceptible to injury.

He won the Walter Payton Award in a season where he only started 9 games. Let that sink in.

For my money, assuming full health, Armanti Edwards was an NFL quality QB.

But, as it has been mentioned, we will never know.

possibly 2006? ---

I didn't realize Mariota was 6'4" ---

He would not be able to stand up to the punishment. You have to remember at any given game he may have faced 0-1 NFL caliber players. On Sunday you face 11 on every play. His body size would never be able to take the punishment. If nothing else he would get a leg snapped.
AE was one of the best FCS qbs to play the game, just not an NFL QB

I remember Todd McShay saying AE didn't have the arm strength. Sam Wyche, who evaluated talent in the NFL for over thirty years, and called about half a dozen games that AE played in, said McShay must have never watched him play. He did a great analogy on a 20 yard out that got called twice in the same series. First time, with no one underneath, AE held it and threw it on a rope. Few plays later with a LB in underneath zone below the receiver, he threw it earlier with touch over the LB. Completed both and he pointed out, many NFL QB's can't grasp that until their 4th or 5th year in the league. Brock Huard, former Pro QB, called the Wofford Halloween game, said, after AE's 70+ yard in the air TD pass to Quick, that 90% of the QB's in the NFL lack that type of arm strength. Clausen said that AE had the strongest arm on the team at Carolina and that was when Matt Moore, like Clausen an NFL starter (not necessarily a good one), was also on the team. I think he had all the tools, based on my eye and expert commentary and observations. However, with the shape he was in at the time, I think bcoach pointed out, I don't think he could have withstood the punishment. He's much thicker now, hope he goes to Canada and gets a chance. Guess we'll never know.