Building the perfect NFL quarterback
Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."
How would you build the ideal player? We decided to do exactly that by taking the head, eyes, arm/hands, body, and feet of a great player and assembling the ideal specimen at eight different positions. We also decided that you could only use one aspect of each player - no double dipping allowed. Our first edition covers quarterbacks.
Who else could we possibly pick but Brady, especially with Peyton Manning now retired? Nothing challenges Brady from a mental perspective at this stage of his career and he has total control of the 11 men on his side of the ball.
He is a step ahead of the defense on nearly every play before the ball is even snapped. Throw in otherworldly competitiveness and drive to be the best and it could be argued that Brady has the greatest head for the game of all time.
Brees is a master at manipulating defenses. He moves safeties with his eyes and sees the entire field extremely well. This is especially interesting since Brees is a shorter quarterback and at times, doesn't see over the line of scrimmage as well as you would like.
But Brees has made that work by finding lanes to use his vision unbelievably well over the years and the Saints have been smart to invest heavily in interior offensive linemen during Brees' time in New Orleans. Brees also sees the rush very well and doesn't often get thrown off by bodies around him.
There are several quarterbacks in the NFL with rocket launchers for arms, but none have the functional arm talent to rival Rodgers. In fact, few (if any) in NFL history can rival the throws Rodgers makes, often off platform, on the move or without his feet set.
Taking it to a new level, if you watch Rodgers of late, he makes more and more throws with neither of his feet on the ground at all. Rodgers' highlight reel of throws is utterly jaw-dropping and he makes several throws throughout the course of any game that most quarterbacks wouldn't even attempt.
Taking Superman in cleats was another easy decision. Newton is a massive human being that looks more like an oversized tight end or defensive end than a quarterback.
Newton's body type more resembles Rob Gronkowski's than the ordinary NFL quarterback. He is not only huge, but powerful - and of course, very athletic. If you sculpted a body to play this position, it would look just like Newton.
Wilson is fast. Wilson is quick. Wilson is very shifty. Wilson can break off long runs or dance around behind the line of scrimmage to buy time in a Fran Tarkenton-like manner. He also has light feet with his drop and with his subtle movements within the pocket to set up his throw.
Wilson is a supreme athlete and has translated that athletic ability into high-level quarterback play.
Other entries in the series