Yes, I see the game is changing at the college level to spread offenses almost exclusively and/or those that do not resemble pro style passing attacks. Back as far as 99, our first 4 choices were:

1) Tim Couch in Hal Mumme's playbook-free offense

2) Donovan McNabb from SU's veer option offense

3) Akili Smith in the Oregon spread

4) Daunte Culpepper from UCF's spread offense

- 3 of them started for at least 3 years on teams that went to the playoffs at least once. They did it.

As recently as 2015, the top 2 QBs were FSU's Jameis Winston and Oregon's Marcus Mariota. It was thought by many that Jameis played in an offense more conducive to the NFL style while many theorized Mariota would be the one who would take longer to develop. If you look at who has had the better TD to INT ratio while their teams improved - it has been Mariota as his team improved from 2 wins to 9 wins. I would also venture to say that he has less to work with at WR than Winston especially since Kendall Wright is rarely ever healthy enough to be the weapon he was thought to be pre-draft.

When I saw the matchup between OSU's Barrett and Clemson's Watson, it was crystal clear which guy had better pre-snap diagnosis leading to better vision for the quick split second decisions necessary for success. I think the forgotten intangible with Watson is vision, which leads to how decisive he becomes against the speedier and more talented defenses like Ohio State and Bama (ready to stockpile the NFL draft).

When it comes to Watson, people can't wait to say yeah but he has that big, gifted WR that allows him to trust his throws. You don't say! If he's not decisive enough to be on time - it isn't going to matter how tall his best WR is en route to an incompletion. Those smaller NFL windows battling NFL closing speeds with less time to throw - count on vision as early as pre-snap reads up until the throw is launched. Vision is the difference between being decisive and undecisive. It's not like the big target tool is new when Jameis Winston counted on a tall target like Kelvin Benjamin before Cam Newton had to. And then, TB drafted a huge target like Evans to line up on the other side of another big target like Vincent Jackson. Not for nothing but Gronk seems to be a fave of Brady's when healthy so the big target becomes an efficient tool for all QBs not just Watson here.

The first year I saw Ben Roethlisberger he was in "don't lose it for us asshole" mode fresh off the lips of Pro Bowl Guard Alan Faneca. Okay, so they ran the ball and used gadget plays in the passing game with Bettis or Ward throwing TD passes while Ben frequently rushed his way out of passing pockets to first downs before the game slowed down to his comfort zone. That sounds absurd typing that for a team that finished 15-1. Having said that, I think Ben's first pass was an INT in Jax after many reports out of training camp and preseason indicated he had trouble getting it all down early (like most rookies changing from college offense to a pro offense). Later on, I'm guessing at the urgence of the ownership investing in Ben requested Todd Haley's mission to de-programming Ben's habit of from scrambling too often/prematurely to finishing the progressions or get to the check down to live another down. This is an example of the Coach getting his QB out of his comfort zone to reach a higher level of development. There was a little turbulence at first; because Ben was successful moving the chains with his legs. IMO, he's become an elite passer since Haley challenged him to tap the elite skill set above and beyond the legs. It's worked and it'll probably add years to his career as a result of it.

So why all that? Is it possible that we may be overlooking something very special in Watson for another QB that may not end up very special in the end? I read about all the goodies Kizer possesses but I don't think his coach saw a Watson type of leadership or talent he could trust so Zaire won the job in 2015 until an ankle injury to Zaire gave Kizer the starting job. Coach Kelly found reasons to play both QBs throughout the time Kizer was there. A bionic arm on a QB without vision means what? In fairness to Kizer, I haven't seen very much of him. He's 12-11 as a starter in a place his own coach didn't want to start him in 2015 or keep the other QB from game day reps. The challenge here won't be any easier. If he's not that special at ND - what makes him the answer to all our prayers? Does he have any signature wins against programs he wasn't supposed to beat? What's causing all the love? I remembered Jamarcus Russell getting a lot of last minute love in a QB draft class that didn't look much different than this one.

Looking back to when Joe Montana wasn't supposed to be considered for an early round because of some less than pedestrian passing stats as well as the old missing arm strength intangible taking a front seat to vision of a special QB. The right coach with the right system looked at why and how he won thinking we have the Otto Graham pioneered MidWest Coast Offense for an athletic QB like you (and later on guys like Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, Steve Young, Daunte Culpepper, Rich Gannon, Brad Johnson and even the career best passer ratings of Randall Cunningham & Michael Vick that nobody saw coming). A lot of passing outside the pocket opportunities for guys people couldn't crib sheet into an exclusive pocket passer only comfort zone. Even Tom Landry was once reluctant to hand over the reigns from Roger Staubach sharing reps with Craig Morton to giving it all to Roger full time. But, every once in a while a QB comes along with something that cannot be special unless you let him do his thing. Roger's unique greatness eventually meant Landry ran out of excuses as to why Roger was only a part time starter as the Hall of Fame career got underway. That was a pretty compelling story of a Football Life about Staubach if anyone watched it. Bill Belichick was even in the story talking about how Roger always just accomplished the unthinkable under some very duress circumstances most guys could not escape. An old school mentality favoring exclusive pocket passing wasn't any better than war at stopping Roger from stepping into his fate. Even back then, the college spread/option QB wasn't supposed to emerge into any thing special at the next level as high as the football IQ of Tom Landry. For a guy that wasn't supposed to be very reliable to that version of modern day passing game - he sure helped his team erase a lot of late deficits with his arm.

When a game reaches the last 2 minutes and there is no more margin of error left, do you want a guy out there that can BEAT a defensive opponent as great as Alabama? I heard this was the top rated defense of all time. In order to do that, didn't he have to beat Ohio State 31-0? I don't think this is a strong enough QB class for me to see many, if any, guys ahead of him. That won't be any more popular than Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson were pre-hindsight 20/20. But, if we're going to draft a QB inevitably - what's the enormous hurry to write this kid off? If mobile Qbs were going away, would Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Dak Prescott, Marcus Mariota, Carson Wentz, Alex Smith, Tyrod Taylor, Andy Dalton, Ryan Tannehill have all been starting in 2016? It's a product of what college football is becoming shaping our supply and demand of QBs in draft classes. This trickles down to high school meaning there's far less Peyton Mannings or Tom Bradys in training today for the NFL of tomorrow...

Moral of the story, there continues to be guys like Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson getting drafted behind the more hyped QBs reminding me how often vision takes a back seat to bionic arms. There's no such thing as accuracy without it - just ask Kyle Boller, Brandon Weeden or Spergon Wynn-butdoesntwin

If you made it this far, I really appreciate your patience.