- Mar 11, 2009
- 10,526
- 3,286
- 28,180
Agree completely there! FBS is absolutely a developmental league, and now a professional one for younger players as well. At some point the NCAA will rescind the student-athlete rule and allow just any athlete with a connection to the school to play for the team. This will really cement it as its own league, plus a developmental league.
The UFL is minor league football. Some guys do make it to the NFL (and some come from the NFL), but not many skill positions, and no QBs. But that doesn't mean the league isn't fun to watch.
If one looks at the majority of UFL starters you are completely correct at QB. Duggan is a real competitor. Hard to dislike the guy, and he's highly mobile and will run. But he indeed has an average arm, and his throwing motion is not compact, drops the ball down a considerable amount, causing more sacks, more strip sacks. Not the biggest guy either. Fun to watch, but...
I think Luis Perez nickname says it all. The King of Spring. He is basically a poor man's Alex Smith. Smart, calm, pretty accurate, gets rid of the ball after going through progressions quickly in a pass-heavy offense. But an average arm. Delivery is fairly slow. He's a little mobile, but doesn't scramble much, and only runs every once in a while. He's been on a few NFL teams practice squads, and in the XFL 2.0, USFL, CFL, AAF, XFL 3.0, and now UFL. He's basically just doing this hoping maybe he gets a practice squad gig (and big jump in pay) until he just goes into coaching, where he should do well. But despite leading the spring leagues and winning awards and spring championships, whatever dream he may have, he's never going to be an NFL quarterback.
Matt Corral was injured last year in the UFL, and again this year. That must be what's cut down on his dual-threat capability. I don't see him getting to the NFL either.
The spring QBs I've seen who I thought might make an NFL team as a backup were Alex McGough, and Adrian Martinez. McGough did sign a 2-year deal with the Packers in 2022. He only saw pre-season time, and in his second season they looked to convert him to sort of a Taysom Hill WR/QB after he strained his throwing shoulder. But he got hurt again, and went back to the UFL as a QB this year, where he dislocated his throwing shoulder in the 1st game of the season. That guy is athletic, mobile, and has a decent arm and finds open receivers. But I think he's maybe done with football at this point, period. Martinez we talked about. I agree, a 3rd string spot where he could maybe get attention, maybe move up to 2nd string on some team, is possible, likely a ceiling. Not quite the passer as McGough, and McGough has more muscle, but Martinez is a dual-threat and an excellent runner. Ta'amu and Perkins are two current UFL guys who would hope to maybe make it to that level, maybe, with some luck.
I question if ever a QB goes from the NCAA to the UFL, then to the NFL and becomes a starter, the Kurt Warner dream. It would take the league doing something like expanding by 4-8 teams (which I can actually see happening in the next decade. 4 teams in the US, 4 in Europe).
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram