Per Brock Huard on the Herd, interesting JJ comp

I dont get the comparison, but JJ is pretty good

I think he's a taller version of Russell Wilson. He's a natural leader. He's tough. He has a very strong arm and tight spiral that gets the ball from point A to point B quickly. He's an extremely efficient passer who rarely throws an interception. He had good yet not elite WRs in college. He can run for a first down on almost any play, but rarely does that. He uses his legs primarily as a threat to buy time and put defenders in a bind. You have to spy him on most plays and that takes away a defender. And he's smart. He will threaten to run to freeze a LB or S then throw to the guy that defender is supposed to be covering. Like Wilson, JJ is also sneaky good at ducking incoming pass rushers at the last second to avoid a sack.

One other similarity is both Wilson and McCarthy came to the NFL from pro style teams with great OL and run games. They didn't come from spread offenses where the QB took all the snaps from the shotgun and just threw bubble screens and quick outs to the flats. Both learned the proper footwork and timing to drop back and get their heads up and read the defense very quickly. Both used a lot of play action. Both also targeted their TEs frequently.

Three obvious differences are: (1) JJ is much taller; (2) JJ is much younger and less experienced; and (3) Wilson threw a better deep ball coming out of college. IMO the deep ball thing is closely related to lack of experience. JJ has only been a starter for two seasons in college during which he averaged about 20 passes per game. How many of those throws were over 20 yards in the air? He just needs more live reps. Wilson was a fifth year guy who threw a lot before he even transferred to Wisconsin. Give JJ two years in the NFL (he's young at barely 21) and he will be one of the most dangerous QBs in the league.

Russell Wilson but taller comparison?

Edit: Well I guess I should read the whole page before posting.

Honestly his comp is Zach Wilson at BYU (not Jets). Similar build, similar play style at, hell even same haircut. I think character and leadership skill wise JJ is light years ahead of Wilson, and having played for Harbaugh ran NFL concepts in college so it’ll be less of a learning curve. The Russell Wilson and Jim Harbaugh comps also are pretty accurate IMO. 

Been working on my NFL comparison and this is what I have thus far:

• He's Kyler Murray, but 5 inches taller.
• He's Chad Pennington, but with a strong arm.
• He's Mike Vick, but considerably slower.
• He's Jared Lorenzen, but 75 pounds lighter.
• He's Drew Brees, but less accurate.
• He's Peyton Manning, but with worse intangibles.

Well I have been calling him Patrick Mahomes all year.

McNabb beat Michigan a week after the Wolverines dropped the 1998 opener to ND in South Bend. Tom Brady inauspiciously returned home with an interception ending his first drive.

Overall, it was a forgettable performance in which Drew Henson was subbed in the first half before Brady's later reentry. Neither played well in a 38-28 loss, a final score that looks better than the rout it actually was with Syracuse ahead at one point, 38-7.

Some 111,000 witnessed this game at the Big House and I was one of them. Syracuse with its fifth year senior qb dazzled and dizzied Michigan's defending national champion defense with an instant attack that McNabb launched with eight straight completions.

As a Heisman Trophy candidate, McNabb was stylistically different than JJ, more elusive, and more willing to run than throw when the opportunity arose but like him willing to take direction or improvise as the game required. Against Michigan, he was unstoppable that day. He ran circles around Michigan's pass rush and defenders who seemed incapable of getting a hand on him. 

On the day, McNabb was 21 for 27 passing for 233 yards and ran 19 times for 60 more including a 17-yard TD scamper with one shoe missing. By contrast, Brady was 13 of 24 for 108 yards. 

I saw Brady and Michigan lose to Illinois in a game that stung more than the Syracuse beatdown but which was more convincing than others I've watched. The outcome was never in doubt after Syracuse opening possession. 

We will appreciate the JJ legacy in a way that will resonate with the lavish praise Jim Harbaugh has heaped upon him as time goes by. He led his team to the most wins in school history in a single year and lost only once as a starter.

Brady was a junior when he opened 1998 in his first year as a starter. Like Brady, JJ was only a two-year starter at Michigan. Brady lost his first two games in the year following the other Michigan national championship in my lifetime. 

Orji might be a better comp for McNabb.  Both are 6'3", ~240 lb and very athletic.  I don't see McNabb being a good comp for JJ.

I'm going with Fran Tarkenton.  Fran was only 6ft and 190 lbs but he was relatively lean, agile and could throw to all parts of the field while on the run.  We didn't see JJ scramble too much largely because he was well-trained to stay in the pocket and consistently had the best OL in college.  BTW, Fran led the league in passing percentage in 1977 at 60.1% which virtually every starting QB in the NFL exceeded last year.   Of course, that was almost 50 years ago.

Joe Burrow is currently the all-time leader in NFL pass completion percentage at 68.0%.  JJ's completion percentage at Michigan was 67.6%.

Awesome potential.

Honestly, as far as measurables. Isn’t his comp Zach Wilson? Athletic ability, stature and accuracy issues. Other than sleeping with his moms milf friend, Wilson has shown no character issues.

I’ll need to see JJ in chunky soup commercials before I can pass judgement 

Way stronger arm, but less accurate. Similar mobility, similar leadership. But Donavan was soft imo. Didn't seem to care much about winning when the deck was stacked. But that's the opinion of a lifelong Giants fan so...

He reminds me of Elway with a lesser arm, but with running ability of Mahomes.  JJ is his own comp.

Since you mentioned issues, it's not that I have a specific problem with cowherd.  It's that he's just another talking head who has no idea what he's talking about and that's his whole job.  To talk and fill airtime with inane babble. 

In other words there's just no reason to care about what he says.  Half the time the team he predicts will win, and half the time they wont, hes like a broken clock if you will.

If it's good background noise when you're at home or driving, then great.  But you add zero credibility by citing him.  

Brock Huard was an NFL quarterback, that gives him some authority to be listened to, even though it sounds like this donovan mcnabb comment makes no sense at all.

So, to resolve the "issue" just quote Huard and dont even need to mention cowherd because it just doesn't matter at all whether Huard was talking to him or any other talking head.

On The Herd

No.

I'd say he's more similar to Jake Plummer minus the 'shrooms.

I think the comp is much more Zach Wilson (college version). McNabb was solidly built even in college, and JJ is pretty slight for the position, heck he added close to 20 lbs from his listed playing weight to his combine numbers which puts him pretty close to Wilson when he entered the league.

It was helpful for McNabb to have Marvin Harrison Sr

Since this is just turning into a "let's name some guys" thread (and that's fun), I'll throw out one - Rich Gannon. 

If we're just going to name guys... Alex Smith

All the comments clearly didn’t listen to the segment. He wasn’t talking about physical attributes—they meant his presence. How he was like a magnet and just a superstar, even going back to production meetings for the Nebraska game. When Jim Harbaugh says he’s got “it—“ that was the point of the comp. That apparently at the combine McNabb was the same way. Everyone was gathered around him as if he were the natural alpha of the pack. 
while Caleb was just goofin around he saw JJ in it not only for himself, but also encouraging his future colleagues to do their best, so then Caleb had to head over and do the same thing. It was all about the interactions and way less about the talent and physical ability. Interesting take a good listen. 

Let's just say he's somewhere in between John Elway and Joey Harrington and call it day. 

Still too soon.  McNabb was the poster boy for "Michigan struggles against mobile QBs".