Quarterback Update

The ongoing discussion of the offseason continues to be the point of interest during practices. Today provided some hot and cold moments on the field.

Brian Hoyer has a firm grasp of the offense and it shows with his pre-snap reads, calling out protections. He is strong when passing to the middle of the field and continues to be steady throwing the football. He has some moments when his passes are too high for receivers but his grasp of the offense will keep him in the discussion for the starting spot.

Ryan Mallett started out cold throwing the football, but as practice progressed to 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s, he transformed into a different quarterback. He looked comfortable throwing crossing routes and hitting players in stride, with small passing windows. One thing Mallett has to work on is his footwork and being able to move his feet after his first read is not there. Mallett looks good in his initial read but when he has to come off to his second and third reads, his feet get lazy and he tends to throw with nothing but upper body. His arm strength will carry him through at times but he has to tighten up his footwork as training camp arrives.

Tom Savage has no doubt improved as a player from his rookie season, specifically his understanding of the offense and pre-snaps reads. The one thing that Savage is still working on is improving how well he throws the football and he is still trying to develop the touch needed to succeed at the NFL level. Savage has to be able to produce at a high level, completing passes to his receivers during OTAs, which O’Brien calls a passing camp, but that still seems to be eluding him at the moment. Another thing that Savage needs to work on is not leading his receivers into potential big hits by defenders waiting in their area. If there was contact on the field there is a good chance that a few receivers would have been run into punishing hits trying to come down with some of Savage's throws.