STRENGTHS
Josh has the athletic talent to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. He also has the leadership skills that are unique and could make him better than just a starting quarterback. Josh right now is an athlete playing the quarterback position but there is no doubt in my mind of his ability in the future to work from the pocket. He shows a good strong arm and when his feet are set he shows good accuracy. He definitely can move and run outside the pocket but when he learns to slide and give himself some time to make plays from the pocket, I see a quarterback with excellent potential. Josh plays the game like he is still playing sand lot football. That is the type of football that you do whatever you have to do to make a play. There is a quality in the way Josh works his teammates that reminds me a lot of former Bears QB Jim McMahon. He doesn’t have McMahon’s technical & mechanical skills but he has that “seat of the pants” leadership skills.

CONCERNS
The fact is… Josh is a development quarterback and I could name numerous issues that he has to correct but the other undisputable fact is that the kid is a sponge for learning. I saw that in his Senior Bowl practices and when he was throwing at the combine. Josh WANTS to learn to be an NFL quarterback. The only thing I’m not quite sure of is his arm strength. Because his mechanics are poor its difficult to tell how strong an arm he has and that means most cold weather teams will most likely steer away from selecting Josh in this draft. Warm weather teams should not have an issue because Josh looks to have least average arm strength as of this writing.

BOTTOM LINE
Jim McMahon was one of the most consistent and mechanical sound quarterbacks I have ever seen. He had the leadership ability to make his teammates think that he didn’t care how the game was played but the truth is he was a bit of a perfectionist. Josh gives me that same feeling and although right now he is not the technical sound quarterback that Jim was I do believe he will eventually be proficient in all areas of the QB position because, he seems to have that same perfectionist type of attitude. I like his ability to see the whole field even if he struggles to understand what to do with that ability. I like the way he works his teammates on the sidelines. I also like the way he is in control before the snap of the ball in spite of the fact that things get out of control after the snap of the ball. Josh should be an excellent backup quarterback while he learns because he is very smart and will not need a lot of reps to learn the plays. He will need a lot of reps to learn how to get better playing the position technically but the play book will never be an issue for him. A smart team will select Josh and develop him and that smart team could find themselves a future quarterback who could lead the team into the playoffs and the big game. Of course that will take some time but I think Josh will be worth that time.

Drew Boylhart  MAR.2017