Buchsbaum's top 10
(as of March 10)

1. Chad Pennington
2. Chris Redman
3. Tee Martin
4. Giovanni Carmazzi
5. Tim Rattay
6. Tom Brady
7. Marc Bulger
8. Joe Hamilton
9. Todd Husak
10. Doug Johnson

Positives: Good height to see the field. Very poised and composed. Smart and alert. Can read coverages. Good accuracy and touch. Produces in big spots and in big games. Has some Brian Griese in him and is a gamer. Generally plays within himself. Team leader.

Negatives: Poor build. Very skinny and narrow. Ended the ’99 season weighing 195 pounds and still looks like a rail at 211. Looks a little frail and lacks great physical stature and strength. Can get pushed down more easily than you’d like. Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush. Lacks a really strong arm. Can’t drive the ball down the field and does not throw a really tight spiral. System-type player who can get exposed if he must ad-lib and do things on his own.

Summary: Is not what you’re looking for in terms of physical stature, strength, arm strength and mobility, but he has the intangibles and production and showed great Griese-like improvement as a senior. Could make it in the right system but will not be for everyone.

Positives: Looked like he had an NFL future at the end of the ’98 season. Looked poised and was throwing the ball better than he ever had. Showed a nice, quick, compact delivery and release. Was accurate at almost all ranges. Made good decisions. Showed nice touch when he threw fade routes and some zip on his fastball when he needed to gun the ball. Threw for 1,646 yards and 13 scores on third down, if you include the bowl game.

Negatives: On the lean side and does not have a big frame. Looked like a totally different player in ’99. Got beaten up badly early on and played hurt most of the year. Developed bad habits. Instead of stepping into his throws, he threw falling away from the line. Bird-dogged primary receivers and forced the ball. Lost his accuracy and confidence. Never had a big arm, but arm strength was not a concern until this year.

Summary: Totally different player in ’98 than in ’99. Needs to break the bad habits he developed in ’99, regain his confidence and get back to where he was in ’98, when he looked like another Oliver Luck. Bulger may not be drafted because he played so poorly in ’99, but he would be a mid-round pick off what he did in ’98.

Positives: Nice size-speed ratio for his position. Proved to be a tough and durable performer in college. Extremely smart and dedicated. Spent his time after the season just getting ready for the Senior Bowl and the Combine. Shows above-average awareness in the pocket and is more advanced than most young quarterbacks when it comes to reading coverages. Has above-average to good arm strength. Was extremely productive throughout college career. Looked athletic running and working out at the Combine

Negatives: Played in a little bit of a gimmick offense and has not faced Division I-A competition. Will need to alter and adjust his footwork and technique when he plays in a more conventional offense. At times takes too long to get rid of the ball once he decides where he wants to throw. Looks at the receiver and goes into his throwing motion, giving the defender a chance to read him and break on the ball. At times seems to have a slow throwing motion. Throws too many passes off balance. Is not as accurate as you’d like and is not an accurate deep passer. Often makes his receiver adjust to the ball and rarely throws a downfield pass that his receiver can run through cleanly. Straight-line runner who is not very elusive and does not do a very good job of buying time with his feet.

Summary: Developmental type with size, stopwatch speed, enough arm strength and certainly enough smarts and toughness. But must improve deep accuracy and learn to get rid of the ball quicker without telegraphing where he’s going with the ball.

Positives: Great, great college football player who probably deserved the Heisman Trophy in ’99. Great competitor. A leader and a winner. Very tough and instinctive. Super productive. Led one of the highest-scoring offenses in the country and led his team on numerous game-winning drives. A winner who makes everyone around him better. Has a quick release. Has become a good short-to-medium-range passer who is accurate and can throw deep with some timing, touch and anticipation. Very good runner and scrambler for a quarterback. Has been very durable.

Negatives: Lacks height. Cannot be asked to consistently drop back and throw from the pocket, since he needs to get outside or at least to move around so he can find throwing lanes more easily. Needs to have the offense designed around him. Does not have an especially strong arm and can’t drive the 15-yard outs the way you would like. While the ball seems to explode out of his hand, after around 15 yards it seems to die on him, or at least lose a lot of its steam.

Summary: Cross between Doug Flutie and Charlie Ward. Can play in the NFL if some team alters its offense to fit his style and help him overcome his lack of height. However, he could also become a Flutie-type superstar in the CFL, although his arm is more like Ward’s and not nearly as strong as Flutie’s.

Positives: Above-average size. Extremely smart both in terms of decisions on the field and in the classroom. Has enough arm to play in most offenses. Trained at Stanford in a pro-style offense. Has improved every year. At times will buy a little time with his feet and show some pocket awareness.

Negatives: Lacks a big arm. Is not especially fast or mobile. May be almost as good as he can get. Has limitations.

Summary: Has a chance to make a team, but he may never be what that team is looking for in a quarterback.

Positives: Above-average all-around athletic ability and size. NFL arm strength. Will make some very impressive throws at times.

Negatives: Immature. Streaky and erratic. Is IQ smart but lacks attention to detail, which leads to poor decisions and bad check-offs and reads. Turns the ball over way too often in the red zone.

Summary: Has the arm and makes some really nice big-league throws but must become a much better and more dedicated student of the game.

Positives: Has overcome a lot to get where he is. Mother was still in high school when he was born. Lost 12 friends to violence, illness and accidents while he was growing up. Shows a lot of courage and character, much like the Titans’ Steve McNair on and off the field. Good person with good character. Well-liked by his teammates. Exceptional athlete and competitor who is fearless and daring with his body. Very strong for a quarterback. Has bench-pressed over 400 pounds. Good runner who can run for positive yardage and make big plays with his feet. Has a strong to very strong arm and can throw every kind of pass. Has a good, quick release and generally throws a nice, tight spiral. Often does a nice job of throwing slants and in-type routes. Could get much better with experience. Did something not even the great Peyton Manning could do at Tennessee — won a national championship.

Negatives: On the short side. Lacks accuracy throwing and does not have a really good feel for the passing game. Does not do a good job of throwing outs and passes toward the sidelines. Will need a lot of reps before he is ready to play. Does not adjust well to things on the field he has not seen or had happen before. Let Florida time his cadence and never adjusted. Has a hard time finding second and third receivers and at times leads you to wonder how well he sees the field. Did not have a good senior year, although there were mitigating circumstances. First, he lost the man who taught him the position when David Cutcliffe went to Mississippi, and then he was held back by injuries.

Summary: Is the most physically gifted quarterback in the draft, a willing worker, a team player and a good person. However, he must develop a much better feel for the passing game and become a much more accurate and consistent passer if he is to start on the next level.

Positives: Extremely smart on and off the field. Student of the game who studies and understands film. Has really grown and filled in nicely and now has good size. Is a slick ball-handler and effective play-action passer. Gets packages in the huddle and then audibilizes at the line of scrimmage after seeing the defensive package on the field. Has an accurate arm and can throw with timing and touch. Classic delivery and quick release and arm. Above-average mobility for a quarterback. Highly productive and has fine intangibles. Won Senior Bowl MVP honors with a very accurate game. Brought his team back from a large deficit to win the MAC championship game and has a remarkable won-lost record in games he started. Has made a weak arm into an adequate arm through strength training and by learning how to maximize his arm’s potential by throwing on rhythm and stepping into his throws.

Negatives: Looks like a by-the-numbers, slightly mechanical passer at times. Lacks a great arm and can’t drive the ball down the field, unless he can really step into his throw and is throwing in rhythm. (However, he can air it out more than 60 yards under ideal conditions.) Does not throw the deep ball that well. Needs to have his feet and body correctly aligned at all times. Accuracy suffers the further he throws down the field. Will lock on to his primary receiver and tip his hand too often. A lot of his completions are on short passes where the receiver does a lot after the catch. Pennington’s teams have almost always been superior to their opposition. Has rarely been knocked around in a game, so you don’t know how he will play after he gets battered and bruised and hit on almost every passing down. Did not throw at the Combine, where scouts wanted to compare his arm against other quarterbacks.

Summary: Has size, mobility, enough arm strength for most types of offenses, exceptional smarts and great production. However, he does not have the same great talent as last year’s top four quarterbacks and can’t match them in terms of arm strength.

Positives: Top competitor. Tough guy. Hard worker. Knows the offense and works at reading defenses and knowing defensive tendencies. Good instincts and intangibles, judgment and poise. Accurate short passer. Has good timing and touch and can lay the ball off nicely. Will stand in against the rush but also can throw well on the move. Takes quick drops and can unload very quickly. Has been very productive. Has a 115-35 TD-interception ratio and threw for 12,746 yards in just three years.

Negatives: Lacks ideal size and a strong arm. Needs to do everything in rhythm and to be able to set his feet and step into his throws to throw down the field with any velocity or accuracy. Ball flutters at times. Gets passes batted down. Plays in a dink-and-dunk, QB-friendly offense, and a lot of his production comes on what amounts to long handoffs. Can only play in some types of offenses where he would be throwing a lot of quick, short passes on rhythm like the Bears are doing under Crowton.

Summary: Is not what you’re looking for in terms of physical tools, but he has enough other things going for him that he should make a team which runs his type of offense.

Positives: Adequate size. Great toughness, work ethic and competitiveness. Fine poise under pressure. Has Phil Simms-like toughness when it comes to standing in against the rush. But unfortunately — as was the case with Simms when he was young — he is too tough for his own good, stands in against the rush longer than he has to at times, never even flinches and takes an incredible beating. Classic delivery and very quick release. Has above-average arm strength and excellent timing, touch and accuracy when he gets in the groove. When he gets in a groove, he will throw the ball as accurately as anyone. At times will make the pinpoint, thread-the-needle throw and can throw a nice, tight spiral. Can throw with pretty good accuracy while on the move. Excellent ball-handler and play-action faker. Experienced. Has started for 3 1/2 years in college in a passing-type offense.

Negatives: Has had a lot of medical problems which must be checked out. Has had spine/disc- related problems since his sophomore year, and the knee he hurt at the end of the ’98 season (left MCL) may also still be a concern. Too tough for his own good in terms of standing in against the rush, and he compounds the problem because he is not that good at seeing or sensing and then sidestepping the rush. Has poor running speed and below-average mobility and is not elusive or a real threat to run. Plays short and has too many passes batted at the line of scrimmage. While almost all his intangibles are exceptional, he is not a take-charge, demonstrative leader. Streaky-type passer who will force the ball more than he should. Does not have a cannon arm and must muscle up to really drive the ball down the field. Underthrows some deep balls, especially into the wind. Tends to lock on to his primary receiver. Plays best when he is fully prepared week to week for the team he is playing and gets plenty of reps in practice.

Summary: Old-fashioned, pro-style, dropback passer who will stand in against the rush and take everything the defense gives him. Has good throwing ability and can be very, very accurate, but at a time when everyone wants mobile quarterbacks who can escape trouble, Redman is slow over 40 yards and not that quick or aware of rushers in the pocket. Like Phil Simms and Ron Jaworski, he is fearless, team-oriented and bleeds winning. But he also is too tough for his own good and at times can be his own worst enemy.