Every general manager and head coach handles the NFL Combine differently. Some share great information while others are quite guarded, forcing reporters to read between the lines with certain answers. But sometimes when you piece together a few different answers a clear picture begins to be painted as to which way a team may be leaning on certain prospects. Today, after piecing a few answers together, Tom Telesco may have just tipped his hand as to who the Raiders are leaning at quarterback.
One of the first questions Telesco was asked today in his time at the podium was about the traits he looks for in a quarterback. He talks through those traits in detail in the post below, but his answer boiled down to three things: leadership, toughness, and preparation skills.
Those three things are key for any quarterback, but he also went on to elaborate on quarterback preference saying, "At the quarterback position, I don't think it's a bad thing if you come out a little bit older, and it's maybe even a better thing. You've got more experience under your belt, more maturity at that position."
He also expressed doubts as to whether younger players have a higher implied ceiling simply because they "have room to grow" and develop. All he was sure of was that in this class, "We're going to have some players coming into the league that have good experience and may be ready to play a little earlier than in times past." Things just kept coming back to experience and the importance of that at the quarterback position.
He emphasized the importance in the ability to learn new systems, prepare, lead well, play tough, fight through adversity, and to have significant experience to make an immediate impact. Every thing Telesco said almost exactly described either Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr., except for one comment where he downplayed the importance of certain physical traits as that is "a sliding scale" and "no quarterback prospect is perfect" in that way.
Bo Nix doesn't have the rocket arm that Michael Penix does to sling the ball with incredible velocity down field. He's excellent on underneath and intermediate passes, but he isn't a heavy "traits" prospect with insane arm talent. It seemed with every comment he was essentially preparing the fan base for them to select an older quarterback prospect exactly like Bo Nix.
Nix learned five different offensive systems in five years in his time at Auburn and Oregon. He has the record for college football starts at quarterback, so he is quite literally the most experienced that a quarterback prospect could be. Nix doesn't possess the wildest traits, but always found a way to play tough while also staying healthy throughout his career.
We hear you loud and clear, Tom Telesco. The Raiders are going to draft Bo Nix.
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