Ben McAdoo on Scouting QBs: 'I'm a Big Swing for the Fences Kind of Guy'

It's no secret that the Panthers are interested in taking a quarterback with the sixth overall pick in next week's draft. What remains unclear is which quarterback they have their eyes set on. 

Over the past two weeks, the Panthers have brought in a number of quarterback prospects for top 30 visits including Kenny Pickett (Pitt), Malik Willis (Liberty), Matt Corral (Ole Miss), Desmond Ridder (Cincinnati), Sam Howell (North Carolina), and Bailey Zappe (Western Kentucky). Most believe the top three - Pickett, Willis, and Corral, are the three that Carolina has the most interest in. 

Although he doesn't make the final decision, new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo will have major influence in which quarterback they take if that's the route they choose. He has a tremendous eye for scouting the position as he was right in calling Josh Allen the best quarterback in the 2018 draft class while many were concerned with his low completion percentage and raw talent. That year, he had the quarterbacks ranked just about right; 1. Josh Allen, 2. Lamar Jackson, 3. Sam Darnold, 4. Josh Rosen, 5. Mason Rudolph, and 6. Baker Mayfield.

If those rankings tell me anything, I would expect him to be very fond of Malik Willis' game who has some similarities to Josh Allen coming into the league. Kenny Pickett may be the most "pro ready", but as McAdoo stated during his Tuesday press conference, that isn't always the selling factor on a guy.

“I’m a big swing for the fences kind of guy, so just because you’re ready doesn’t mean you’re going to be the best. Ready does factor in some scenarios. I think experience obviously helps, the more games that you play helps. Experiences in what type of systems you played in may help some guys over others. At the end of the day, you have to pick a player that you’re going to be happy with at that position hopefully for the next decade. Readiness plays a part but is not everything.”

McAdoo also mentioned how some quarterbacks will be in a better position than other due to the systems they played in at college. The one quarterback that has the most question marks surrounding the transition to the NFL because of the offense he played in is Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral. Lane Kiffin runs a very simplified offense that really runs through the RPO and dinks and dunks in the passing game. Is that a turn off for someone like McAdoo? Maybe, but he did say being in those types of offenses can be beneficial.

"When these guys play in these RPO offenses, they usually have a pretty good feel on where to go with the ball and they pull the trigger pretty quickly. I think those are two things that are very valuable in this league."

At the end of the day, McAdoo is going to take a backseat to the combination of Rhule and Fitterer on draft night and he's completely okay with that. 

“Whatever Mr. Tepper and coach and Scott [Fitterer] ask, whatever they ask of me, I’ll do. I’ll give my input. I’ve given my input on a bunch of different players whether its quarterbacks, linemen, the whole nine yards. You just kind of go through and tell him what you see and tell them how they may fit in the program and how you may use them in the offense and that’s my role.

“I’m a team guy first, so whatever is best for the football team. Whether it’s offense, defense, whatever the case may be, trading back, I’m good with it all as long as it helps the team.”