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Talent evaluators rate the Combine's quarterbacks

Posted: Sunday February 23, 2003 10:44 PM

INDIANAPOLIS -- Here's what some league talent evaluators had to say about a few highly rated quarterbacks after Sunday's workout at the NFL Scouting Combine:

Tampa Bay head coach Jon Gruden on Miami's Ken Dorsey: "He's 37-2 [as a collegiate starter]. You've got to look hard behind those numbers. We'll learn more about his arm strength and accuracy as we move through this process, but he comes here with great credentials. He's got good size and is a great kid, but I can't draw any conclusions based on this stuff here."

Not everyone, however, was as kind to Dorsey. Said one AFC personnel man, who requested anonymity: "I don't want to rip the guy. The guy won a lot of ballgames. But the guy isn't very good, I don't think. I wouldn't draft the guy. The guy can't throw. It's that simple.

"I don't want to lie to you about this. Look, he's a great kid. He won a lot of games, but as far as making it in this league … He's going to be a great father, a good man, he'll go in the [University of] Miami Hall of Fame and be considered one of their all-time greats."

An NFC personnel man on Florida's Rex Grossman: "Grossman didn't hurt himself at all. He was solid. Nothing eye-popping, but he's got a quick release and good instincts. His footwork needs a little work, but he looked good."

An AFC personnel man on Louisville's Dave Ragone: "Ragone had a little trouble today with his accuracy. He really started to slide at some point in the season, and he's continuing to do so at this point. If you look at it, when he was really doing well in 2001, he had some real good players around him, like New England receiver Deion Branch. You kind of have to take that into account. He looks like he's going to go to someone in the second round."

Baltimore head coach Brian Billick on Marshall's Byron Leftwich, who did not throw or run at the Combine because of his continued rehabilitation from a late-season leg injury: "Evidently the shin is OK. We'll put him through a battery of tests, but it's a single-event thing. Yeah, he could get hit on it again, but he's no more vulnerable than the next guy. He appears to be OK that way, at least according to our [team doctor]."

Houston general manager Charley Casserly on Iowa State's Seneca Wallace. Casserly, like others, projects Wallace at wide receiver in the NFL: "He worked [Sunday] as a quarterback. He did not work at any other position. Today he was on the schedule to be a wideout, but he never participated in the wideout drills.

"I think the young man is missing something here. I think either he should go to Canada or he should realize he should look to play another position and be a dual-position player in the NFL. Clearly he's fighting that right now."

Asked if Wallace is too small to play quarterback in the NFL, Casserly said: "I think that's an issue, yes. Personally, to me it is. [Indiana's] Antwaan Randle El went in the second round of the draft [last year] because he accepted the fact that he would have to play another position as his primary position.

"He worked out as a receiver at the Combine, and he was drafted in the second round and had a productive year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think Seneca Wallace has the potential to be right in that area, but he's got to accept the fact that he should try it, and he hasn't accepted that fact evidently."

An AFC personnel man on Texas' Chris Simms: "The type of guy Chris Simms is, the person he is, is always going to help him. He's a natural leader. He's a quality guy. He's a special guy. Never mind playing quarterback at Texas, but playing quarterback at Texas being from New Jersey. And then playing quarterback at Texas, being from New Jersey and Phil Simms is your dad. He has already shown he can handle a lot."

An AFC assistant coach on Simms: "He's probably going to go in the first round, but his release is a little slow. He has a bit of a wind-up that will have to be worked on."

Casserly on Southern Cal's Carson Palmer: "Just from a physical point of view, he's an outstanding quarterback. There isn't anything different about Carson Palmer [after the Combine]. If he's the first pick in the draft, he certainly deserves to be. He was fine."

Cincinnati offensive assistant Alex Wood on Palmer: "I saw him at the Senior Bowl and again today, and I'm impressed with the guy. I think he's got more mobility than people give him credit for. He can escape and move around in the pocket well enough to give himself a second chance at the throw, to find the open receiver. He keeps his eyes down the field, and he can run with it, too. He has that ability, and he likes to run with the ball."

An NFC general manager on Palmer: "He did well when he threw from the pocket, setting up, but when he was on the move, he wasn't as impressive or as accurate as I thought he'd be."

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.

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