The 2016 NFL Draft is still a little over four months away, but we are continuing the now annual march in fine order. It all starts with mock drafts, which we have slowly started assessing. The college football regular season is over, which means bowl season is fast approaching. After that comes the Combine, campus workouts, personal visits, and then the draft.
One part of the process that does not have a formal start date is the anonymous discussion of players. There are plenty of scouts and executives that love to talk on background or otherwise off-the-record, and it makes for amusing and interesting negative comments about some players.
And this year, it would appear Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook is the first player to get the treatment. Bob McGin speaks with personnel folks every year, providing an early look at various draft prospects. This year, one of the anonymous folks had this to say about Cook:
"Physically, he's pretty good," said one scout. "He can make all the throws and he's got some strength to him and he can run. It's all the other stuff with him. How much does he really like ball? How much is he going to work at it? He likes being a celebrity."
It remains to be seen how the San Francisco 49ers will address the quarterback position this coming offseason, but odds are pretty good they draft a quarterback somewhere over the three days of the draft. I don't know how they feel about Cook, but he will be one of several quarterbacks we will analyze in the lead up to the draft. But we will definitely be keeping an eye out for the random little nuggets anonymous scouts like to throw out there.