The 2016 NFL Draft is a little over a month away, and plenty of scouts and personnel executives are expressing their anonymous opinions about prospects. The latest comes from NJ.com reporter Mark Eckel. He spoke with three scouts about Jared Goff. The specific angle though was scouts who did not need a quarterback. I would presume that means they have an entrenched starter and do not need to spend a first round pick on a quarterback.
None of the scouts is overly impressed with Goff, although this might be my favorite quotation:
"I'm just not crazy about him, not at all. He doesn't win. Show me a quarterback who didn't win in college, that did well up here? There aren't many. To me he's another Jay Cutler. And you can take that any way you want.''
When you can drop Jay Cutler and QB wins into an argument, you've done well for yourself.
We're going to hear plenty of comments about Goff, Carson Wentz, and plenty of other draft prospects. However, one thing that strikes me is the use of scouts who don't need a quarterback. It raises a few questions. If you're a team without a pressing QB need, how much time do you spend scouting Goff? And if you are spending some time, are you inclined to nitpick a bit more, and have your opinion shaded by not being a little more desperate?
A team with a QB need might be more inclined to overlook an issue, while a team without a QB need might be more inclined to use a smaller issue to write off a player. I don't really know for certain what any of this means, but I do wonder what it means to hear people with different needs talking about a given player.