Turns out former NFL GM turned analyst Michael Lombardi is a Howler?
When Lombo visited the Junkies Monday morning to discuss the Commanders’ draft, he basically said its future grade depends solely on the pick made 30 minutes in.
“I think a lot of it's gonna come down to was he right on Jayden Daniels? I mean, that's his whole draft, right?” Lombo said. “The 49ers in ‘22 had one of the worst drafts in the league. They got an A for it by Niner nation, they said they got all these great players, but they never mentioned Brock Purdy in the seventh round – that saved their draft. That is the A in the draft. I think you have to be really, really sensitive to this instance, because of NIL - a lot of the kids that would have come out stayed in school because they're making more money, so this draft had probably 100 less juniors than it typically would have, which diluted the draft. And so it's gonna come down to, did they hit with the right players, the guys they had to hit with? Those early picks, they've got to hit with those, and Coleman, the left tackle, they gotta hit with him because they don't have a left tackle on their team right now.”
Lombardi does admit Drake Maye is ‘a project that is gonna take some time,’ and ‘there’s an awful lot to be concerned about’ – but that goes for Daniels, too?
“Daniels is really athletic and he gained over 1,000 yards rushing, but the problem is he doesn't throw the ball inside with great anticipation, and when he takes off to run, he runs, whereas Patrick Mahomes takes off the run to make a big play,” Lombardi said. “The second play from the quarterback is the most important play in all of football; it’s the guy that moves right-left and has the ability to make a play down the field, and Daniels didn't do that. I'm not saying he can't learn to do that, but he didn't do that at LSU, and when Saban played one robber against him and spied him and eliminated his running ability, that became a problem for him.”
According to Lombardi, having six QBs drafted in the Top 12 ‘gave us some real true insight into players and who coaches the player,’ because ‘the only guy that changed programs that stayed good was Caleb Williams’ – so it’s going to come down to system.
“I think a lot of this is gonna come down to the system that you operate, the player in it, and how you develop the skills within that system – and does the player fit the system? That's the key,” Lombardi said. “If you're Adam Peters, you're basically building a team around Jayden Daniels’ skill set, and so you gotta be really good on the outside, have outside receivers like Washington does where you can make plays down the field.”
And that’s when Lombardi called the 2023 Washington offense ‘malpractice at the highest level’ and ‘one of the worst performances of an offensive staff I've ever seen,’ and when EB said they could have molded Sam Howell into something, Lombo dropped the bomb:
“I said this to three or four head coaches in the league this offseason: I would rather have had Sam Howell than a lot of these quarterbacks that are drafted in the first round,” he said. “Other than Caleb Williams, I probably would rather have Sam Howell than any of them. What do you think Jayden Daniels would have done in that offense last year? He would have never made it through Week 3! (Howell) is tougher than nails. He got the crap beat out of him, and they gave him no help at all. Riverboat Ron was standing over there watching Bieniemy call passes and he was too scared to tell him to not do it. He was completely intimidated by him. He didn't want to rattle the cages, or do anything politically that could upset things. The players were upset with Ron for not saying something!”
So, uh, don’t be surprised if Howell is Seattle’s starter sooner than later?
“There were about four or five teams that wanted him. The Eagles were all over Sam Howell, wanted him bad as a backup,” Lombardi said. “Philly would have put Howell in the game, fixed him up, dressed him up, and sold him to the highest bidder two years from now. He has unique skills, and he proved last year beyond a shadow of a doubt he has incredible toughness. To play quarterback in the NFL, you have to hold the ball to the last second to make that throw; you have to know you're gonna get hit but hold the ball long enough. That takes an innate instinct to do that, but they destroyed this poor kid. If I were Sam Howell's father, I would have driven to DC and I would have gone berserk! Put Sam with Andy Reid, what do you think you're gonna get? The reality is there's very few people who can coach the QB and even fewer that can evaluate them; that's not from me, that's from Bill Walsh, and he's right.”
Take a listen above to Lombo’s full segment, which also has some STRONG thoughts on other first-round QBs and more!