Booty: Hard to Imagine Much of an NFL Career
John David Booty has been in the back of my mind for a month or two. Mostly in terms of "he's not really that good, is he?" And, "when is he going to be the Heisman candidate he was supposed to be?"
Here we are, in the run-up to the Rose Bowl, and we can say Booty has had only two good games this season, Washington State and Arizona State.
Two batches of news made me think more about JDB.
1. The shaping consensus ... that as many as four current USC players will be selected in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft, probably in this order: defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, offensive tackle Sam Baker, cornerback Terrell Thomas, tight end Fred Davis.
2. An ESPN.com ranking of the NFL's top 64 quarterbacks (see it here before espn.com takes it away) ... and wondering where Booty would fit in with those guys.
If you were able to see the list (it's one of those "pay-per-view things the site allowed us to peek at, Wednesday morning) includes the likes of Dan Orlovsky, Jamie Martin and Anthony Wright ... but is Booty even as good as those guys?
He's not very tall, so vision is, literally, an issue. He has had passes tipped at crucial moments in his career.
His arm strength looks only average. USC has two pass plays this season -- talking 12 games here, nine of which Booty started in -- for more than 35 yards. Thus, Booty's ability to throw down the field is absolutely in question.
Matt Leinart is listed as the league's 22nd best quarterback, and if he's that far down the line (which seems about right, really) ... and he was miles better, at USC, than was Booty ... well, is Booty going to help anyone in the NFL?
Just wondering. I doubt he is an early-round (1-2) pick. I'm not sure how sophisticated the offense he's coming from is. I'm not sure he is big enough or strong enough or accurate enough on anything down the field to stick in the NFL.
We will see.
Anyway, if you can't get to the story ... the espn.com top 10 QBs are fairly predictable: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer, Matt Hasselbeck, Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb, David Garrard. The second 10: Jay Cutler, Derek Anderson, Marc Bulger, Jeff Garcia, Vince Young, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Jason Campbell, Jon Kitna, Jake Delhomme.
Rex Grossman is listed No. 25, Alex Smith at 29, Brodie Croyle at 47 and Cleo Lemon at 57. I included those last two because they are the lowest-ranked starting QBs in the NFL.