Skull Session: How Many Times Justin Fields Threw Past His First Read, Baron Browning is Turning Heads, and TreVeyon Henderson Gets a Nickname

By Kevin Harrish on April 12, 2021 at 4:59 am
TreVeyon Henderson gets a nickname in today's skull session.
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Good morning and happy Monday to everyone except Ohio weather.

Thing is, Ohio weather doesn't even understand Ohio weather, E.J.

Word of the Day: Afresh.

 ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS. The whole "Justin Fields doesn't throw beyond his first read" thing is, without much doubt, one of the dumbest things I've been forced to consistently talk and read about throughout this entire pre-draft process.

First off, it's a completely false narrative, given that Fields actually threw past his first read more often than any other quarterback in the draft, and was also the most accurate on such throws. Secondly, that "stat" (if you want to even call it that) is an absolutely atrocious way to attempt to evaluate a quarterback.

Benjamin Solak of The Draft Network (which is an extremely good website, by the way) addressed both of those points in extreme detail in what is by far the best breakdown of Fields' game I've seen on the Interwebs to date.

That’s the thing about the question: “How many times did Justin Fields throw beyond his first read?” It’s fundamentally not interesting, nor is it helpful. It’s neither actionable nor revelatory. It kinda sucks.

Wondering how often Fields—or any college quarterback—threw beyond his first read only gestures to a question that is actionable toward making a pro projection: “How well did Fields work his progressions in college?” That’s a far more complex question and accordingly creates far less buzzy headlines. Let’s be honest: you opened this article up to see how many times I think Fields threw beyond his first read. And I gave it to you at the top. I know the game.

...

It’s important to put Fields’ season into context here. Fields faced the toughest schedule of all CFB defenses by SP+’s metrics, including his four final games (Indiana, Northwestern, Clemson, Alabama) against top-15 defenses. No FBS quarterback drafted in the last 10 years has had a more difficult defensive schedule than Fields. Across this season of unprecedented competition, the Ohio State passing offense was sixth in EPA/play, notably behind the BYU and Alabama passing offenses. Mac Jones was just behind Fields in terms of oppositional staunchness; Zach Wilson was remarkably low. For Fields to have produced as he has, while also only attempting seven passes beyond his first read, would plainly be the most ludicrous quarterbacking season in history. 

Let’s take Jones as a foil to Fields. While Fields has been criticized for his rate of attempts beyond his first read, I charted Fields as attempting more passes beyond his first read than any of the other top quarterbacks in the class; it was Jones, who is regularly credited for his processing speed, smart eyes, and decision making, who had the fewest attempts beyond his first read. In terms of performance after that first read, Jones was again remarkably worse.

There's simply too much good stuff in that piece for me to share, so go ahead and do me a favor – click the link, read Ben's article, then come back here when you're done. My online words will still be here, I promise.

All in all, Ben does an extremely throughout and thoughtful analysis of the good and bad about Fields' game, and it's a lot better than vague insinuations that he doesn't see the whole field, or that he gets "cheap" yardage from an easy scheme.

If you need even more evidence against that belief...

Fact is, I don't know for certain whether Fields is going to be successful at the next level, but I do know that if he's not, it's not going to be because he threw to his first read too much in college or had too many open receivers and easy throws.

As consumers of sports content, we can't keep accepting lazy analyses like that.

 BARON BROWNING LOVE. I've been on the Baron Browning hype train ever since he and J.K. Dobbins teamed up for a glorious video remix of Lil Troy's "Wanna Be a Baller" – even though Ohio State appears to have scrubbed the from existence.

But even I was caught off guard by how much love he's been getting leading up to the draft. I ain't mad about it, but he seems to have gone from a solid third-round pick a few months ago to "he might be the best linebacker prospect ever."

Full disclosure, I *would* be shocked if the Denver Broncos took him at No. 9 in the draft, but I'm more than willing to be the moron here.

Based on how everyone is salivating over Browning's skill set and athleticism, I could absolutely see his career trajectory matching Michael Thomas' – third-team All-Big Ten turned perennial Pro Bowler.

  GOT HIS BACK. It's already pretty much set that Ryan Day will never have to pay for a drink in central Ohio ever again. But apparently, that also extends to parking, because the parking meter fairy had his back this week.

I do everything in my power to avoid paying to park my car on a public street (more out of principle than out of poverty these days, thankfully), but when I do, I roll with the ParkMobile App, where I can give those parking ghouls my hard-earned money by simply touching my fingertips to a sheet of glass and watching numbers change in my bank account.

I would highly suggest Ryan Day does the same in the future, lest he find one of those taunting orange leaflets under his wiper blades the next time he parks his vehicle.

 HELL OF A NICKNAME. TreVeyon Henderson came to Columbus with more hype than we've seen since the days of Beanie Wells and Maurice Clarett, and Mark Pantoni's nickname sure ain't doing much to quell that hype.

At first, I was a tad salty that Pantoni went with a comparison to a non-Buckeye, but then I realized that Saquon Barkley is better than any Ohio State running back in recent memory.

So by calling him "Baby Saquon," the implication – intended or not – is that he has the talent to become the best Buckeye running back in recent memory.

I'm cool with that!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Lucky" by Kat Edmonson.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A murder suspect tries to turn himself in, but deputies demand proper ID... A woman got pregnant while already being pregnant... Imposters steal restaurants’ names in delivery app deception... You can now own a $700 Optimus Prime toy that can finally transform all on its own... The pandemic has thrown this college application cycle into chaos...

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