The NFL is not racist for suggesting Lamar Jackson workout as WR, and here are examples.

For the last few days, all I’ve been hearing about Lamar Jackson is how he is “strictly a QB.”

Sorry if I don’t exactly buy that.

The kid is a superb athlete.

And while, yes, he can throw the football very well, he was also a QB in Bobby Petrino’s “system” offense at Louisville.

Social Media has been ablaze with racial takes on NFL teams asking him to see him as a WR, or discussing how he wouldn’t even be drafted if he had Baker Mayfield’s off-field issues.

Here are a few examples of that:

I really don’t know why people don’t do research before they start spouting off opinions.

If you’re going to talk on a subject, at least be educated about it.  Organizations don’t make decisions based on emotions or feelings.

This has nothing to do with race.

This has to do with the fact that Lamar Jackson is a supremely gifted athlete that may not pan out as a quarterback in the NFL, but there are positions that he could play if quarterback doesn’t work out.

Here is a list of the last 10 Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks that have already been drafted:

  • 2014 Marcus Mariota: with the Titans (Playoff record: 1-1)
  • 2013 Jameis Winston: with the Bucs (no playoff appearances)
  • 2012 Johnny Manziel: out of the league (no playoff appearances)
  • 2011 Robert Griffin III: out of the league (Playoff record: 0-1)
  • 2010 Cam Newton: with the Panthers (Playoff record: 3-4)
  • 2008 Sam Bradford: with the Vikings (no playoff appearances)
  • 2007 Tim Tebow: out of the league (Playoff record: 1-1)
  • 2006 Troy Smith: out of the league (no playoff appearances)
  • 2004 Matt Leinart: out of the league (no playoff appearances)
  • 2003 Jason White: out of the league (no playoff appearances)

Just so we’ve got those stats correct, that’s a 5-7 playoff record, with Cam Newton accounting for 3 of the 5 wins, and 4 of the 7 losses.

Being a Heisman winning quarterback does anything but guarantee NFL success as a QB.

First, let’s break down the player numbers in the NFL.  Bleacher Report has a great article from 2013 called “The Anatomy of a 53-man Roster in the NFL.

Of the 53 players, only 46 can dress.

Currently, most teams only dress 2 QBs for gamedays, and their 3rd QB – the “emergency” QB – is generally a WR or RB.

2 QBs x 32 teams = 64 QB spots.

Obviously there are more that may make the active roster but don’t dress, that make the practice squad, etc.  But if your goal is play in the league, there are 32 teams and 46 dressing roster spots on the each, which means 1,472 roster spots.  Only 4.3% of the spots available in the NFL are for QBs.

Now, for WRs, that number changes.

Most teams will keep six wide receivers on the active roster but will only dress five for the game unless the sixth player is a warrior on special teams. This allows the coaching staff to line up in four-wide formations without losing speed or talent.

So, let’s roll with 5 WRs on each team.

5 WRs x 32 teams = 160 WR spots

Going back to our 1,472 roster spots, 10.9% of dressing spots are available for WRs.

That’s more than double.

So just based on numbers alone, Lamar Jackson should at least give WR a look.

 

Lamar Jackson

Height: 6’3″  Weight: 212 lbs

Here are Lamar Jackson’s college numbers as a passer.

The numbers look good.  69 passing touchdowns, and 27 interceptions, in 3 seasons.  Not quite 60% completion percentage, but close.

Now look at his rushing yards.

This dude ran for over 4000 yards in 3 seasons, and has 50 career rushing touchdowns.

But… there’s always a catch, right?

Here’s what he did against Clemson, Florida State, and the SEC teams he faced.

Rushing numbers still look good – 1600+ yards and 15 TDs in 12 games – but the passing numbers look a little suspect.  18 TDs to 13 INTs.  Just over 50% passing.

That’s the level of defense he’ll be facing every week in the NFL.

This isn’t a racist thing to ask an extremely athletic QB to switch positions in the NFL.

Here are 5 examples of players that played QB in college football, but moved to WR in the NFL.

 

Terrelle Pryor

Height: 6’4″  Weight: 240 lbs

Ohio St QB Terrelle Pryor was, ultimately, one of 5 players that committed NCAA violations at Ohio St, which ultimately cost national title winning coach Jim Tressell his job with the Buckeyes.

But Pryor was fantastic as a QB.

Higher QBR than Jackson, higher completion percentage, 1 fewer interception, and he didn’t play in nearly as high-flying an offensive system as Jackson.

Before last season, Pryor had gotten one year (2013) with real snaps at QB – with Oakland – and threw 7 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 11 games played.

In 2016, he made a successful conversion to WR with the Cleveland Browns, exceeding 1000 receiving yards, and signed a 1 year, $8M contract with the Redskins before last season, before being injured.

 

Antwaan Randle El

Height: 5’10”  Weight: 185 lbs

Randle El played QB for 4 years at Indiana, and was a dynamic playmaker on a bad football team.

Almost 7500 yards, decent QBR, TD to INT ratio wasn’t great, and this was before the “spread” started taking over the sport.

44 rushing TDs and almost 4000 rushing yards.  Still not up to what Jackson did, but, again, different offensive system.  Can’t just look at numbers here.

Randle El played 9 years in the NFL and threw a total of 27 passes, completing 22 of them.  He amassed 370 receptions for over 4400 yds in stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins.

 

Julian Edelman

Height: 5’10”  Weight: 198 lbs

Edelman, now a big name WR with the New England Patriots, was a 3 year starting QB at Kent St.

I won’t lie – the numbers aren’t great.  But he was the QB.  Threw for almost 5000 yards in 3 seasons, 30 TDs, but he had a low QBR and 31 INTs.

He was clearly a dynamic play-maker, though, as evidenced by what he was able to do running the football.  Nearly 2500 yards rushing, 22 TDs… and before he came into the NFL, he had only 1 reception.

In 8 seasons with the Patriots, he has not thrown a single pass, and has 425 receptions, 4,540 yards, and 24 TDs.

 

Brad Smith

Height: 6’2″  Weight: 213 lbs

Ahhh yes.  You probably forgot about Brad Smith, right?

He started at QB at Missouri for 4 years, back when they were in the Big 12.

Nearly 9,000 yards passing, with 56 TDs and 32 INTs, and a 56.3% completion percentage.  Dude was a stud.

Smith rushed for almost 4200 yards with 44 TDs.  He was as dynamic a playmaker as you could get, at the time, and he went into the NFL as a jack-of-all-trades.

Just take a look at his career stats in the league.

Kick returner, wide receiver, running back… whatever a team needed, he would do it, and he turned that into a 9 year career.

 

Matt Jones

Height: 6’6″  Weight: 222 lbs

Arkansas’s Matt Jones was an absolute freak athlete for Houston Nutt’s Razorbacks.

He started for 3 seasons, and led the Razorbacks to an SEC West Championship and 2 bowl games.

His stats were not insane, but they were incredibly respectable.  53 TDs, 30 INTs, and 5800+ yards passing.

But this is where he turned heads.

2500+ yards rushing, 24 TDs, and an average of 6.6 yards per carry.

His measurables were through the roof at the NFL combine, and he was drafted in the 1st round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jones played for 4 seasons, only attempted 3 passes (all in his first season), and had 166 receptions for 2,153 yards and 15 TDs before drug problems cut his career short.

 

 

Gary Segars

Gary began his first website in 1998 as a sophomore in high school, writing reviews of cds and live shows in the Memphis area. He became editor of his college newspaper, then moved towards a career in music.He started the infamous MemphisTider.com blog during the 2006 football season, and was lucky enough to get into blogging just before the coaching search that landed Nick Saban at Alabama. The month and a half long coaching search netted his site, which was known for tracking airplanes, over 1 million hits in less than 90 days. The website introduced Gary to tons of new friends, including Nico and Todd, who had just started the site RollBamaRoll.com.After diving into more than just Alabama news, Gary started up his first installment of WinningCuresEverything.com in 2012. After keeping the site quiet for a while, it was started back up in April 2016. Gary then joined forces with high school friend Chris Giannini and began a podcast during the 2016 football season that runs at least 2 times a week, focusing on college football, NFL football, and sports wagering, and diving into other sports and pop-culture topics.E-mail: gary@winningcureseverything.com Twitter: @GaryWCE