Merril Hoge had some serious hot takes when he joined the Junkies earlier this year, one of which was that Caleb Williams ‘isn’t special’ and wasn’t a ‘sure-fire top QB in the class.’
That was in February, so eight months and an actual NFL game later, he re-joined the Junks to revisit that and other takes…and Hoge doubled down on his earlier take about the No. 1 pick.
“What I said about him when he came out is he doesn't know how to function from the pocket, and that's a real problem. He has no pocket awareness, and the second he has pressure and it collapses – and keep in mind, 70% of the throws in our league are about pressure and collapsed pockets – his head drops right down,” Hoge said. “This is the most troubling thing about a guy who sees pressure versus feels pressure; you have to feel it and transition from seeing it to feeling, and that is a massive hurdle – and I think he doesn't process very well. He doesn't see things, he misses things, he gets stuck on a player and he stays on a player, and I expected that too, because all they did was screens and RPO. It’s tough learning how to read through progressions and understand defenses when you have no pocket presence and awareness – it’s going to get worse and worse.”
Hoge also said Chicago’s line didn’t help, but Williams’ accuracy, which was supposed to be a calling card, was scattershot, and “he completely breaks down fundamentally in the structure it takes to win this league.”
“That’s one kid who needed a year to sit on the sideline,” Hoge said. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but these kids get ruined mentally way before they get ruined physically. Hopefully they can fight through it and he can find ways of growth throughout this year, but it's gonna be a hard challenge.”
He did also say in that he would take Jayden Daniels if he was the Commanders because “he probably demonstrates the best evidence of a guy who plays from the pocket,” and after seeing Week 1, well, Daniels needs to work on that (or the offense needs to stress it), but Hoge thought JD5 was the top rookie QB among himself, Williams, and Bo Nix.
“He was the best of all three guys, and I've watched all of them on tape. He was the best from the perspective of how he went about processing, and his accuracy was outstanding,” Hoge said. “That’s why he had the advantage going in, and what he can do with his legs is really unique and special. I love seeing how he protected himself and was smart when he did use his legs, but the way he processed and worked from the pocket, and his accuracy aside from the very first throw of the game, was great. Did he miss some throws, did he do some rookie stuff? Yes, but very minimal compared to the other two.”
There was a seeming emphasis on quick throws all around the league, so Daniels’ shorter throws aren’t quite as much of an issue as one might think, and even though Daniels missed one big explosive, ‘that doesn't bother me because he made the right decision, it just wasn’t the right throw.’
Listen to Hoge’s entire segment above!
Local News
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