NFL DRAFT
Colby Porter Jr. impresses at unorthodox pro day
By DOUG FARRAR March 21, 2019
PORTER JR. THROWS A PASS DURING VIRGINIA'S SPRING GAME LAST YEAR, MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA WERE NOT ALLOWED TO USE CAMERAS DURING HIS PRO DAY WORKOUT
Colby Porter Jr. took a page out of Johnny Manziel's book during his pro day workout at Virginia's practice facility, electing to do the workout in full gear. He also did a number of things that we hadn't seen in the past, including working with wet footballs and using defenders in various positions at times during the exhibition.
Porter Jr. worked with Olamide Zaccheaus, Jordan Ellis and Evan Butts, throwing a number of passes to each of them on a wide variety of routes. He spoke before the workout, introducing his teammates and thanking those in attendance before getting started.
Porter Jr. proved that his offseason work with performance coaches George Whitfield and Kevin O'Connell paid great dividends. Despite the typical pro day being a more controlled environment than Porter Jr. would have found himself in had he elected to workout at the combine he and the coaches he worked made a great effort to get him out of his comfort zone and show that he could do some things that he hadn't yet put on film.
He took snaps from under center on roughly 50% of the plays, something he essentially never did in college. He also made it a point to demonstrate his ability to use a traditional five or seven step drop, something he also did not do previously. He was a bit jumpy and did cross his feet a few times on deeper drops but overall he was able to show it was something he was capable of and could build on if the team that takes him has a scheme that depends on it. When Cam Newton came out of college and worked under center at first, he was hopping all over the place.
Porter Jr. completed 57 of his 60 passes, missing on a ten yard out to Butts that was wide. Ellis dropped a good pass on an angle route early on and one of the deeper wet ball throws hit the turf.
Porter Jr., who didn't throw the ball deep often at Virginia or Oregon State, threw several deep balls to Zaccheaus. They were not all perfect but the speedy receiver was able to adjust to them all and those in attendance seemed impressed.
“It's not a part of his game we saw much of. It's far from perfect but it's also not as bad as a lot of us perceived.” An NFC scout said when I asked about Porter Jr's deep throws.
Porter Jr's final throw was a 50 plus yard post connection to Zaccheaus after which he sprinted to celebrate with his favorite target from 2018. Porter Jr. hugged his mother and grandfather, the only “entourage” on hand, after the play. He then waved to and thanked the attendees before jogging off the field with his teammates.
Some personnel folks on hand apparently asked about a 40 yard dash and some of the other combine drills Porter Jr. elected not to do. They were simply told that it "was not a part of todfay's program." Despite that most seemed satisfied with the workout overall.
"It did," Porter Jr. said when asked by Paul Burmeister of the NFL Network if the workout went the way he wanted.
“I think it went really well. I wanted to highlight some of my strengths and hopefully show that some of the things that have been, or were at least perceived as weaknesses, were things I had been working on and had been able to improve on in a short amount of time since the season ended. It was a lot of fun getting to throw the ball around with my teammates one last time, that's the best part of today. Those guys put on a show too.”
Like most quarterbacks, Porter Jr. started off with quick, short routes, and no surprise that these were all easy completions asides from a drop. When he did start throwing deeper the motion seemed improved from where it had been during his college career, though it is still far from textbook. I was very, very impressed with how quickly he got into position to make those deep throws, even while on the run. His delivery may not be perfect but it is quick and compact. You can tell that the deep ball is not a totally natural part of his game, but he has worked on it and improved it, especially when he's on the run and throwing deep.
It's to his credit that he wanted to challenge himself in this way, and with the extra equipment, defenders and other factors. He clearly wanted to make a statement -- and he certainly did.
“Some of that was my idea.” Porter Jr. said when asked about the wet footballs and the players being used to simulate a pass rush that were included on a number of snaps. “Some was the coaches I was working with. We wanted to show a variety of looks and create something that would show more than the combine and hopefully we did that, hopefully we answered some of those questions. A little disappointed that one ball hit the ground but that was a risk I wanted to take.”
Porter Jr. did bounce back from the errant throw nicely, making a very similar throw on the next snap, still working with a wet ball.
In addition, I liked that he was able to make throws accurately and consistently off his back foot and when he was not optimally set up in the pocket due to the “pass rush”. We'll still need to see him excel while staying in the pocket with pressure in his face, and that won't really happen until he hits an NFL field for the first time. But he can clearly throw under duress, and he's going to have to do it in new ways at the next level.
“A lot of guys question if he can play at all at the next level.” NFL Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner said after the workout. “I think that's foolish. He absolutely can play at the next level. How well is what remains to be seen. He showed today that he wants to improve, and that he can improve on some of those shortcomings. If he was three inches taller he would have a first or second round grade on him.”
There were other little things that impressed -- how he quickly looked off the safety on shorter timing throws. How he threw from his front foot with touch and aim on seam throws of 15 to 20 yards. How quickly he got the ball out on slants. How perfectly and quickly he executes read options (he included a few in his workout) and how composed he remained when defenders rushed him or dropped into coverage or when his center snapped him a wet football, none of which were entirely scripted.
“There's some other stuff we took from today.” An executive from an AFC South team told me. “He was confident, not cocky. He had his family there and not a big entourage. His body language was confident and positive. He brought in his teammates that maybe some of us weren't interested in and got them some more time in front of us and let them show off their skill sets too. You could see those guys respect him and considered him a leader. Overall, this was a much better picture of him than we would have ever gotten at the combine. I'd feel comfortable moving him up a round from where we had him after today.”
“I'm just excited to get to that next level and keep learning more and getting better.” Porter Jr. said when asked about the upcoming draft. “I'm excited for whatever that opportunity is.”
