Why Josh Rosen Isn’t the Quarterback You Think He Is

[Da_Ducktator]

* First of all, I want to start with the disclaimer that I will have some numbers featured that were put together by Benjamin Solak in his Contextualized Quarterbacking. Those numbers are actually slightly skewed positively towards Josh Rosen, because Benjamin charted every game of Rosen’s this year EXCEPT his game against Arizona, arguably his worst game of the year. So when I point out problem areas with these numbers that Rosen has struggled in, remember that they are actually even lower than represented. *

Josh Rosen has been built and hyped up in this convoluted quarterback draft class as the “safe” option. The intelligent quarterback who has some off-field concerns and a good enough arm to make all the throws.

However, I’m here to go over why a lot of this is false. Why Rosen is not the safe prospect you think he is based on his on-field play and problematic parts of his game that seem to be continually brushed on the rug.

Tight Window Throws and Limited Deep Throws

As you work your way through Rosen’s market share of pass attempts, they continue to dwindle (in regards to rank in this class, not strictly the actual number) until you get to his attempts 20+ yards down the field, in which his market share was at 12.9%, dead last in the class (at least among the 13 QB’s Solak charted).

I see a lot of hesitation in Rosen’s decision to throw the ball downfield, almost as if he lacks the faith in his arm to do so, and I have seen that hesitation cost him numerous times.

Furthermore, his accuracy on tight window throws is third-to-last in the class. I think arm strength is an issue of bigger concern then discussed with Rosen.

 

On the Move and Against Pressure

The football field is wildly chaotic and more so in the NFL. Quarterbacks, barring spectacular offensive line play, there isn’t a lot of time to hang back in the pocket and make a throw. The only quarterbacks last season to average more than three seconds a pass attempt all had those numbers aided by their own mobility (Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson, Tyrod Taylor, Brett Hundley).

According to Solak, Rosen ranks second-to-last in accuracy outside the pocket, third-to-last in placement outside the pocket, and dead-last (by a wide margin) in accuracy AND placement from a “move platform.” NFL.com has Rosen listed as completing just 42.4 percent of his passes when asked to move.

3^rd Down Numbers

3^rd down efficiency has long been an area I stress in quarterback evaluations. 3^rd down is ultimately where a quarterback needs to be great; it’s do or die for the drive and the high majority of 3^rd downs are pass attempts. It’s important to evaluate on film, but the raw numbers regarding it have proven to be incredibly predictive for success at the NFL level, at least when you grade poorly in the area.

Rosen, along with Josh Allen, are about to become the 15th and 16th quarterback prospects of the last 10 drafts to be taken in the first four rounds and failed to convert at least 37 percent of their 3^rd down pass attempts into 1^st downs during their final collegiate season. This grouping is has an incredibly meager track record, with just a single one of them making the playoffs to date, that being Derek Carr, who made just one playoff appearance and did not earn a win, leaving seven percent of this list as successful starting quarterbacks (if Rosen and Allen fail, that number drops to 6.25 percent). You will see that the rest of the grouping is largely underwhelming and this problem area could have been used to identify colossal busts such as Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker and Christian Hackenberg.

Josh Rosen (2018)	33.3%
Josh Allen (2018)	36.14%
Davis Webb (2017)	35.14%
C.J. Beathard (2017)	23.6%
Joshua Dobbs (2017)	31.31%
Christian Hackenberg (2016)	27.45%
Cody Kessler (2016)	36.11%
Cardele Jones (2016)	36.17%
Sean Mannion (2015)	29.66%
Bryce Petty (2015)*	35.23%
Derek Carr (2014)	32.84%
Matt Barkley (2013)	35.29%
Jake Locker (2011)	30%
Blaine Gabbert (2011)	33.91%
Jimmy Clausen (2010)	36.9%
Josh Freeman (2009)	36.08%

 

* - Fun note on Bryce Petty; He didn’t convert a single 3^rd and 10+ throw into a 1^st down his senior season despite 22 attempts to do so. Still fascinates me that a guy who had a 3.27 YPA on 3^rd and 10+ ever received the hype he did, but I digress…

While Derek Carr was in the same range as Rosen, it’s particularly disheartening that only six names on that list had a lower 3^rd down conversion rate than Rosen, and only one of them was a 1^st rounder (Locker).

“Progression Throws”

A lot of Rosen’s hype comes from him being touted as pro-ready. People see the head movement in the pocket and automatically equate this to him going through his reads, looking off safeties/linebackers, and making the proper decisions with the football.

I believe this is generally a myth though. I think a lot of this is pre-programmed into the offense, into each play that Rosen calls. Why? Because I see a number of throws on tape where he looks one way off the snap and turns and fires into defenders. There was clearly no read on the play that was made or if there was, he displayed terrible decision-making in doing so. The INT below against Arizona is a clear example of that.

Winning

I know Jim Mora isn’t a great coach and that the surrounding talent was nothing amazing for Rosen each year, specifically because the defense didn’t help the offenses case much and the offensive line play had its issues.

The problems that the Bruins suffered the last few years highlight the culmination of Rosen’s weaknesses; he was not able to elevate his team to new heights.

The Bruins got off to a great start with Rosen as a freshman, rattling off four straight wins to open the signal-caller’s career. After that though, UCLA went 13-13 in games Rosen started, going 0-3 the last two years against teams who were ranked at the time they played, and 0-6 against teams who finished ranked in the final AP poll.

To further expound on that, the Bruins rarely played good pass defenses. The only defense that UCLA played this past season that ranked in the top 80 in pass defense was Washington, a game in which he had a bad performance (57.1%, 93 Yards, 4.4 YPA, 1 TD, 0 INT, -19 rushing yards). That means all of Rosen’s 10 other games came against teams in the bottom 40 percent of college football, and three of those games came against teams in the bottom 10 in the nation, which UCLA stumbled to a 1-2 record against (Memphis, Arizona, Arizona State).

Below is an INT he threw on 3rd and 10 against Memphis. Failed to recognize the blitz coming and threw an errant pass while only down by three and within field goal range. Need to take the sack.

Conclusion

I was a believer in Rosen before really diving deep. I had already started to drop him and took another look and just simply cannot see what most see. He reminds me a lot of the likes of Brian Brohm and Jimmy Clausen. These were two guys who were built up on having clean releases and were perceived to be good decision-makers with quality arm strength. But a deep study into their play shows a lack of functional arm strength to make all the throws, an overrated ability to read defenses and make good decisions, and (probably the worse in Rosen’s case among all three) huge struggles to throw when forced off the launch point. I still think a lot of people are enamored by the five-star ranking out of high school and the comeback against a (bad) Texas A&M defense that, after really getting the best of him for a six halves (dating back to the year before) with constant pressure and mixing up their blitzes, the Aggies sat back and failed to pressure Rosen while giving him some lay-up throws.

I honestly have no concern over the “off-field” problems tagged to Rosen. They seem to be overblown. However, I do think those perceived issues have covered up holes in his on-field game that aren’t being looked at enough.

 

[Da_Ducktator]

5 minutes ago, Da_Ducktator said:

Furthermore, his accuracy on tight window throws is third-to-last in the class. I think arm strength is an issue of bigger concern then discussed with Rosen.

Here is a few plays I snipped that show issues on tight window throws as well as downfield accuracy.

 

[Da_Ducktator]

Last thing for now I wanted to add-on; a lot is made of the stats of the other top QB prospects in this draft, specifically things like Lamar Jackson's completion percentage and Josh Allen's numbers against quality teams. Rosen only completed 59.78% of his passes against winning teams over his career, finished 1-6 against teams that were ranked in the final poll, and only played in one bowl game, a loss to Nebraska in 2015.

[Ozzy]

Interesting read, a little too many literal statistics for my taste but still interesting. 

 

Oddly enough I still think his character and overall personality might be his biggest issue.  The kid is not an 'alpha', he does not communicate with his teammates all that well and has odd body language on the field and the sidelines.  Also with comments he has made before the college season and before the draft recently he is come off to me little stuck up and snobby.  

 

Here are some comments I made about him as the season was going on in the Weekly prospect standouts.

 

*After the Texas A&M game:

"Smart kid but I do question his body language and his leadership overall, not sure players will like him or follow him at the next level.  Will see how he does as the year goes on, is he this all mighty QB prospect for the ages, I do not see it in terms of the intangible parts of the game.  Did have a great start to this season though, will see if he can keep that up against better competition."

 

*After the Memphis game:

"Josh Rosen JR QB UCLA - In many ways he impressed that game, very robotic in his production, things came very easy for him and he made a lot of good plays.  However he also made some huge mistakes late and was over confident in his abilities.  Even when he is going out of his way to cheer on his teammates and be one of the guys he looks awkward doing it.  Just has such a meh personality, does not get up or too down but does not seem like an alpha dog like I said before.  Sure that is fine but if he is supposed to be one of the next true great NFL QBs, all of them are alpha dogs out there and charismatic leaders or competitors, he is neither.  Will probably be a top 5 pick though, a lot of people will fall in love his ability to make pro style throws which is indeed impressive."

 

*After the Washington game:

"Josh Rosen JR QB UCLA - There is so much to like about him fundamentally, his mechanics and footwork in the pocket and ability to look off defenders.  Does not help Wilson the TE is gone so his success as a passer really decreased with out him the past few games that is for sure.  To Rosen's credit the running backs are nothing elite, the WRs are not either and the OL is nothing great, so he is not exactly surrounded by a lot of pro talent that is for sure.  Had moments against Washington before the injury but also made inaccurate passes at times that should be routine.  People love his mechanics and how he looks before the throw though, that is for sure, but again there are intangibles missing in his game I feel.    Is turning out to be a very average to below average season again for UCLA, would like to see him lead his team to wins but true he can only do so much.  Even if he stayed in the entire game still doubt he would have lead them to a win.  Look at the top 20 QBs in the NFL right now, all were winners in college, Rosen is what 15 W 12 L  in over two and a half years in college and missed basically half of last season and half of this season to go.  Again there are a lot of things to like but about him especially before the throw happens.  "

 

*After the USC game

"So if one is all about production and likes fundamental progressions and technique he is the guy in this draft class potentially.  Still mentally I think a ton of things are missing with him competitively and in terms of leadership, but there is a lot that teams will like about his game for sure.  Jared Goff is slowly changing the narrative of a losing QB at the college level then succeeding in the NFL but the story is not yet written on him.  Rosen has not really had a successful career at UCLA and has not taken them to any major bowl wins or any big wins in general.  Has put up crazy numbers with a bunch of average receivers, makes them look like stars and that is a credit to him.  Still in the end, does the team believe they can win the game just because Rosen is in their corner, I do not think so, and that will only magnify at the next level.  You put a Drew Brees type and that confidence and swagger on UCLA would they have more belief they could win, I think yes totally.  Peyton Manning, Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Rivers are all super competitive players and great leaders, cannot say that about Rosen.  But maybe all that matters is the passing academy you went as a young prospect and how developed you are as a 7 on 7 passer now a days it seems, but I think there are more intangibles to playing QB he is missing in terms of toughness, personality and leadership.  In this one game USC vs UCLA he did have the upper hand though on the field, but not sure that says much at all.

 

Ultimately though what makes Rosen different from Mike Glennon or Nick Foles?  I feel Rosen is a better prospect but technically he is similar to those two players and Glennon and Foles were actually more productive their final years in college than Rosen so far.  But people want a QB prodigy and want one now.  "

 

 

He will obviously be a high pick, but yeah there are some issues.  I said during the year if Darnold's personality and overall persona were mixed with Rosen's passing ability then one might have something.  But now that you point out certain passing flaws will see how legit that is.  I would say Rosen has the 3rd best arm in the draft behind Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.  I do feel he is bad throwing on the move but not many are good at it, then again four out of the top five QBs are very good at it, only one not being good at it is Rosen.  Does turn it over too much and obviously makes throws he should not make.  But like I said he did have pretty average RBs and WRs at UCLA but his W-L record and accomplishment record in college is little to nothing.  Arguably the only big game he won was against USC this year, oh wait they lost that game but he did arguably out play Sam Darnold in that.  But sad thing is one could say that was his best game of his career in terms of a big stage and they still lost it.  

 

 

 

This is a good summary by Chris Carter I thought about Josh Rosen and some of his most recent comments.

 

 

 

 

He will probably end up being the QB for the Jets or the Giant, maybe Browns but will see.  Funny comment Carter made about Rosen saying I am going to win 6-7 Super Bowls when they have not even been to 6-7 Playoff games....  Rosen to me is simply not very likable on the field arguably and off,  but teams are desperate and will take him,.  He better hope though he slides in the draft and gets drafted by a more solid organization who might be able to sit him for a little and not be surrounded with as much pressure to win now.  

[Ozzy]

43 minutes ago, Da_Ducktator said:

Last thing for now I wanted to add-on; a lot is made of the stats of the other top QB prospects in this draft, specifically things like Lamar Jackson's completion percentage and Josh Allen's numbers against quality teams. Rosen only completed 59.78% of his passes against winning teams over his career, finished 1-6 against teams that were ranked in the final poll, and only played in one bowl game, a loss to Nebraska in 2015.

Josh Rosen I agree his record and performance is nothing special at all.  Never really brought UCLA to any heights or success at all.  Maybe was just a bad team overall but never is a great sign, especially at a school like that in a state like California.  Probably is a reason why some recruits did not come to school there, who knows if he had anything to do with that.  One thinks they could have got a lot more offensive talent to come play with him there.  

 

JR season 6-5:   Lost at Washington by over 20 points, lost at Stanford by over 20 points, lost at USC by 5, lost at Memphis by 3.   Missed 2 games to injury

SOPH season 3-3:   Lost at A&M in OT, won at BYU by 3, lost to Stanford at home by 9.  Missed 6 games to injury

FR season 8-5:  Lost to Nebraska by 8 in Bowl game, lost at USC by 19, lost at Stanford by over 20, won at home against BYU by 1.  

 

Overall record 17-13

 

 

 

A few other QBs who did not have great success in terms of record as a starter.  Could also include Jared Goff also but he at least won a bowl game his final year, beat Texas at Texas, beat San Diego State, won at Washington.  Had close loses to Utah and USC as well.  So did bring Cal back to a level of success to a degree after having a rough start as a FR and SOPH.

  

Jay Cutler was 11-34 but arguably his senior year they had some damn close games and he played some great football at Florida lost by a TD in OT, at South Carolina lost by a TD, and at Tennessee and won last game of the year.  Some games of note, and kid had one of the best arms to come into the NFL in the last 10 years no question.  Not to mention was super tough and could take a hit and was a solid athlete as well.    

 

John Elway was 20-23 at Stanford, never played in a bowl game.  Cannot really speak to that era or how good Stanford was as a football team, I assume not very, not nearly like they are today.  So maybe he really had nothing to work with.  

 

Matt Cassel obviously never even started a game in college.  But arguably cannot include him because he was such a late round pick.  

Matt Hasselbeck was 9-14 as a starter, then again he was a 6th round pick and drafted more on work and practice habits arguably.  So again probably cannot include him.  

 

 

Sure there are more out there, but cannot really think of many QBs with a sub par college record in terms of W-L along with leadership and improving the overall team.  Then really did amazing things in the NFL without showing it in college to some degree.  Honestly the top 20 QBs in the NFL right now, all were successful in college either bringing their team to new heights or playing big in big games with big time wins.  Even Tom Brady his last year beat Penn State at Penn State, then next week beat Ohio State then won the bowl game against Alabama in OT and played arguably his best game in his college career.  

 

[CalhounLambeau]

Well done. Should be an interesting discussion. 

[Scout]

Nothing like being swung by someone's "hottaek" 10 days before the draft ?

[Scout]

"While Mayfield had the lowest percentage of tight-window throws in the class last season, he was by far the most accurate in those situations, coming in 9.0 percent better than the No. 2 quarterback, UCLA’s Josh Rosen. Mayfield has the zip to fire the ball in between zones and he has the accuracy to “throw receivers open” away from the leverage of defenders. Both are important traits for the next level, and Mayfield showed well in these difficult situations, even if they don’t show up as often as other quarterbacks in the class."

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/draft-2018-nfl-draft-narrative-busters

4 hours ago, Da_Ducktator said:

Furthermore, his accuracy on tight window throws is third-to-last in the class. I think arm strength is an issue of bigger

 

 

[TheVillain112]

My view on Rosen improved over the season.  In the opener against Texas A&M, while looked great on the stat sheet and made for a great "comeback", I was not impressed.  Lots of ducks being thrown in that game, and while you need some luck Rosen got a lot of it in that one.  The USC game later in the season however I was impressed with.  Thought he outplayed Darnold handily, and he was in rhythm all night and made some great throws from the pocket.

His throws on the move, and his deep ball aren't impressive.  But he'll eat some teams alive from the pocket...

[Da_Ducktator]

1 hour ago, Scout said:

"While Mayfield had the lowest percentage of tight-window throws in the class last season, he was by far the most accurate in those situations, coming in 9.0 percent better than the No. 2 quarterback, UCLA’s Josh Rosen. Mayfield has the zip to fire the ball in between zones and he has the accuracy to “throw receivers open” away from the leverage of defenders. Both are important traits for the next level, and Mayfield showed well in these difficult situations, even if they don’t show up as often as other quarterbacks in the class."

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/draft-2018-nfl-draft-narrative-busters

 

 

1 hour ago, Scout said:

Nothing like being swung by someone's "hottaek" 10 days before the draft ?

Who is being swung? I'm just stating my case on why I'm not a big fan of him. I've been a bit lower on him than most for a while and last week I decided to re-watch a couple key games to take another close look at him. I just don't see anything special. Again, a lot of the same stuff was said about Brohm and Clausen going into the draft, how they were 1st round talents and potential franchise guys.

Rosen has clear deficiencies and I provided a ton of evidence to back-up my claim. I have a lot more plays and throws clipped out as well but thought I had provided enough to get my points across.

[Da_Ducktator]

58 minutes ago, TheVillain112 said:

My view on Rosen improved over the season.  In the opener against Texas A&M, while looked great on the stat sheet and made for a great "comeback", I was not impressed.  Lots of ducks being thrown in that game, and while you need some luck Rosen got a lot of it in that one.  The USC game later in the season however I was impressed with.  Thought he outplayed Darnold handily, and he was in rhythm all night and made some great throws from the pocket.

His throws on the move, and his deep ball aren't impressive.  But he'll eat some teams alive from the pocket...

Throwing on the move and deep ball are going to be big factors in the NFL. You can see, by the film and the numbers, basically anytime he is asked to throw off the intended launch point that he generally struggles. Around 42 percentage on the move and numerous cases of the ball just completely missing it's target because it doesn't have the zip behind it.

[MistaBohmbastic]

This is an extremely insightful post. Thanks. I tried digging into Gleason's page a little deeper for some takes on Darnold and Mayfield, but couldn't find anything. Do you know if they're out there, by chance?

[Iamcanadian]

What a waste of time an effort. Josh Rosen is an excellent QB prospect and likely would have been the 1st QB drafted except for one serious red flag and that is immobility, which has already caused 2 concussions and a shoulder injury and GM's rarely gamble on injury prone players in the top 5, since their job security usually depends on how their top 5 pick performs over time! When you get compared to Sam Bradford, you get the idea of how GM's view drafting him. High risk, high rewards, but obviously some QB desperate eam will take a shot.

The fact that he is likely to be drafted top 5, just shows how talented he is, given his durability problems!

[reamer]

I didn't think this was a waste of time at all. I have the same concerns about Rosen. I found this write up helpful to solidify my impressions. I do think in the right environment that Rosen can excel, but he needs time to grow as a person and a player. He's a QB, so take him as high as you need to -- I don't like quibbling over value at the most important position -- but the team that drafts him needs a plan to develop him, particularly his technique when throwing on the move. Ignoring all of his flaws isn't any better than saying he sucks. Nuance and objectivity are important when scouting a player, just as team fit and the coaches' ability to project and develop are important for success in the rest of a player's career.  

[Da_Ducktator]

57 minutes ago, reamer said:

I didn't think this was a waste of time at all. I have the same concerns about Rosen. I found this write up helpful to solidify my impressions. I do think in the right environment that Rosen can excel, but he needs time to grow as a person and a player. He's a QB, so take him as high as you need to -- I don't like quibbling over value at the most important position -- but the team that drafts him needs a plan to develop him, particularly his technique when throwing on the move. Ignoring all of his flaws isn't any better than saying he sucks. Nuance and objectivity are important when scouting a player, just as team fit and the coaches' ability to project and develop are important for success in the rest of a player's career.  

 

8 hours ago, Iamcanadian said:

What a waste of time an effort. Josh Rosen is an excellent QB prospect and likely would have been the 1st QB drafted except for one serious red flag and that is immobility, which has already caused 2 concussions and a shoulder injury and GM's rarely gamble on injury prone players in the top 5, since their job security usually depends on how their top 5 pick performs over time! When you get compared to Sam Bradford, you get the idea of how GM's view drafting him. High risk, high rewards, but obviously some QB desperate eam will take a shot.

The fact that he is likely to be drafted top 5, just shows how talented he is, given his durability problems!

@reamer, thank you for the appreciation. If everybody followed @Iamcanadian's logic, then we should just all scratch every idea that we ever have that may conflict with what the majority think. 

I also think, in the right situation, Rosen can be a quality pro. However, I think that "right situation" truly requires a lot. It's not one or two things that standout about Rosen struggling. His accuracy when forced to move is horrendous. There is no other way around that. When forced to throw off base, you can see a lack of arm strength because when his into body is not in tune with a throw and it comes down purely to arm strength, you see a lot of ducks from Rosen. That already puts him into a concerning category.

Then you add on the fact that he was miserable on 3rd downs and falls into a group with a single outlier, it becomes tough to trust him. Then you see the 17-13 overall record (13-13 over his last 26), no bowl wins, 1-6 against ranked teams, below 60% against teams with winning records, and a concern with his decision-making and whether or not he is truly making read and progression throws, it all starts to stack up. 

And that's without even mentioning his injury problems or his perceived leadership concerns. 

 

9 hours ago, MistaBohmbastic said:

This is an extremely insightful post. Thanks. I tried digging into Gleason's page a little deeper for some takes on Darnold and Mayfield, but couldn't find anything. Do you know if they're out there, by chance?

Well, I am him so maybe I can offer some insight on the matter 

I have spoken on both of them a decent amount on this forum. I really like Darnold, borderline elite prospect to me. The mechanics are a concern, but the rest of his body of work is pretty darn good in my opinion. It takes a lot for me to overlook troublesome mechanics and say a kid has a great chance to be a quality pro, but he falls into the Luck/Rivers mold for me. People are worried about the turnovers, but the majority of those came early in the season. Nearly half of his INT's came in the first three games (six of them) and nine of his INT's came over the first half of the season. From what I saw on the tape, you saw a kid with elite tools trying his absolute most every single play to play up to the USC quarterback hype. Darnold wanted to be great, USC got a lot of hype for the way they ended the year before with the win over Penn State, and Darnold wanted to live up to it. He was gutsy and bold and did everything in his power to carry the team on his back. And, it got him into trouble at times. The INT's in the three-game stretch versus Cal, Wazzu, and Oregon State were all subpar throws and decisions. It really cost them against the Cougars as they lost by three, but let's remember that USC went 5-1 during Darnold's bad stretch. Why? He still did more than enough for his team to win.

Darnold has special arm talent and displays great leadership constantly. Both of those combined make him my QB1 in this class.

Mayfield, I like the arm talent, hate the attitude. There is a lot more than just the crotch grab and flag planting (as I've documented on this forum before). Just talent-wise, he would probably be my QB2 and at least a top 15 guy (instead he is my QB3 behind Lamar and I wouldn't want to touch him until the 2nd). I know a lot of people want to cite Rivers' attitude as a pass for Mayfield and say, "oh, he is just a competitor!" Let's remember that Ryan Leaf had a major ego and Jimmy Clausen was no slouch in that department either. Quarterbacks need to get over mistakes in a hurry on a football field. You throw a pick, go to the sideline, talk to the coaches, figure out what you did wrong, and move on. It's concerning to me that Mayfield seems to never forget a bad thing anybody has ever said about him, and constantly tries to make it a point to rub it in people's faces. Right when you think he is done doing something dumb, something else pops up. He apologizes for planting the flag against Ohio State, but then against Baylor he gets flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after a play (there is no video of what happened exactly, but I've seen multiple people say he stood over and taunted an injured Baylor player). Then you think that might be the end of it, but then the Texas Tech game comes and he wears that traitor shirt. So now, maybe, JUST MAYBE it's finally over. The immature actions are done, he was just getting some revenge on his old school. Nope, he gets into it with Kansas' players and fans, taunting, cussing, and crotch grabbing. He apologies again. But let's not forget the week before that, he was caught on video intentionally throwing a ball at a TCU player as they came onto the field. This was after Gary Patterson had talked about how there are reasons TCU passed on bringing Mayfield in beyond what everybody knows about. And let's remember, Patterson is the same guy that brought in Kenny Hill Jr., who was kicked out of Texas A&M for a public intoxication charge. And speaking of, Mayfield got arrested for the same thing, well, in addition to fleeing from the cops. Specifically, here is what Patterson said on the situation:

Quote

If Baker Mayfield wants to blame TCU for 128 BCS schools not offering him a scholarship, that's fine. But ask Kliff Kingsbury why he didn't offer him a scholarship at Texas Tech. Ask about Baker's dad [James]. He's an arrogant guy who thinks he knows everything. If people knew the whole story, they might not have a great opinion of Baker or his father.