Wehr?

[VimSince03]

Don't kill the messenger - from two NFL team evaluations (negative only):

Wehr 6' 2 5/8" 298
Ave NFL G 6' 4 3/8" 315.8

• Shorter arms and smaller hands by NFL standards
• Will be outreached on a regular basis by NFL length
• Below average athleticism and lateral agility
• Overpowered lesser and lighter competition
• Stiff hips that struggle to convert additional needed power
• Undersized frame won’t work well in NFL
• Struggles with his twist recognition and response
• Struggles to adjust against moves across his face
• Pad level too high; not a natural knee bender
• Center of gravity issues

Marcus, now go show them what you are made of!

Speechless. I watched every Marcus Wehr game against the best competition he had the opportunity to play against. Again...graded high every time.

[Montanabob]

Don't kill the messenger - from two NFL team evaluations (negative only):

Wehr 6' 2 5/8" 298
Ave NFL G 6' 4 3/8" 315.8

• Shorter arms and smaller hands by NFL standards
• Will be outreached on a regular basis by NFL length
• Below average athleticism and lateral agility
• Overpowered lesser and lighter competition
• Stiff hips that struggle to convert additional needed power
• Undersized frame won’t work well in NFL
• Struggles with his twist recognition and response
• Struggles to adjust against moves across his face
• Pad level too high; not a natural knee bender
• Center of gravity issues

Marcus, now go show them what you are made of!

Speechless. I watched every Marcus Wehr game against the best competition he had the opportunity to play against. Again...graded high every time.

interesting note. seahawks invited an OL from the pink school to minicamp. i am picking Wehr...

[4KornerKat]

[mslacatfan]

So does that mean it didn’t work out with Seattle?

[4KornerKat]

I haven't seen anything out of Seattle camp, but it does mean they didn't decide to sign him after camp

[PapaG]

I haven't seen anything out of Seattle camp, but it does mean they didn't decide to sign him after camp

My brother was on a flight with Marcus yesterday that connected through Salt Lake City. So there’s that.

[coloradocat]

So does that mean it didn’t work out with Seattle?

If they didn't want him to get on the plane they would have made sure he didn't get on the plane.

[GoldstoneCat]

I'm still in disbelief with this. Marcus was so dominating here. Yeah he's a little stocky by league standards but does tape not mean anything?

[Bobcat4Ever]

I'm still in disbelief with this. Marcus was so dominating here. Yeah he's a little stocky by league standards but does tape not mean anything?

Some of this sounds like it may be pre-formed FCS bias. Maybe Dick Butkus wouldn’t have gotten a shot either. Sometimes it just comes down to one thing — can the guy play football or not!

[RICO CAT]

I feel these rookie mini camp invites are great for DB’s, receivers and QB’s because they get more of a look to show what they.can do in real speed. However, since there will not be any live full contact, linemen and linebackers don’t get that same opportunity and it’s more of a passing the eye test for them.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Was talking about this on ESPN the other day....

Tommy Mellott and Junior Bergen getting drafted each affirm why top athletes should stay in the FCS. It also affirms that it's easier to project play-makers because you can see them with the ball in their hands and imagine the athletes are just better even if the film shows FCS athletes. You can accurately measure directly the impact on winning.

On the flip side, the fact that multiple former Big Sky Conference lineman, including a pair of Wehr's former teammates who were much less decorated at Montana State, are on NFL rosters and Wehr is not seems like a direct endorsement to why you should transfer up at all costs if your ultimate goal is to go to the NFL.

I still think the fact that Wehr has hardly any tape against NFL players is the thing that has him waiting for a shot. Hard to think of another explanation other than arm length/build...

[BelligerentBobcat]

Was talking about this on ESPN the other day....

Tommy Mellott and Junior Bergen getting drafted each affirm why top athletes should stay in the FCS. It also affirms that it's easier to project play-makers because you can see them with the ball in their hands and imagine the athletes are just better even if the film shows FCS athletes. You can accurately measure directly the impact on winning.

On the flip side, the fact that multiple former Big Sky Conference lineman, including a pair of Wehr's former teammates who were much less decorated at Montana State, are on NFL rosters and Wehr is not seems like a direct endorsement to why you should transfer up at all costs if your ultimate goal is to go to the NFL.

I still think the fact that Wehr has hardly any tape against NFL players is the thing that has him waiting for a shot. Hard to think of another explanation other than arm length/build...

Eh. Jackson Slater got drafted. Zabel went 1st round. You could argue Valdez had a better shot at getting drafted if he stays at MSU and dominated rather than being a solid Big 10 or whatever starter.

Wehr still has a chance, but look at how many guards there are in the NFL his size. Heck, he’s small for a center. So to get a spot he has to prove he can play a position he’s never played, and overcome his physical limitations enough to play at guard because nobody is going to roster a backup that can only play center. I think the only validity to your idea here is that if he had moved up to a P4 team, they likely would have moved him to center.

[coloradocat]

Wher went to an all star game. The reason he's not getting traction in the NFL isn't because he played his entire college career in the FCS.

[nanacat]

I'm just sad for Marcus. After all the hype and predictions. Thought for sure he'd get a look.

[TomCat88]

Scouts aren’t as successful as they make themselves sound. They miss in both directions. This is true from high school to the pros. Every sport. I’m sure there are players that didn’t even play in college that would have been good in the pros. There are players drafted that were stars in college simply because they were in the right system and had great players around them.

[AFCAT]

Scouts aren’t as successful as they make themselves sound. They miss in both directions. This is true from high school to the pros. Every sport. I’m sure there are players that didn’t even play in college that would have been good in the pros. There are players drafted that were stars in college simply because they were in the right system and had great players around them.

No kidding. I read that there are 14 players selected #1 overall in the draft that have made it to the NFL Hall of Fame, only 7 in the past 50 years. Obviously, that doesn’t mean the others didn’t have good careers, but the “best” college talent doesn’t always mean they will be the best NFL talent.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Scouts aren’t as successful as they make themselves sound. They miss in both directions. This is true from high school to the pros. Every sport. I’m sure there are players that didn’t even play in college that would have been good in the pros. There are players drafted that were stars in college simply because they were in the right system and had great players around them.

No kidding. I read that there are 14 players selected #1 overall in the draft that have made it to the NFL Hall of Fame, only 7 in the past 50 years. Obviously, that doesn’t mean the others didn’t have good careers, but the “best” college talent doesn’t always mean they will be the best NFL talent.

I arguably spent too long figuring this out.

7/50 is 14%, but we should probably take at least 10 years off of that because most of those guys in that time range retired yet.

7/40 is 17.5%, which honestly, is pretty good odds at a HOF career if you ask me! I’m surprised it’s that high.

[MSU01]

For guys like Marcus, unfortunately the road to the NFL can be longer and windier than we would hope. Just look at two other Bobcats who ended up having successful NFL careers to see examples of that, in Alex Singleton and Mike Person.

[seataccat]

For guys like Marcus, unfortunately the road to the NFL can be longer and windier than we would hope. Just look at two other Bobcats who ended up having successful NFL careers to see examples of that, in Alex Singleton and Mike Person.

It doesn't really suprise me that it's an uphill battle for Marcus despite his obvious talent. Jeff Bolton was a very similar size and talent. Bolton played both gaurd and center and was the Rimington award winner for the best center in FCS. He got a couple looks similar to Wehr but ultimately didn't make a roster. Scouts like prototype size and those guys are undersized coming from FCS. It's really unfortunate because those two likely have the skill to play in the NFL.

[catgradtimes2]

Was talking about this on ESPN the other day....

Tommy Mellott and Junior Bergen getting drafted each affirm why top athletes should stay in the FCS. It also affirms that it's easier to project play-makers because you can see them with the ball in their hands and imagine the athletes are just better even if the film shows FCS athletes. You can accurately measure directly the impact on winning.

On the flip side, the fact that multiple former Big Sky Conference lineman, including a pair of Wehr's former teammates who were much less decorated at Montana State, are on NFL rosters and Wehr is not seems like a direct endorsement to why you should transfer up at all costs if your ultimate goal is to go to the NFL.

I still think the fact that Wehr has hardly any tape against NFL players is the thing that has him waiting for a shot. Hard to think of another explanation other than arm length/build...

Eh. Jackson Slater got drafted. Zabel went 1st round. You could argue Valdez had a better shot at getting drafted if he stays at MSU and dominated rather than being a solid Big 10 or whatever starter.

Wehr still has a chance, but look at how many guards there are in the NFL his size. Heck, he’s small for a center. So to get a spot he has to prove he can play a position he’s never played, and overcome his physical limitations enough to play at guard because nobody is going to roster a backup that can only play center. I think the only validity to your idea here is that if he had moved up to a P4 team, they likely would have moved him to center.

This discussion got me curious on active NFL players that graduated from FCS schools. ESPN gives the data to some extent, but it's spread out over 26 pages (one for each letter in the alphabet). I went ahead and scraped all the currently active NFL players, along with draft info, time in league, height, weight, college and threw it into a filterable Google Sheet. Linked HERE if anyone wants to use it.

In the next update, I'll add in transfer information from 247 sports, just going to take a bit more time to scrape.