07-03-2023, 10:15 PM
(07-03-2023, 09:31 PM)ElkValleyBengal Wrote: I believe that at one time arm strength was overrated generally, and it was rightfully called out. The "West Coast" offense proliferated league-wide, which made it less of a priority. But the "arm strength overrated" sentiment gained a life of its own, and I feel that now the pendulum was swung the other way.
It's not necessarily important for a guy to heave it 75 yards in shorts, but arm strength deficiency has no mask in certain scenarios. There are often throws where a QB cannot set his feet because of the pass rush. If a guy can't throw it off schedule (back foot, retreating, in the grasp, etc.) sufficiently, no amount of moxie or leadership is going to salvage that play. You mentioned the velocity, which is the only real test of arm strength (initial velocity and release angle determine distance). Occasionally there are throws where only fractions of a second will determine whether they arrive at their destination. Being a competitor doesn't help much there.
Arm strength obviously isn't everything, and it isn't even the most important thing. But everything else being equal, always take the guy with better arm strength.
For sure, if everything else is equal then take the differentiating factor. I think with modern offenses and even modern QBs (read mobile), arm strength just isn't as important. All of these guys can make all of the throws needed for the most part. You have your guys like Mahomes & Allen who can throw across their body to the opposite hash while on the run and it is an acceptable throw for them. For the most part, though, these guys don't need to have those kinds of arms. To be clear, I am not attempting to say "disregard arm strength", but more so that the vast majority of QBs (if not all of them) have enough arm strength to be successful in the league, so an argument to against/for a particular QB based solely on that trait is misguided IMO. It's a tough one to sell unless you believe that everything else is more or less equal.
