The First Athlete: Willie Beamen

Um DUHHHH!!!!
No matter what anyone says, he is the most revered, famous, popular and real life movie athlete ever that is not apart of a true story. He came right around when Mike Vick was still in college and we began to see the coming of something special, so Oliver Stone decided to take advantage of this and create a movie around the reality of NFL life (which has been heavily disputed by many profession football players, esp Mike Golic and Mark Schlereth).



But the man had more charisma than Clinton Portis, was insanely athletic for the position (remember he hurt his shoulder playing corner professionally, you cant play corner without being a special athlete), and had many tools that put him ahead of many. His biggest problem was his character; his lackluster effort, concentration and practice habits kept him as a fringe player with little hope of moving up due to his lack of size and accuracy.

Espn has 5 different traits they use to grade college QB prospects:
Game Management
Accuracy
Release
Arm Strength
Mobility
These are grades on a 1-5 scale, one being the highest grade possible

For Willie I have graded these attributes as such:

Game Management: 3
He is only a three because his leadership skills have been questioned and his ability to control the huddle and line of scrimmage have been put in question with his poor playbook memorization of the past still haunting him. Though he has become more of a student of the game as of recent, he still needs to prove that he can do this.

Accuracy: 3
Another one of his weaker points, he has occasionally missed an open target or he throws an errant interception, though these have dwindled as his experience grew and his knowledge of the offense grew. This actually could have been a result of poor knowledge of the offense and not knowing where his receivers were supposed to be, could easily be a 2 in this category.

Release: 1
He has a quick over the shoulder delivery with little to no sidearm action at all. He has a nice touch on his dumpoffs as well as his ability to throw through passing lanes given by the d-line. He needs this great ability due to his lack of size.

Arm Strength: 2
Has a strong arm, but not at the elite strength levels of players such as Jamarcus Russel, Jay Cutler or Matt Stafford, but it is strong enough to make all the throws at all the angles, there was video of him throwing a deep out to WR 83 Owens (hmmm) that was on a perfect frozen rope. Deep ball is solid and his touch on dumpoffs and fades is quite good.

Mobility: 1
One of the best if not the best at his position in the league at this. He has DB speed and athleticism at a QB, runs well out of the pocket and can throw well off the boot. He even was efficient enough at running that they ran the option, almost unheard of in the NFL, even college these days.

Production: 4
He was moderate in college but not good enough to over come a lack in size and give professional teams enough to take a flyer on him as a QB until it was a necessity for a team.

Height Weight Speed: 5, 3, 1
Only 5'9" weighed around 190 with very good bulk, built like a DB, he also ran a faster 40 than their all pro RB Julian Washington, this kid is fastttt

Durability: 3
There is an underlying, undisclosed throwing shoulder issue from his stint at QB, this could come to haunt him as his career goes along

Intangibles: was a 5 now creeping towards a 2
At first he didn't know the plays, then he takes credit for all the success, gets put in his place and now is man of the people, things don't add up, but if he stays on the positive track without blowing his top on his players again, he could be a leader, game changer, and a game winner

So here is the Criteria for madden for willie Beamen
Name Willie Beamen
Pos QB
OVR 84
Speed 88
Acc 88
Str 58
Agl 89
Awr 78
Sta 90
TGH 95
INJ 86
THP 88
THA 82
CAR 77

Maybe a few can be changed, but I would say this is pretty close, what do you think? I can always use feedback

Thanks,
Tom

And with that I leave you with this:




My Name is Willie