Merril Hoge is the anti-Jon Gruden. Whereas Gruden seems inclined to see the good in all quarterbacks he invites to his QB Camp, Hoge highlights the negatives and when he spots a future bust, he's not afraid to be vocal about it.
He gets a ton of hate from nitpickers who like to point out every single prospect he panned that didn't plummet into an inescapable cavernous of failure and obscurity. With that said, I actually respect his critiques because he doesn't use "gut feelings", but rather his extensive football acumen. He's wrong every now and then, but he hasn't been correct about Vince Young when it was unpopular to do so, Tim Tebow, Matt Barkley and while the jury is still out on Geno Smith, his assessment of the Jets quarterbacks inconsistencies has been spot-on thus far.
On Wednesday, Hoge drew his gaze upon Johnny Manziel's game and recoiled at the horrific nature of how it would translate to the NFL. Turn away, if you're a Manziel-ite. It was grisly. Hoge isn't alone, but he is a polarizing figure at ESPN, which means his comments will draw more attention from media types–like myself.
Via Yahoo Sports:
He has absolutely no instinct or feel for pocket awareness. He has an instinct to run. That's a bad instinct if you're going to have that in the National Football League. You have to play in the pocket with traffic around you and throw it. When traffic comes around him, he runs, and that's dangerous in the National Football League. His skill set does not transition to the National Football League, and it is a big, big risk. In fact, I see bust written all over him, especially if he's drafted in the first round.
