Arians on spread QBs: that ain't quarterbacking

INDIANAPOLIS --- There are a lot of reasons quarterbacks playing in college spread offenses are hard to translate into tradtional NFL systems. Often they don't go through progressions the way NFL QBs must, don't ever work under center.

Asked about making such evaluations Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine, on the day quarterbacks are scheduled to speak with reporters, Arizona Cardinals coach (and former Temple coach) Bruce Arians reinforced his credentials as a traditionalist. It was Arians who called Chip Kelly's Oregon setup "a nice college offense" in 2013, though Arians later said he had not been referring to the modified version Kelly runs with the Eagles.

"So many times, we're evaluating a quarterback who has never called a play in the huddle, never used a snap count. They hold up a card on the sideline, he kicks his foot and throws the ball. That ain't playing quarterback," Arians said. "There's no leadership involved. There might be leadership on the bench, but you get 'em now and there's the verbiage, they have to spit the verbiage out, the snap count -- they're light years behind."

Arians, a frequent critic of NFL officiating, also said he has come around to the view that everything outght to be reviewable in the NFL -- pass interference calls, holding, whatever.

"Last year I thought it was kind of a weird recommendation that everything (would be) reviewable. I kind of agree with (New England coach Bill) Belichick now, that everything should be reviewable, and you get three (challenges). You pick and choose, any play that judgement was involved in. I think I'm going for that," Arians said.

Other early highlights Thursday included Seahawks general manager John Schneider seeming to indicate his readiness to part with cornerback Byron Maxwell, a possible Eagles target in free agency.

Schneider said he has had "great discussions" with Maxwell's agents, and "it would be hard to see him leave, but I would think his market would be pretty strong. He's a heckuva kid and a heckuva player.

"We're going to keep doing things like the way we started doing them. We're just going to keep drafting people and playing young people and trying to keep the players that we can keep ... We'll make those tough decisions about players we have to let go to create some cap room. We're not changing anything we do."

In other words, it would be nice to have Maxwell, but Schneider says he isn't going to go nuts in a bidding war.

"If Byron does move on, we'll hopefully have another young Byron after that. He's a great guy."

Schneider also talked about the hints that media-shy running back Marshawn Lynch, who turns 29 in April, might retire.

"You know, not really," Schneider said when asked if he'd be surprised, should Lynch pack it in. "He's a guy that kind of just beats to his own drum, he does what he wants, and he would never let you know, one way or the other. A lot of great running backs have just walked away. So I have no idea."

Schneider called Lynch "a heartbeat guy," in terms of his importance to Seattle, and said "everybody needs time away, especially at that position."

He said he has talked to Lynch's representatives and "we'd like to know soon" if Lynch is returning, but "there's no timeline."

The biggest media crowd a prospect drew Thursday morning was clustered around former Missouri receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, who measured and weighed at 6-5, 237. Green-Beckham was thrown off the Missouri team, then transferred to Oklahoma, but never played there. Among other things, he is accused of pushing a woman down a flight of stairs, something he declined to specifically discuss Thursday, while asserting he knows "what's at stake," and regrets "the decisions I made."

Green-Beckham is almost exactly the size of Calvin Johnson, but Johnson entered the NFL with far less baggage.