HeraldNet: Stanback will be a great WR
Stanback will make a great pro wide receiver
Herald columnist
By John Sleeper
You've got to love the way a little signing bonus on the horizon can change someone's perspective.
Isaiah Stanback always insisted at the University of Washington that he was a quarterback. He trained as a quarterback. He wanted to play quarterback. He could help the team best as a quarterback.
Even when Stanback played receiver as a freshman, he insisted he was a quarterback.
But the Dallas Cowboys, who selected Stanback in the fourth round of the NFL Draft on Sunday, will pay him a vast fortune to play receiver.
Bada bing! Change of story.
"I think I'll be a great receiver," Stanback told reporters Sunday.
Gee, if they'd wanted an earlier change, maybe some well-heeled Husky boosters should have ... nahhh, let's not go there.
But here he is, finally, a receiver. By all indications, Stanback's career as a quarterback is in the rearview mirror, although if coach Wade Phillips wants to mess with the minds of NFL defensive coordinators, he'll occasionally stick Stanback behind center for a few gimmick plays.
Or put him at running back.
Or tight end.
Or anywhere else.
That's the thing about Stanback. His size (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), speed, intelligence, quickness and athletic ability make the possibilities virtually endless. Already, the Cowboys are talking about using him first as a kick returner, even though Stanback did it exactly once at Washington - and then only because someone else was temporarily yanked.
Stanback was a serviceable college quarterback, but not a great one. Part of it wasn't his fault. His time at receiver as a freshman took away some of his development. There also are stories that he wasn't taught a lot of the basics that he should have known by the time most are in a similar position.
And although Stanback pleaded to everyone that he was a quarterback, first, last and always, he knew deep down that he would see an eventual change.
"Really, I knew it my whole career," he said. "I've always preferred to play quarterback, but everybody always said I would be a receiver. Any time you have someone tall and fast and at my height and can run fast, that always was a possibility."
That time is now.
Stanback will be a good one. I'm thinking All-Pro in four years.
I mean it. He's that talented. That smart. That diligent.
Think of those before Stanback who have been down this path. Former Georgia quarterback Hines Ward, former Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El, Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones and North Carolina quarterback Donald Curry all made the NFL as receivers. Closer to home, Cowboys third receiver Patrick Crayton was a quarterback at Northwestern Oklahoma State.
What do they have that Stanback doesn't?
Dallas is the perfect place at the perfect time for Stanback. It was widely predicted the Cowboys, according to what many saw as their greatest need, would spend their top pick on a receiver, but instead chose Purdue defensive end Anthony Spencer. Without a pick in the second round, Dallas chose Boston College tackle James Marten in the third.
Stanback was the only wideout the Cowboys selected.
Dallas' best receivers, Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn, both will be 33 going into the season and won't be around forever. Sam Hurd caught five passes last season.
That's it. Those are all the wide receivers on the Cowboys' current roster who caught passes last season. They haven't yet signed any free-agent pass-catchers.
The Cowboys will give Stanback all the time he needs to learn a position he already has played.
They'll be glad they did.
Herald columnist
By John Sleeper
You've got to love the way a little signing bonus on the horizon can change someone's perspective.
Isaiah Stanback always insisted at the University of Washington that he was a quarterback. He trained as a quarterback. He wanted to play quarterback. He could help the team best as a quarterback.
Even when Stanback played receiver as a freshman, he insisted he was a quarterback.
But the Dallas Cowboys, who selected Stanback in the fourth round of the NFL Draft on Sunday, will pay him a vast fortune to play receiver.
Bada bing! Change of story.
"I think I'll be a great receiver," Stanback told reporters Sunday.
Gee, if they'd wanted an earlier change, maybe some well-heeled Husky boosters should have ... nahhh, let's not go there.
But here he is, finally, a receiver. By all indications, Stanback's career as a quarterback is in the rearview mirror, although if coach Wade Phillips wants to mess with the minds of NFL defensive coordinators, he'll occasionally stick Stanback behind center for a few gimmick plays.
Or put him at running back.
Or tight end.
Or anywhere else.
That's the thing about Stanback. His size (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), speed, intelligence, quickness and athletic ability make the possibilities virtually endless. Already, the Cowboys are talking about using him first as a kick returner, even though Stanback did it exactly once at Washington - and then only because someone else was temporarily yanked.
Stanback was a serviceable college quarterback, but not a great one. Part of it wasn't his fault. His time at receiver as a freshman took away some of his development. There also are stories that he wasn't taught a lot of the basics that he should have known by the time most are in a similar position.
And although Stanback pleaded to everyone that he was a quarterback, first, last and always, he knew deep down that he would see an eventual change.
"Really, I knew it my whole career," he said. "I've always preferred to play quarterback, but everybody always said I would be a receiver. Any time you have someone tall and fast and at my height and can run fast, that always was a possibility."
That time is now.
Stanback will be a good one. I'm thinking All-Pro in four years.
I mean it. He's that talented. That smart. That diligent.
Think of those before Stanback who have been down this path. Former Georgia quarterback Hines Ward, former Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El, Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones and North Carolina quarterback Donald Curry all made the NFL as receivers. Closer to home, Cowboys third receiver Patrick Crayton was a quarterback at Northwestern Oklahoma State.
What do they have that Stanback doesn't?
Dallas is the perfect place at the perfect time for Stanback. It was widely predicted the Cowboys, according to what many saw as their greatest need, would spend their top pick on a receiver, but instead chose Purdue defensive end Anthony Spencer. Without a pick in the second round, Dallas chose Boston College tackle James Marten in the third.
Stanback was the only wideout the Cowboys selected.
Dallas' best receivers, Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn, both will be 33 going into the season and won't be around forever. Sam Hurd caught five passes last season.
That's it. Those are all the wide receivers on the Cowboys' current roster who caught passes last season. They haven't yet signed any free-agent pass-catchers.
The Cowboys will give Stanback all the time he needs to learn a position he already has played.
They'll be glad they did.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:16 PM
<< Home