Every January, in the week between the conference championship and the Super Bowl, scouts from the 32 NFL teams make their way to Mobile, Ala. for the Senior Bowl. Leading up to this year's event, West Virginia's Pat White, the prototypical college option quarterback, was the perfect candidate to make the switch to a wideout/running back/returner hybrid in the NFL. Save that every time the topic was broached, White insisted that he could play quarterback at the next level.
It's a familiar refrain this time of year; 22-year-olds who have excelled at the position most of their lives have trouble accepting the fact that their football future might be at another position.
But White appears to be the exception. NFL Network's Mike Mayock gushed when discussing White's Senior Bowl week, and now, two months and hours of game tape later, he rates White as the fifth-best quarterback in the draft.
This isn't to say that his NFL destiny is under center, but it makes him that much more attractive to potential employers. Think Antwaan Randle El, but with more upside. And with the proliferation of the Wildcat, teams are very interested in the versatile White.
White worked out with the New England Patriots on Wednesday, spending the majority of the workout on wide receiver drills, and worked out with the Denver Broncos on Wednesday, according to league sources.Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and White on the field at the same time is a frightening thought, and the Patriots have stockpiled enough draft picks to make it a reality. Still, White would be a luxury; New England needs a youth movement on defense. Unless, of course, the game plan is the same as it was in '07: outscore everybody and take your chances.
As NFL.com senior writer Steve Wyche wrote last week, White drew 25 NFL teams to West Virginia's pro day workout. White said he would run pass routes and go through receiver drills upon request, but no teams requested. Now it looks like teams were waiting for their own priviate [sic] individual workouts to see White in other capacities.
Wherever White ends up, he'll likely be used in the same way the Steelers and Redskins featured Randle El. Except that White could also double as a No. 3 quarterback from the first day of training camp.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-20-2009 @ 12:13PM
gmatclr said...
Pat whites style of play will not work in the nfl! Ask vince young.
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3-20-2009 @ 1:03PM
JFCJR said...
WOW......another New England/Denver "thinking process"! Can't wait for McDaniels to fall flat on his face this coming season....
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3-24-2009 @ 12:25AM
Bob T said...
Bring that Mountaineer to Denver! It is, after all, all about options.
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3-24-2009 @ 6:10PM
wvictorson said...
Pat White to Houston is a better fit.
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3-25-2009 @ 6:20AM
john said...
In Bill we trust.
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3-27-2009 @ 4:03PM
niktex0205 said...
I would live to see Pat White here in N.E.,all kinds of possibilities.First thing first though,draft James Laurinitus
and have the youngest,best linebackers in the league!!!!!
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4-27-2009 @ 7:19AM
Mike Ajakwe Jr. said...
In the NFL, if a White quarteback can run and pass, he becomes Fran Tarkenton, John Elway or Steve Young; if he is Black, he is asked to convert to wide receiver or defensive back. Hard to believe this is still going on. And, by the way, Vince Young has had a far more successful career in the NFL than the guy the pundits felt should've been drafted higher than Young, and that is Matt Linart. But no one is saying the NFL should stop drafting slow White quartebacks or convert them to centers or punters. It is a historical double standard the Black quarterback is all too famiilar with. Just ask Doug Williams, Warren Moon, Vince Evans, Randall Cunningham, Tony Dungy, Chuck Ealey (who went 35-0 in Div. I), James "Shack" Harris and every other Black guy who dared call himself quarterback in the NFL. Pat White, if given the opportunity (that is the operative word here, "opportunity") has just as much chance of succeeding or failing as Matt Stafford or Mark Sanchez. He certainly can do no worse than Gino Terretti, Steve Walsh, Vinny Testaverde, Tim Couch or Ryan Leaf, can he?
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