GENO SMITH: Why Is NFL Draft 2013 QB Ranked Below ’09’s Matt Stafford?

Geno Smith, the amazing star quarterback from West Virginia, has put up better stats in his history than did Matthew Stafford coming out of Georgia in 2009 (here’s my interview with Stafford then).   But with that, why was Stafford made the number one pick by the Detroit Lions, and Smith’s not even considered in the top ten best players?

Let’s look at the statistics.

Matt Stafford at Georgia threw for 7,731 yards, 51 touchdowns and yet threw 33 interceptions. His best QB rating was 153.9 in 2008.

Geno Smith at West Virginia threw for 11662, 98 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions during his career with the West Virginia Mountaineers. (Interesting how we call the college football player’s time with his or her team a “career” yet we don’t pay them.) Smith’s best passer rating was 163.9 in 2012.

So think about that: Smith threw for almost double the yards of Matt Stafford, has a better passer rating in his final year than Stafford did, and has a 40-yard dash time that’s about equal to his.

With all that, why is it that Geno Smith is not considered the best player in the NFL Draft?

According to CBS Sports, he’s not even in the top ten. Indeed, all of those people, save for one, are offensive and defensive linemen – trench warriors. And the only non-trench warrior is Cornerback Dee Milliner of Alabama.

So I figured that if Geno Smith was miles ahead of Matt Stafford, who was the first pick in the NFL Draft in 2009, then maybe Blaine Gabbert, who was at one point considered to be the number one pick, but fell to Jacksonville at number 10 in the 2011 NFL Draft, might be a better comparison for Geno Smith.

Here’s Blaine Gabbert’s college career stats: 6,822 yards, 40 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Blaine’s best ranking year was 2009, when he posted a 140.5.

So Blaine Gabbert, who was being touted as better than Cam Newton, who was drafted number one by the Carolina Panthers, not only didn’t perform as well as Geno Smith in college, Gabbert didn’t even match Matt Stafford at Georgia.

See what’s wrong with this picture?

Stay tuned.