Vernon Adams: Draft me before every QB except Carson Wentz
As Vernon Adams approaches the weekend that he hopes will change his life, he’s going to try to start it just like any regular weekend.
He’ll get his hair cut on Thursday, just like always, and he’ll spend all day Friday with his nearly-two-year-old son, Kash. But on then Saturday, the third day of the NFL draft, Adams will allow himself to turn on the television coverage of the draft at his grandparents’ home in Glendale, Calif., and just wait for the phone to ring.
Adams, a quarterback from the University of Oregon by way of Eastern Washington, is trying to temper his expectations. He’s spending these finals days of the pre-draft process preparing himself for the chance that the call from an NFL team won’t come, and that he’ll have to sign a contract as an undrafted rookie free agent.
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But if Adams is honest with himself, he knows he should be drafted.
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He’s seen other quarterbacks in this draft class up close, in Pac-12 games against Jared Goff of Cal, and Cody Kessler of USC and Kevin Hogan of Stanford – Adams’ Ducks won each of those games, he’ll point out – and watched more North Dakota State film of Carson Wentz than many draft analysts have thanks to years’ worth of studying common Big Sky Conference opponents.
“I feel like I'm as good as everybody else, or better than everybody else in this draft,” Adams told USA TODAY Sports.
If Adams were the one putting together quarterback rankings, he’d put himself second, behind only Wentz, because he believes the pro-style offense Wentz ran at North Dakota State makes Wentz the most pro-ready quarterback in this class.
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But the rest of the bunch? Goff, who could be the No. 1 overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams, and Memphis’ Paxton Lynch or Michigan State’s Connor Cook or Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott? Adams is daring teams to take one of those guys instead of him.
“I've played Jared Goff. They always want to talk about my hands being too small, but my hands are bigger than his. I've played in snowy games. I've played in rainy games. I've played in negative-15 degree games. Look at my wins to losses, look at my touchdowns to interceptions. Look at my career yards,” Adams said. “I'm not a cocky dude, I just want everybody to know that everything that everyone else is doing, I can do it as well. It’s just so much on my height.”
And his height is the one thing Adams can’t change. He measured in at 5-foot-10 7/8 inches at the NFL scouting combine, the shortest of the quarterbacks there, and he’s lost count of how many times he’s been asked about his stature in the draft process. The questions came from scouts at the East-West Shrine game in January – where Adams was named offensive MVP – and at the combine, and even more puzzlingly, from strangers.
“I'll meet a person on the plane, and we're talking and they’ll be like 'Oh you play quarterback, that's cool. But aren't you kind of short for a quarterback?'” Adams said, laughing. “I’ll just be like, ‘Yeah, I am, but watch me play.’’
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That’s the same pitch Adams has tried to make to NFL teams when he’s gotten the chance. Between the Shrine game, the combine and his pro day in Eugene, Adams figures he’s spoken to someone from every NFL team. He’s hoping that when teams do look at his film, especially from his lone season at Oregon, they take into account the fact that he was academically cleared to join the team just three weeks before the season opener, leaving him little time to win the starting job and learn the offense, and that he suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand early in the year.
He’s hoping teams watch Oregon’s Pac-12 schedule, and the wins against Cal, USC and Stanford, and especially that they watch the first half of the Alamo Bowl against Texas Christian. He had completed 13 of 19 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown, and the Ducks had built a 28-0 nothing lead before he was knocked from the game with a concussion about 4 minutes before halftime. Without him playing in the second half, Oregon lost 47-41.
“Put on the film when I wasn't playing, and put on the film when I was playing and see how much of a game-changer I was,” Adams said. “Honestly, those words aren't just mine, it's my teammates that have told me that. They'll say, ’Man, forget your height, this is what you should tell the scouts.’ That's what they say, and it really is the truth.”
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Now he just has to endure the wait to see if any NFL team believes it. Adams admits the past several months have caused him to be anxious, and that anxiety won’t go away until his NFL future is set. Still, he’s determined to enjoy the time with his son and his immediate family, no matter the outcome.
“Whether I get drafted or not, I'm celebrating with my family, because I've gone the farthest. Nobody in my family got a degree, or two degrees. I've got a (bachelor's) and I'm almost done with my masters,” Adams said. “I'm very blessed that I can do this and have the career that I had in college. I'm going to be happy. If I am a priority free agent, I'm going to go to whichever team, and they're going to love me.”
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.