Was not a big fan of Savage during the pre-draft process. He got a lot of hype behind him because of his physical attributes and not for his play on the field. He struggled against good competition and his best qualities were traits and not skills (aka being big and strong arm).
That being said, O'Brien clearly likes him and thinks he can work with what he's got. I don't love the pick, but I don't hate it. Especially since it was a late 4th rounder instead of a 2nd-3rd rounder like many people were saying. I would have lost it if we had taken him with a 2nd or 3rd.
Just finished watching the game against Florida. While I said he didn`t have any wtf throws the 3 other games I watched, he had 3 in this one. But to his defense, he was severly pressured and sackes often. Still, you can`t make some of these throws.
Still, what I am seeing on tape is really encouraging. Also in the Florida game he had several throws that not many people in the NFL can do. Like 60 yards bombs that hit the receiver in stride.
I would almost go as far as to say: accuracy is not a big problem. I haven`t seen many bad throws. Some were a little low, and a couple got away from him some. But overall he throws to good spots. His low completion % is probably at least in part due to his horrible O-line (rushing throws and having to throw away the ball hurts your percentage) and to the bad hands of several of his receivers that dropped lots of balls.
His problem is more his vision and going through his reads fast. He knows who he wants to throw to and stares at him - defenders can easily read him. When his guy isn`t open, he takes to long to go to the next option. And, especially late in games, he´s got a tendency to force the ball into good coverage. Oh and he definetly needs to improve his play action, that is fooling no one.
I can absolutely see what scouts love about him. After scouting him and the top 4, I´d say he easily has the best arm (better than Carr) and he also is one of the most accurate if it only comes down to ballplacement. Carr and Bridgewater were horrible on deep balls, Savage is pretty good. And I saw fewer balls get away from him, than from Bortles.
Coaches need to work with his vision and fast decisionmaking, his eyes and what to do when there is a blitz (hint: don`t run backwards and get sacked and don`t run for it when there are defenders nearby. Oh and please slide). Considering he hasn`t been in any offense for more than a season and he lacks experience, those are things that are definetly correctable. Savage looks like a winner.