Case Keenum: Career Backup or Something More?

[Keith]

Another view from the outside on Keenum's potential (part of an article on 'mystery QBs' like McGloin and Tolzien for comparison).

To simplify final evaluations, I modified the Bang-Marry-Kill holistic scoring rubric (the most influential evaluative tool of the 21st century) into the Backup-Maybe-KO system. Backup means that he has proven that he can be a second-string NFL quarterback for a good team; that's a promotion for many of these guys. Maybe means he could still develop into a starter. KO means please, please, please get this guy an offensive coordinator job at some FCS college before we are forced to watch him throw again.
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Summary: Keenum is a "slow clock" quarterback whose best and worst decisions occur late in the play, when pass routes have developed and the pocket is collapsing. For every downfield throw on the run or rollout bomb to Andre Johnson, there are several plays where Keenum takes a sack, gets hurried, or delivers a throw that should have arrived a split-second sooner.

The Texans' play-action style suits Keenum because it is full of seven-step drops, rollouts and slow-developing pass routes. It is not clear whether that will be the Texans offensive style next year, or how well Keenum would adapt to more of a read-plant-throw system (though he put up big numbers in a quick-trigger system in college). Like many small "pesky pepperpot" quarterbacks, Keenum can be effective in short doses, but low completion rates (54.2 percent) and waning big-play capability in recent games may be signs that the league is figuring him out.

Decision: Maybe. Keenum can definitely stick as a 10-year backup, but there may be more to him than that. He does enough well, and has enough upside, to merit starter consideration.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64365140/