Max Hall: Fighting to Make the Cut

Max Hall

Former BYU quarterback Max Hall says that he is trying to give the Arizona Cardinals every reason not to cut him.

Hall left Quarterback U with the most victories (32) in program history, but has a lot to prove at the next level.

After signing with Arizona as a free agent in April, Hall will be one of four quarterbacks on the Cardinals' roster when fall camp opens on July 30th.

The biggest challenges for Hall in the NFL may be his size and lack of a cannon for an arm.

He was the shortest of any of the quarterbacks at the NFL combine, measuring just a smidgen over 6-0 feet. His weight of 201 pounds would make him one of the lightest quarterbacks in the league as well.

Each of his competitors are big guys with big league arms. Hall just doesn’t measure up.

But then again neither did guys like Joe Montana or Drew Brees.

Prevailing wisdom would say that Hall’s best case scenario is to make the Arizona practice squad. But then again, you can never count out a guy with the kind of fire in his belly like Hall has. Besides, none of his competitors have exactly established themselves as franchise NFL quarterbacks.

Here is a list of Hall’s competitors:

Matt Leinart : The 6′5″, 232-pound former Heisman Trophy winner has yet to live up to his billing coming out of USC. It sometimes appears like Leinart is more interested as being one of the league’s pretty boys rather than one of its best quarterbacks. Unable to beat out the aging Kurt Warner the past few years, its now time for Leinart to step up.  He completed 51-of-77 passes with three interceptions and no touchdowns in spot duty in 2009.

Derek Anderson : The 6′6″, 230-pound former Oregon State product was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2007, but has otherwise proven to be inconsistent while playing for the struggling Cleveland Browns. He has a career quarterback rating of just 69.7 and has completed less than 53% of his passes. Anderson was brought in during the off season to push Leinart for the starting job.

John Skelton : Some think the 6′5″, 244-pound rookie from Fordam could be the next FCS quarterback to make good in the NFL. He was taken by the Cardinals in the 5th round of this year’s draft and signed a $2 million dollar contract last week. This is the guy that Hall will need to beat out if the Cardinals decide to keep just three active quarterbacks.

We caught up with Hall and he talked about his fight to make the cut in Arizona, the chance to play for his hometown team and his thoughts on this year’s version of the BYU Cougars.