Kellen Moore Senior Bowl: Why the Boise State QB Won't Make It in the NFL

Kellen Moore may be one of the most scrutinized, criticized and over analyzed players to come out of college since Doug Flutie.

While Boise State is not on par with the Boston College teams of the early 1980s, the program has jumped off the map thanks in part to head coach Chris Petersen and his gunslinger. Boise State also helped out mid-majors and non-BCS affiliated schools on the map as contenders for a national football title instead of pretenders.

While Moore is a great college story and has great heroic wins over good schools through his career in Idaho, the questions amongst scouts, ESPN and others has been can he make the transition to the professional game with his "lack" of game or requirements to become a solid player on this level?

Here are some reasons why Moore's game and skills cannot translate to the NFL level.

Lack of Height

He is a shade under 6" and light in his shoes at 191 pounds. He looks more like a receiver in a passing offense such as the Patriots (Wes Welker) than the man who would be throwing the ball down the field.

Quarterbacks who are around 6' have had some success in the NFL, most notably Drew Brees, who is 6' and 207 pounds. But no one will mistake Moore for the NFL's best quarterback and single-season yardage leader.

He needs to be able to see over linemen and down the field as well as in passing lanes. Height does play a factor in that. He needs to have a clear vision of the field will playing amongst the giants.

I believe if Moore bulked up and showed more size, he could make it at another position.

Not Enough Speed

Moore is small. There is no way of getting around that. But at his size, you would figure he was a bit faster than he is.

Moore's 40-yard sprint time was clocked at 4.98, which is slower than some defensive ends and plenty of rush linebackers coming out in this draft.

Quarterbacks today, especially with the growth of Tim Tebow and the "new age" passers in Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III, need to be faster moving out of the pocket. If he cannot outrun linemen, how can he escape the collapsing pocket and make the improbable look possible?

Moore needs to be able to think off his feet and be innovative, look for second and third options and be able to move around and through the defense for extra yards if he has to.

He Is a Cult Hero, but He Is Not Tim Tebow

I bring this up because while Tebow has more skills and more ability than Moore, there are some similarities.

Moore does something that Tebow is very much used to—he wins football games. You don't win 50 football games (50-3 as a starter) in college without being successful.

A couple of months back on ESPN, I heard a conversation about how Moore was like Tebow in that he "just wins" and there is a lot of truth to that. But Tebow's case is different. Size, speed, skill set and better athletes playing beside him in a system run at Florida made Tebow a better "prospect" for scouts.

Moore may be able to come into the league (I think he will get drafted) and show something in preseason or in mop-up duty. But he would have the impact as a Tebow and does not appear to be able to do the things Tebow does on a playing field.

Too Many Quarterbacks Ahead of Him Failed

We have seen this before. Smaller quarterbacks coming out of college with all the "moxey" in the world and it just does not translate.

How can you expect someone who comes from Boise St. to light the NFL world on fire? Tony Romo is from Eastern Illinois and maybe the best example of a guy coming from nowhere to light up the pro ranks.

But again, Moore is no Romo. There have been others who have tried, some even taken from big schools (Cade McNown at UCLA) and could not make it.

Doug Flutie was an anomaly and took his game to the Canadian Football League and had great success there.

The Systems Don't Fit

In college, Moore ran Chris Petersen's spread offense and ran it to perfection. But the spread offense is not something you see run on an everyday basis in the NFL.

The spread played upon Moore's strengths and he excelled at it.

Opposing defenses would feast on the offense in the NFL.

Moore does not have the luxury of using the same game plan on the next level. It was tried before in the NFL (Steve Spurrier) and failed in Washington with the Redskins.