Guess what, ladies and gentleman?  I'm going to start the earliest draft article in preparation for the 2007 NFL Draft!  I had some free time on my hands so I decided to take a closer look at measureables.

The best QB prospect at this very minute is Brady Quinn of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Why, you may ask is Quinn the best pro prospect since Carson Palmer?  Could it be his above-average arm strength?  How about his decent mobility or his ND pedigree?  Maybe, but what's really driving the scouts crazy is Quinn's 6'4, 227 lb. stature.  While you will find taller QBs, this is something that is always looked at.  The typical NFL OL probably stands around 6'4+ in some cases which is pretty much, the most important group of 300+ pound behemoths in America. 

Now what about the QB Quinn is most likely to finish behind in the Heisman Trophy race?  Troy Smith of Ohio State may just be the one who disproves the "prototypical size" theory.  I for one, am buying his pro stock at the very minute of a late 1st round to mid-2nd round draft slot.  Before the Ohio State alumnis and fans start jumping on me, let me tell you this.  He is "listed" as 6'1, 215 but grumblings from the draft world indicate him possibly listing as low as 5'11.  That feature may alone just cost him a first-round pick but there are plenty of other reasons why we may not see Mr. Smith land that high.  Smith's main weakness, after his size, is him throwing the deep ball into coverage.  It's been seen this year that Ted Ginn Jr. is one of the most electrifying players in college football as of right now.  But there have been times that Ginn has had to SLOW down to catch one of Smith's attempted deep-balls.  His accuracy is possibly better than Quinn right now from short range but as you get deeper, the edge goes to Quinn.  Also, there is some talk of him having greater talent around him than most of the other QBs.  We'll let time tell on this one.

Overall, I'm also on the Brady Quinn bandwagon in terms of his NFL potential.  Now this year, Smith is by far the better collegiate player but let's see him beat USC and he'll get some good hype.  My earlybird sleeper?  Kevin Kolb out of Houston in the Conference-USA divison.