Video: Gruden QB Camp With Matt Barkley

Jon Gruden’s QB Camp series on ESPN has become must-watch pre-draft viewing for NFL fans.

Below is a three-minute clip of his session with Matt Barkley. If you want to watch the full episode, it’s scheduled to air this Thursday at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on ESPNU.

Gruden also offered his thoughts on Barkley in an ESPN Insider article:

I’ve seen Barkley up close. I’ve watched tape. He hasn’t hit his ceiling. In fact, they haven’t even tapped into his ability to run an offense like he’d be able to at the NFL level. Now, some people talk about “ceiling” in the sense that it’s when a guy can make every throw, carves up defenses deep and isn’t just throwing dink-and-dunk stuff. But that’s not true, and with Barkley the ceiling is higher because he can become less aggressive.

He completed a hair under 64 percent of his passes last season — again, a drop from 2011 — but I think that number could have been a lot higher. With the talent and the experience that he has, he should be a 70 percent passer. But he pressed. He was aggressive. If he had simply checked the ball down a little more and used a few more audibles here and there, I think he’s a 70 percent passer. But the circumstances made it tough.

Gruden compares Barkley to someone like Houston’s Matt Schaub. And while he is not considered the most mobile prospect, according to ESPN Stats & Info., Barkley completed 69.2 percent of his attempts with 16 touchdowns and no interceptions on designed roll-outs.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
Become a fan of Birds 24/7 on Facebook.