The hottest name in quarterbacks is in St. Louis on Thursday. Pitt signal caller Tom Savage is making an official visit to the St. Louis Rams, one of several potential late-round quarterbacks the team could be targeting.
QB Tom Savage (Pitt) visited the #Rams today, source confirmed.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) April 9, 2014
You can't talk about Savage without mentioning his size and his arm. He's 6'4, 228 pounds, and he might have the strongest arm of any QB in this draft class.
I think he'll go in top 40. RT @NFL_CFB: @BuckyBrooks reviews tape to find out if QB Tom Savage is worthy of hype: http://t.co/YPwxDhhhlQ
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) April 7, 2014
Savage's college career unfolded over three different schools. It started at Rutgers under Greg Schiano, so, yeah ... He then went to Arizona, where he wasn't a fit in Rich Rodriguez's spread offense, and tried to go back to Rutgers. The NCAA said no, and he ended up at Pitt. All that bouncing around hasn't helped his development, and didn't leave a long trail of tape for scouts to review.
As far as his NFL readiness goes, he needs some work on handling things when the pocket gets messy as well as the long list of subtleties that go with making NFL throws all over the field. Remember, in the Rams offense as presently constructed downfield throws are only a small part of it.
Savage is a talented quarterback, but the Rams offensive coaching staff doesn't have much of a track record polishing those diamonds in the rough. Can they finally break the cycle?
For those of you keeping score, Savage is one of a handful of QBs the Rams have shown some interest in. That list includes: Derek Carr, Aaron Murray, A.J. McCarron and Blake Bortles. And ...
At the QB position, Rams have also shown significant interest in South Carolina's Connor Shaw, and some interest in SMU's Garrett Gilbert.
— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) April 9, 2014
Here's the list of prospect visits and private workouts conducted by the Rams, that we know of, so far.
Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Florida State
Joel Bitonio, OL, Nevada
Derek Carr, QB, Fresno State
Jadeveon Clowney, DL, South Carolina
Darqueze Dennard, DB, Michigan State
Aaron Donald%, DL, Pittsburgh
Kony Ealy, DL, Missouri
Justin Gilbert, DB, Oklahoma State
Reggie Jordan, TE, Missouri Western State
Taylor Lewan, OL, Michigan
Jake Matthews, OL, Texas A&M
Greg Robinson, OL, Auburn
Tom Savage, QB, Pittsburgh
Ryan Shazier, LB, Ohio State
Stephon Tuitt, DL, Notre Dame
Billy Turner, OL, North Dakota State
Sammy Watkins, WR, Clemson