No pressure, kid. Trevone Boykin is in Seattle as an undrafted free agent participating in the Seahawks’ rookie mini-camp this weekend.
And it didn’t take long for head coach Pete Carroll to lavish praise on him.
But perhaps the loquacious coach spread it just a little too thick. You be the judge, as he compares Boykin to superstar Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson:
“His versatility and his style of play is so similar to Russell’s,” Carroll said, via ESPN. “He’s got a big arm. He’s a very creative athlete. He’s got great instincts and great vision. His ability to run and make people miss and get out of trouble is very similar to what Russell does.”
Carroll would love to see Boykin stick on the roster, since he is so much like Wilson, in his eyes:
“I thought that the opportunity to have both those guys in the same offense, it gives us a chance — if it works out, and we’ve got a long way to go — if it works out, to maintain continuity with one of the backups.”
In theory, this is a great idea.
Boykin was highly successful at TCU, piling up yardage and touchdowns playing in the Big 12. However, the biggest difference, which Carroll failed to mention, is Boykin’s lack of pin-point accuracy.
While Boykin isn’t atrocious when it comes to location, he’s nowhere near Wilson’s level. And it’s Wilson’s accuracy — not to mention the eyes in the back of his head — that have set him apart from so many other NFL quarterbacks.
While his first thee years at North Carolina State didn’t showcase this aspect of Wilson’s game, his final season in college at Wisconsin surely did. He was finally in a pro-style offense with the Badgers, and he completed 72.8 percent of his passes in that offense.
Boykin never even hit 65 percent of his passes at TCU, where opposing defenses weren’t exactly a hot item from week to week. He struggles to consistently place the ball on target on shorter throws and made a name for himself as a dynamic deep passer.
Still, despite a lack of NFL-caliber accuracy, Boykin could legitimately make Seattle’s roster as a backup. That said, perhaps fellow undrafted free agent, Vernon Adams out of Oregon and Eastern Washington, will ultimately be that guy.