I would still go with Will this year, but I think y’all missed an important part of the argument for Sawyer (or maybe you just assumed it?).
It’s not just, as Robbie said, that Sawyer can throw farther and harder. It’s the effect that stretching the field can have for the rest of the offense. Is Will’s 75% completion impressive? Heck yes it is. I sure as heck couldn’t do it, and y’all are right when you say that there’s no law saying the passes have to be completed.
We should also recognize that short passes are going to have, by their nature, a much higher completion percentage. But that also tells the defense that, if the QB doesn’t have a strong enough arm to zip it downfield, that they can load the box more because they don’t have to worry as much about the receivers getting past them. If the QB can stretch the field more, his percentage will surely go down, but his yards will likely go up (both yards in the air and yards after catch) as defenders can’t load the box as much. Sawyer is superior to Will in this regard for me.
Like I said, I’d still start Will this year. He’s super comfortable and highly accurate. BUT I don’t want to get the reason wrong of why Sawyer has an advantage. As accurate as Will is, I worry that he’s simply physically limited and our offense will never develop beyond his limitations. If the defense knows the ball is rarely going over their heads (and even when it does, it’s moving slowly enough to where they can make up the ground), they can keep everything in front of them. Not an offense I want for the next several years.
