Louisville NFL draft bio: Brian Brohm

By Darrell Laurant  |   Tuesday, February 05, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Louisville Cardinals
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Brian Brohm took a big gamble last season, and there is room for discussion on whether it will pay off.

On the downside, the Louisville quarterback returned for his senior year only to be caught up in a disaster -- picked as a national championship contender before the season, the Cardinals went 6-6 and weren't invited to a bowl.

When this happens, it's always the quarterback's fault (after the coach gets pummeled, of course). In this case, though, Brohm's numbers speak for themselves -- 4,024 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, a 65 percent completion rate.

The fact that he surrendered an uncharacteristic 12 interceptions had more to do with poor protection than poor judgment. The Cardinals had to play from behind a lot, and some of Brohm's picks were thrown out of desperation.

Brohm's biggest deficiency last season was that he couldn't play defense, because that's where the Cardinals fell apart.

Nor did the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder really hurt himself in the long run when he opted out of the Senior Bowl. The consensus after the 2006 season was that he would have been the third quarterback chosen after JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn. Nothing he did as a senior is going to change that.

Brohm has one of the strongest arms in the 2008 quarterback draft crop, moves well within the context of the pocket, and has always been -- until last season -- a winner.

And at least he went out a winner. In his final game, he rallied the Cardinals past Louisville and hit a 41-yard pass to Harry Douglas to set up the game-winning field goal.

Another plus for Brohm in that up-and-down senior season (besides points for loyalty) was the fact that he made it all the way through without a debilitating injury. A torn ACL in 2005 and an injured thumb in '06 had some scouts clucking about his "durability."

Before Bobby Petrino walked away from the wreckage in Atlanta, it was a given that Brohm would be chosen by the quarterback-poor Atlanta Falcons. Now, he's all over the draft board. He could still become a Falcon, or a Panther, or a Bear, or a Viking. Mel Kiper Jr. predicted him at one point as the top player chosen, which would mean going to Miami.

Wherever he goes, the odds are that Brohm will be on the field as a rookie. To all outward evidence, he can handle it.
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