I thought I’d start my week with my favorite big word. If solving this puzzle was as simple as picking out the most skilled QB we wouldn’t see so many early draft pick failures. I loved the Seattle yesterday’s game thread with the coach saying “we.” The guys posting are right, he blew it. Even the announcer got it right when he said with the game on the line you want the ball in the hands of your best player. O’Brien clearly doesn’t trust Watson. I’m not sure he fully trusts the RPO system. Most NFL coaches don’t or Tebow would have made it in the NFL (that should light the fires). So before the board picks the QB, we need to know who the coach will be. The QB must fit that style. I think many of the selection failures I mentioned were attempts at putting the square peg into the round hole. Many of those players never recovered. Palmer has been at his best with BA, because his skill set is perfect for the offense BA wants to run.
The next thing that needs to be decided first is how soon does this QB have to start. Injuries can screw up any plan, but assuming all goes well how patient will the team be with the next QB? I was not a big Aaron Rodgers fan coming out of college. I will always believe that a large part of his success derived from being matured instead of thrown to the wolves. We’ll never know, of course, but if he’d have gone early I believe being beaten up and surrounded by poor talent might have prevented him from becoming a great player. So, can the Cards be patient and sit a QB for a year or two? How much pressure will be exerted if the starter fails? If the Cards embark on a rebuild, the starter will likely struggle. What’s the plan?
Finally, what are the personnel priorities? If the O-line is not fixed and receivers aren’t acquired, what’s the chance of the drafted QB succeeding? You have to compare this year’s draft and free agents to next year’s to determine which moves to make when. All of these factors interact to make picking the right choice far more complicated than who do you like. This doesn’t make evaluating QBs simply an intellectual exercise. We should all keep evaluating. It just means the selection isn’t made in a vacuum.
The next thing that needs to be decided first is how soon does this QB have to start. Injuries can screw up any plan, but assuming all goes well how patient will the team be with the next QB? I was not a big Aaron Rodgers fan coming out of college. I will always believe that a large part of his success derived from being matured instead of thrown to the wolves. We’ll never know, of course, but if he’d have gone early I believe being beaten up and surrounded by poor talent might have prevented him from becoming a great player. So, can the Cards be patient and sit a QB for a year or two? How much pressure will be exerted if the starter fails? If the Cards embark on a rebuild, the starter will likely struggle. What’s the plan?
Finally, what are the personnel priorities? If the O-line is not fixed and receivers aren’t acquired, what’s the chance of the drafted QB succeeding? You have to compare this year’s draft and free agents to next year’s to determine which moves to make when. All of these factors interact to make picking the right choice far more complicated than who do you like. This doesn’t make evaluating QBs simply an intellectual exercise. We should all keep evaluating. It just means the selection isn’t made in a vacuum.
