To QB or not to QB
by Eric Nagel on Feb 9, 2010 2:23 PM CST
in 2010 NFL Draft
Email
PrintVan just took at look at how the Rams are supposedly passing up franchise QB's recently, an article which pointed to a letter written to Walterfootball.com. I wanted to take a look at their analysis of the God-Child (at least in Walter's eyes) Jimmy Clausen. Do the Rams pull the trigger this year on Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen? Do they snag someone on another team?
Walterfootball.com (WF from here on out) is quick to point this out:
The last time QB Dog Killer started a game was 2006. That season, he led the Falcons to a 7-9 record with a 52.6 completion percentage. He wasn't even a good quarterback three seasons ago. The Rams would have to be absolutely insane to trade for him.
His analysis seems sound. Vick was never an amazing (some could even make the argument that he was never a 'good' QB) quarterback. That, however, is besides the point. The Rams as an organization certainly know this and I doubt he would be considered a "long term" option. I think the fact that the Rams are looking at him (or aren't they?) shows that they aren't quite sold about the fact of drafting a QB with the first pick. That doesn't mean they won't ultimately fall in love with one of the prospects, but it certainly doesn't help Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford (well, maybe not so much Bradford) in the short term, as the Rams most likely wouldn't trade and draft a QB this year.
But is getting Vick so bad? I don't think he (or Jason Campbell, for that matter) are All-Pro's. Could they work for a year or two? Looking at the rookie stats of the three quarterbacks that were brought up in the recent letter show that they aren't much better then those two options:
Mark Sanchez: 53.8% Completion Percentage, 12 TD's, 20 INT's
Matt Ryan: 61.1% Completion Percentage, 16 TD's, 11 INT's
Jay Cutler: 59.1% Completion Percentage, 9 TD's, 5 INT's (5 games)
Compare those to Vick's last starting season and Campbell last year:
Jason Campbell: 64.5% Completion Percentage, 20 TD's, 15 INT's
Michael Vick: 52.6% Completion Percentage, 20 TD's, 13 INT's
Are those that bad? Surely, Vick wasn't very efficient, but he didn't turn the ball over much more then the rookies did. Jason Campbell was just as good, if not better then any of the players the Rams "should" have drafted. The numbers aren't eye-popping, but then again, the Rams probably aren't going to get eye-popping production from a QB any time soon. Both veterans seem perfectly capable of being a "in-between" guy that guides the team while the Rams find a future QB.
WF goes on to say:
But until the Rams throw away a high draft choice on an unproven guy with a 23-32 career record (Campbell) or a 33-year-old in the final stages of his prime (McNabb), this selection will be Clausen.
Which I'm not even going to talk about because it's an insanely stupid quote. Your making an argument to draft a unproven QB with the first pick and your saying the Rams would be throwing away a pick if they picked up an "unproven" player. Yeah, that's sound reasoning.
Both Sam Bradford and Jimmy Clausen have had good college careers, and they both are the top two QB's in the draft. But that doesn't mean they are worthy of such a high pick. It also doesn't mean they won't pan out and have a great NFL career. But like some veterans who have played nearly 60 games in the NFL, they are still "unproven" and would likely command much, much more money then Jason Campbell or Michael Vick.
Van pointed out how both Chris Long and Jason Smith have been steadily improving. It's no doubt that the Rams have had troubled drafts in the past, but people who had nothing to do with them shouldn't get blamed, as the e-mail suggests.
The Rams surely have troubles on offense (and defense). Drafting a QB (or picking a veteran instead) isn't a stupid move, but with so many holes, the Rams would be better to pick the best player in the draft, Ndamukong Suh. The Rams are a run first team. Instead of investing money in a rookie QB (who will most likely have very few offensive weapons to work with), the Rams would be much better off if they developed their defense and tried to add, say, a quick, nimble running back (CJ Spiller, I can only dream) and a good pass-catching tight end (Tony Scheffler? Pretty please?) to help a veteran QB like Jason Campbell produce slightly above average numbers, positioning the team for success while grooming a young QB to take over the reigns.
It isn't flashy, it probably isn't what fans want, but it sure is more logical then throwing 70 million dollars to a 22 year old QB and asking him to make miracles with a 1-15 team. That isn't to say the Rams won't do it, because who knows what they will see at the Pro Day's, the Combine or the numerous other slightly creepy evaluation periods.
The most important thing should be finding the best player available, and snagging him, QB or not.
31 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Why would you ask your rookie QB to carry your team? Especially if that team is really bad.
If that is what you expect from any QB you draft early in the first round you will never draft a QB.
The point is any young QB will go through a learning process. Some have done it from the bench [Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer], others on the field [Stafford, Sanchez, Flacco, Ryan, Peyton Manning]. I guess if you can wait, you might want to leave your current QB out there. I’m not sure if your fan base can wait another year or two of Bulger, Boller, and Null.
It's true you could use a qb.
Not a Rams fan, but saw story. You could use a qb, but at the same time, I don’t think there is a franchise qb in the draft this year, especially where you are picking. Maybe Bradford. The other qbs that might be worth developing will be available in subseqent picks. Using the no. 1 on the “Brady Quinn” type qbs that are available would be a missed opportunity. And what you guys should probably know is that every other team in the league wishes it could get it’s hands on one of those two premiere DTs. They are the prizes of this years draft. It would be crazy to turn your back on that and hope one of these wannabe qbs pans out. It’s almost as if by not taking these guys, you make another team stronger. If you don’t want them, trade down – they’ll be takers this year. Everyone wants these DTs (and maybe Berry too). Then grab that QB from Central Michigan in the third round. Keep Brunel for now – he can get the job done. My $0.02.
I said Brunel, but I meant
I meant Bulger. The way your QBs went down last year, I hope you pick up some OGs during the offseason. Saw the Jason Smith was having some sort of health issue. I hope it clears up for him because he looked like a stud during draft time. I bet with another year under your new coach your defense starts to shore up more – and Long and the other 1st round defender show growth and development. The other interesing thought that came to me is that Colt McCoy might be availabe to you at the top of round 2. That’d be about the right place for him to go – he’d be worth watching during all the upcoming workouts. I think things are going to get better for you StL fans. Hang in there. Jackson still is doing pretty well isn’t he?
The thing is
If any of these QB’s actually turn out to be franchise players, they will have been worth being picked at 1.
If they Rams become convinced through interviews and workouts that one of these guys is the future Elway, Aikman or Montana, they need to pick him 1 and not worry that others have him valued at 5 or 7.
Trying to trade down also means taking a chance someone else picks him before you.
Bttom line – a franchise QB is the most valuable thing in pro fotball and you don’t pass him up if you are cinvinced you’re looking at him because the results will prove you were right.
Like we did with Avery?
Didn’t care for anything other then gut instinct. Not to down play Avery, but his production compared to the others passed was not worthy of the second pick. We could’ve picked him in the third and got much needed help elsewhere. Point is we can’t afford to miss with our picks period. We need at least five starters out of this draft, most at skill and both line positions.
But you did say “if”
Not the same at all. Can't compare a franchise QB to anything or anyone.
Not apples to apples.There is no such thing as a franchise WR.
If we can’t afford to miss with a pick, then we can’t afford to to screw around if they’re convinced one of them is the franchise QB.
If you trade down and he gets picked, you’ve lost something that you cannot substitute for with someone else, or some other pick.
I do agree,
if you hink he’s the guy, grab him. I also agree that he is worthy of the 1st pick if you think highly of them. My point is don’t try and gamble the decision of drafing a QB at #1 this year making the same thought process the powers that were used when drafting Avery.
i honstly believe that Desean Jackson is a better player than Avery
but the talent gap between the two is greatly magnified by the pathetic St. Louis Ram’s offense, and the fact Philadelphia runs the ball just about never.
Yeah,
but Jackson has the ability to make plays in open feild, or thightly covered. He has shown it time and time again, making something out of nothing. Avery has only shown it time to time. I hope Avery comes around, I do like him, and the fact that Philly has a better team does help the stats in Jackson’s favor, but Avery just doesn’t seem to have the play making skills that Jackson has. Coaching does have alot to do with the results of these two, knowing how to use their skills to work in their favors.
don't forget that
D-Jax has Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant (underrated) on the field with him. can’t exactly focus on D-Jax. You could actually argue that more often teams would focus on Avery against the Rams (cuz he’s all we had this year…or thats what other teams believed at least), but with Philly there were too many weapons to always roll a safety to his side
You and STL fan kind of touched on it
But imagine Donnie Avery in Philly and DeSean Jackson in a Rams uni. Do you really think we would have gotten anything near what Philly got out of DeSean these two years? I would think Avery would have been much more productive in the Eagles’ passing game as well.
You don't seem to want to accept the fact you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. A man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In *St. Louis* his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition. Well, *Steven Jackson* was the best.
by 3k on Feb 9, 2010 8:23 PM CST up reply actions
I think Jackson is more of what we need/needed however
But I have to agree with what you are saying. Jackson IMO is more of a #1 receiver while Avery just isn’t.
The House of Spears reigns supreme
I e-mail Walter all the time
That man is not changing his mind for nothing. I have walter’s direct e-mail and I have made compelling arguments and no matter what I say he comes back with a “I’m wrong and all Rams fans are dumb attitude”. I gave him stats that Clausen stats are inflated because the best defense he faced last year was the 23rd rank Pittsburgh of which he had average stats and he faced 6 of the worst defensive’s in college and washington state being the dead last and other arguments, he didn’t care at all what I said. He (walter) made reference that Clausen is the 4th rated prospect on Mel Kipers board and when I came back to him that Kiper had said that Suh was the best prospect he had seen in 36 years, his reponse was “we’ll Mayock doesn’t even have him as his best DT”, huh, OK then… And Mayock has Suh and McCoy 1 and 1a. So whatever, I just don’t like him bashing our team!
That website is misleading
It looks all professional and strategically organized but the guy who’s doing the talking is really defective.
i agree to a point
i think that suh is the pick unless bradford is awesome and then i think we need to draft an olb because ours have only 91 tackles between them in a full season! i like weatherspoon from mizzou. Then take noel divine or dwyer from ga tech to spell Jackson who keeps getting beat up. that is my third round choice. people like to talk about sanchez, ryan and flacco but each stepped into a situation where they had a strong defense, a power running game and then they had decent special teams. None of those qbs went and won a ton of games for them, infact, most were just asked to not lose the game. Why not build the same here? we are a few players hort in a division with no qb play. We could do this!
i dont think weatherspoon will be there for us in the second
i see him going late first, but if he is there i think we take him
Play To Win
If you become convinced you are working out a franchise QB, you pick him #1.
Why? Because when you are right you’re going to look like a genuis, that’s why. You do Not pick someone 5 spots later because you are afraid of being wrong later on, and what fans will say about value.
If you have your man, you take him, you play to win. If he;s wrong at #1, guess what, he’s also wrong at #10.
You don't gamble to save a couple Mil like that if you think you have the franchise.
If you lose, you have screwed yourself very badly. But yeah, saved a couple mil.
The Jets did,
they believe that Sanchez is the farnchise QB, but didn’t think enough of him to insure the Rams didn’t take him with the 2nd pick. They still got him, and at less cost. Spags and Billy D need to do their homework and know what every team needs, wants and what its worth to them to get what they want, use it to are advantage for the huge holes needed to fill.
thank you for hitting me back, (new 2 blogs)
I do really enjoy having other opinions to read
We don't know if they even could've traded up, or waited till 2011
We don’t know a lot of things about the draft, such as:
Did the Jets try to trade up higher to take Sanchez but simply could not get a deal done?
Did they have to wait 5 picks because they could not offer enough to go any higher?
I know the Rams bought Sanchez plane ticket and there were some trade talks.
We don’t even know if they thought he was a franchise QB or just a very good one, that coincided with their need. In other words, maybe they looked ahead to this year and thought they better get one now or wait years.
There’s a lot we will never know. It did work out nicely for them, but I think with the #1, I would still take the franchise QB if I thought I had one there. A couple mil with an uncapped year on the horizon….nah, no reason to lose that gamble
Sando made a point on his ESPN blog
if we do get Vick, do we keep him on the right? Seems like a stupid point I know, but you can’t keep Jason on the right too long…every snap he takes at RT makes the transition to LT that much harder
what about chad pennington
what about chad pennings until we get our qb of the future and get the team together? and he gets injured so get to see how our qb of the future is doing and getting prepared. Plus he has good accuracy and is smart and tough( though injured).He thrives in west couast offenses so you dont have to worry about him throwing too many bombs.plus with steven jackson as the main attraction he should see seven and eight in the box all the time.
all signs point to Pennington
wanting to return to the Dolphins as a backup.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
Nobody wants Suh more than me but....
If after we’ve done our homework, including several health reports on Bradfords shoulder and subsequent rehab, I’m fine with picking him. I’d want to trade down, but if the draft dogs in the war room are convinced, I guess, I’d be alright with it. I wouldn’t do it but, the more I think about it the more I’m thinking I better get ready for it. The same absolutely doesn’t go for Clausen though.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Turf Show Times
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
