Always Draft A Quarterback (Who Had Good Numbers)
February 3rd, 2023
Lesson to learn from young QBs?
Yeah, a common belief in the NFL is that if you don’t draft a top-shelf quarterback and develop him, you are banking on tying your team’s future to another team’s unwanted quarterback and maybe that gets you in the playoffs and run right away.
The Bucs, thanks to Tom Brady’s retirement, are now looking like just such a team.
(Yes, Joe knows four of the last 13 Super Bowl winners didn’t draft their quarterback.)
Chris Trapasso of CBS has been writing this week about recent NFL trends teams should strongly consider. Joe will add a caveat to one of them. Trapasso types that teams should always draft a quarterback, even if they have a legit starter at quarterback. The Eagles and 49ers are Exhibit-A.
In 2020, Jalen Hurts was on the board late in the second round. The Eagles still had Carson Wentz, who put up really good numbers in 2019. Hurts put up insane numbers for blue-blood Oklahoma and pass-happy coach Lincoln Riley.
It paid off. Wentz melted down and Hurts is now in a Super Bowl.
Brock Purdy was a four-year starter at Iowa State. Bill Parcells always liked quarterbacks who had a lot of snaps in college. Purdy fit that description perfectly, which may be why he made such a smooth transition for San Francisco this season as a rookie.
But Purdy seemed to get worse in college as he got older. His freshman season at Iowa State, Purdy looked like a sure thing. Joe is willing to bet if someone searched Google for 2018 or 2019 stories, an article would be found on how Purdy would be one of the top quarterback selections in the 2022 draft.
Instead, Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant.
The point is Trapasso believes you can luck into a quarterback — Purdy is the true definition of an accident — by swinging for one every year.
What is Joe’s caveat? Make sure the guy you select on the second or third day of the draft had a bunch of snaps, like Russell Wilson playing 50 college games, and that he put up strong passing numbers (forget rushing stats). Yeah, Wilson is not recent history.
At the end of the NFL day, a quarterback must be able to move the ball through the air.
February 3rd, 2023 at 3:55 am
This is football, thanks.
February 3rd, 2023 at 4:34 am
Joe … ‘At the end of the NFL day, a quarterback must be able to move the ball through the air.’
Got a hunch that sentence could’ve stopped after ‘must be able to move the ball’. Period. Through the air. Over the ground. Heck, under the ground, I don’t care. Get the ball into the end zone anyway you can & they’ll tack up 6 points on the scoreboard. He with the most points wins last I heard. No special points for ‘pretty’.
February 3rd, 2023 at 4:51 am
BTW Joe, just found an article on Google News about the Saints supposedly moving on from Jameis Winston. In part it read …
Quote … “We need to find one,” Saints vice president and assistant GM Jeff Ireland said recently when asked about the team’s plan at QB, via Pro Football Talk.
“It has to be the right guy… Gotta have the right traits, gotta have the right intelligence. In the history of the game, generally you have to take one early,” Ireland continued.
Ireland’s statement that the team needs to find someone with “the right intelligence” feels like a shot at Winston and the perpetuation of a stereotype about Black QBs.’ … Unquote.
All I could do was shake my head at that last sentence. Did the author who threw GM Ireland under the bus by focusing on his ‘someone with the right intelligence’ criteria not know that the Saints ALSO had a white QB named Andy Dalton under contract who played last season for them? Given that, how is his statement a ‘perpetuation of a stereotype about Black QBs.’ Is this really what the US media has evolved to now?
February 3rd, 2023 at 5:35 am
You should care. Sooner or later, a team will trail late with 70+ yards to go. Good luck winning by pounding the ball.
February 3rd, 2023 at 5:56 am
Yes, but you need someone to develop said QB. Outside of Tom Moore, no one on this staff currently instills confidence in being able to help with that task.
February 3rd, 2023 at 6:20 am
Right now there is no offensive staff to develop any QB. Let’s see who they hire. Eveyone in our divison could use a QB, maybe Atl sticks with Ridder. They all draft in front of us too. We’ll have to use the draft to find our QB probably next year. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and find one who had good numbers in college like Joe says this year.
February 3rd, 2023 at 6:24 am
Develop a quarterback please we don’t have an offensive staff.
February 3rd, 2023 at 6:25 am
Draft & Stash – Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker
February 3rd, 2023 at 6:27 am
Defense Rules, the answer to your last question is yes.
February 3rd, 2023 at 7:04 am
There is absolutely a problem with the current way the NFL develops and relies on college for QBs. How many college guys are labeled a system guy and dual threat?
If the NFL wants to get serious and stop being shaken down by the Cousins Prescott’s Carrs and Garropoloos of the world. They need to find a better way to identify potential QBs young and develops them to be an NFL QB. The $60 mill QB is going to kill teams ability to build a roster.
How do you think both Peyton and Eli made it to the highest level and had success?
February 3rd, 2023 at 7:10 am
Did I miss the announcement of
Todd Bowles firing?
February 3rd, 2023 at 7:23 am
Joe Says: “Always Draft A Quarterback (Who Had Good Numbers)”
That’s Kyle Trask, who broke all UF passing records and many SEC passing records. Trask would have broken even more SEC passing records but his 2020 season, due to COVID, was cut to 10 games (instead of the usual 12) and was against 10 SEC teams (none of the 4 games against pansies).
Unfortunately, the Bucs have never let Trask compete for the #2 spot as long as Brady was here and never let him take even a snap with the first team. As Bucs QB coach Chris Christensen said in May before the 2022 training camp:
“I DON’T SEE TRASK COMPETING WITH GABBERT FOR THE BACKUP JOB THIS YEAR. YOU CAN’T REP EVERYBODY, IT’S HARD TO GET GABBERT ENOUGH REPS. SO WE’LL PREPARE GABBERT AS THE NO. 2.”
This is well known. And yet some here keep pushing the false narrative that there was this great competition between Gabbert and Trask and Gabbert won. That’s laughable. Brady wanted a veteran as a backup and Brady got a veteran.
February 3rd, 2023 at 7:26 am
@SB~LV 🤣. One can only dream!
February 3rd, 2023 at 7:31 am
The face of a man that has no concept of developing a quarterback. We tried it with Jamies Winston and it not work so thats it.
February 3rd, 2023 at 7:50 am
I think QBs are all gonna be Justin Fields/ Jalen Hurts types in the future.. passable throwers who run really well, and whose careers are usually done by the end of their affordable rookie contracts.
February 3rd, 2023 at 8:35 am
So you’re saying the trask pick was bad?
February 3rd, 2023 at 9:36 am
At the end of the NFL day, a quarterback must be able to move the ball through the air. –
while not throwing interceptions- see J Winston, D Prescott, D Carr.
February 3rd, 2023 at 9:37 am
Bring in Derek Carr, draft a top tier OL then take or trade up for QB Will Levis out of Kentucky and shore up OL and secondary in draft. You can drop Akiem Hicks, trade a Logan Ryan. Maybe put Julio out to pasture and look at potential trade partners for Trask. We have excellent skill players aside from the QB and the support needs to be addressed. Let Carr come in and see what he can produce while Levis sits and learns. He reminds me of Josh Allen, big guy with a cannon who is mobile as well. Thoughts?
February 3rd, 2023 at 10:11 am
That’s fine. But also stack the trenches.
TRENCHES TRENCHES TRENCHES
Average / mediocre skill guys can look good on O with a great OL.
Average / mediocre DBs can look ok with a great pass rush.
February 3rd, 2023 at 10:45 am
Hyatt and hooker plz .. can you imagine Evans Hyatt Godwin . Hooker has a beautiful deep ball
February 3rd, 2023 at 10:46 am
It’s headlines like the one above that worry me. The Florida guy may be there at 19 ….but we have a Florida guy already. Give Trask a chance and surround him with quality picks. This woukd be as bad as Lichts constantly drafting TE’s and kickers. Go with what you have and get better in the trenches.
February 3rd, 2023 at 11:11 am
Drafting a QB every year is fine if you don’t have other holes on your team that need to be addressed–including depth and ST.
I don’t think anyone thought Carson Wentz was living up to his billing. And the 49ers literally landed on dumb luck with a hunch from Brian Griese, but at the last pick in the draft, drafting a QB isn’t going to get you fired.
So, late rounds, sure, take a stab. But if you’re drafting a QB in the first two days with a stud at QB, you’re a fool looking for problems. Case in point, the Packers. They’re sitting on Love for his entire rookie contract and still don’t know for sure what they have. And they may not be able to figure it out until Rodgers leaves or retires, but by then they’d have to over pay for Love who is unproven or watch him walk. So, Jordan Love is an enigma and a wasted draft pick for the Packers.
February 3rd, 2023 at 11:16 am
The Packers and Bucs are pretty much in the same boat because of QBs who are elite but just at the tail end of their career who, on all accounts, neither will have retired as being in the worst half of starting QBs in the league. They’re both will be retired with the ability to still out perform Jimmy G, Derek Carr, and a whole host of average QBs.
It’s a lot easier moving on from an avg QB, than an elite one.
February 3rd, 2023 at 12:39 pm
That’s a good policy regarding drafting QBs. I would probably apply that 2 out of every 3 drafts depending on need.
February 3rd, 2023 at 1:21 pm
I think the NFL as a whole is missing the point. QBs need to be developed early! Can’t rely on college games and coaches. The position has become to valuable to leave to chance.
February 3rd, 2023 at 2:39 pm
Repeat after me, no rookie QBs in Tampa.
They never work here, NEVER!
Tampa would be better off trading that draft pick for an established QB if we are going to burn a pick on that position.
February 3rd, 2023 at 2:47 pm
I don’t agree with drafting guys to draft them especially if you don’t have a starter. Qbs needs snaps and eventually starts. You can’t collect them on the roster. Once you invest snaps jn a guy your team success is hitched to him. If we draft a QB then move up for a Will Levis if he falls to 10 range.
February 3rd, 2023 at 3:14 pm
MORAL OF THE STORY
Examine Philly and SFO. You have stables of quarterbacks, talented playmakers, and great defenses. SFO’s HC and Philly’s OC are awesome.
That’s your recipe for QB success.
February 3rd, 2023 at 9:35 pm
They definitely need to draft a quarterback and go with an inexpensive vet in the meantime. Seems obvious Trask is not the answer, unless they’ve been hiding him for two years for some reason.
February 4th, 2023 at 10:21 pm
As big Red Auerbach used to say, the number one thing he looked for in a prospect was winning background and attitude. Everything after that is secondary to his picks!!!! Numbers is why so many top picks go bust. The qualities of a Brady are just hard to find even in the 6th round!!!