http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/NFL-GM-2014-QB-class-not-as-good-as-some-think.html Interesting take. Of course, one of the the GMs could be Rick Spielman, who wouldn't know a good QB from a snow angel.
I notice he left out Kaepernick and Newton. They were successful despite their doubters, so it doesn't fit the narrative. The position is so paramount in this league that you really have to take chances. You just have to. You have no hope if you don't have a quarterback. And once you take the guy you have to play him. It's just a reality of the business. I don't believe Blaine Gabbert was destined for success if he had sat for a bit. Nor Jake Locker. Christian Ponder I'm not quite sure. I can MAYBE see comparing Blake Bortles to Christian Ponder but the comparison really doesn't hold up to closer scrutiny. Comparing Teddy Bridgewater to any of those guys is IMO a big stretch. Comparing Derek Carr and Johnny Manziel to those guys...yeah I could see that. I'm not a buyer on either. In retrospect the two guys I regret in my evaluation of the 2011 class are Blaine Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick. Blaine Gabbert taught me a lesson. You can't pin that kind of price tag on a quarterback who is that bad at managing the pocket. He was robotic in his operation of the pocket, manufactured, didn't really sense anything. Didn't have a real fighter/play-maker's mentality. What he had were the bare bones. He could move like an athlete. He was big. He could throw on the run. He had the TOOLS to be good against pressure, but only physically. Mentally and from a vision standpoint...he was awful inside a collapsing pocket and I knew it. I dismissed that and I shouldn't have. I thought it could be learned over time. Now I'm not so sure. It's become an innate quality I need to see. I had Kaepernick as a solid 2nd rounder by the end and there were many good points to him that I pointed out. My main gripe with him really had to do with comparing him to Newton. Kaepernick had sort of become a "cheaper, better" alternative to Newton and I thought there were important differences between the two. I should've had Kaepernick in the 1st round though. The slow release bothered me. Being unable/unwilling to throw into tight windows bothered me, especially in connection with the slow release. But he really didn't manage the pocket badly at all, and of course he's an incredible athlete with an incredible arm that is capable of really accurate throwing, plus he was huge and a winner. And I knew, because I had sources I trusted on the matter, knew that he had an awesome character and would accept coaching. These are things I acknowledged. But I went back to the slow release and lack of tight window throws. I don't really regret the evaluations of Ponder or Mallett though. Those guys represent the kinds of chances I think you have to take if you're a team that doesn't have a quarterback. It doesn't mean you have to stop taking those chances.
I agree that you have to take chances; it's not the most important position, it's the only position if you don't have one. Also, I think that if Bridgewater compares to anyone, it's Russell Wilson.
The bottom line to me is this. You can strike out on 1st round picks and still go to and win the Super Bowl. Look at the Seahawks. Last year they took Bruce Irvin at #15 overall. How's that working out for them? What did he give them this year and last year? Not much. Doesn't matter, they're going to the Super Bowl anyway. And Russell Okung, he missed half the season. Aaron Curry? BUST. James Carpenter? He's a backup! Those constitute the 1st round picks of the last 5 drafts for the Seattle Seahawks. What did they get out of them? Half a season of Russell Okung at left tackle, and two part time players who play mediocre or sub-mediocre football in James Carpenter and Bruce Irvin. Look at the Denver Broncos. Sylvester Williams? Has done nothing for them. Nothing. Tim Tebow? BUST. Robert Ayers? Decent part time player. Knowshon Moreno? Productive back THIS year (finally) but I think we all kind of attribute that to Peyton Manning and the passing offense opening things up for the ground game, not to mention the blocking up front. You know Von Miller has only managed to play 550 snaps for them this year? And he's not involved in the playoff run. He missed a bunch of regular season time on suspension and injury, and has missed the entire playoff run. Those constitute the 1st round picks of the last 5 drafts for the Denver Broncos. What did they get out of them? They got Demaryius Thomas. That's big. They got half a season of awesome play from Von Miller with no post-season. They got a productive back who is only productive because of the passing game (I think we all agree). And they got a part time defensive rotator in Ayers. Basically you can be anywhere from totally unsuccessful to mediocre in the 1st round over the last 5 damn drafts, and still end up in the Super Bowl. You know what almost never happens though? Getting to the Super Bowl with an easy to find quarterback (e.g. Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer, Rex Grossman). I define an "easy to find" quarterback as a guy that didn't take you a tremendous amount of luck or skill to nail. You can buy a Matt Moore as a free agent, or an over the hill Matt Hasselbeck, or even a Carson Palmer. You don't get to the Super Bowl unless in buying that guy you absolutely hoodwinked the rest of the market (e.g. Kurt Warner, Rich Gannon).
Ah I forgot about Earl Thomas. Point still stands. Five damn years you nail ONE first rounder and get half a season of good play out of another...SUPER BOWL. That tells me that you just keep using your resources on a QB until you get one.
I love how people argue with me and say stuff like "Without that sick D then the Seahawks wouldn't be in the Super Bowl." So let's see. They're balancing the scales of value with Russell Wilson (one man) on one side, and an ENTIRE UNIT full of 17 starters and major rotators (500+ snaps) on the other side. And they think they're actually arguing AGAINST what I'm saying!
I've noticed that there seems to be some serious bias against Russell Wilson. Not necessarily dislike, but I've seen many fanbases taking shots at what he's accomplished. I'm not sure if it's natural distrust toward a younger QB, ahem..jealousy that other younger QBs aren't as successful, or something else - but it's definitely there. For what it's worth I'd trade Tannehill for Wilson in a second. I don't have access to PFF's numbers, but I'd be very curious to see how Tanehill/Wilson's accuracies compareat various depths and the amount of attempts at those depths in response to the 'game manager' accusations.
There is definitely a bias against Wilson, a skepticism that he's really this talented versus being manufactured. He's the first QB in NFL history to have a 100+ passer rating in each of his first two years as a pro. Possibly the first to accomplish that in his first two years as a starter period which opens up the sample pool to far more quality players. The bias against him reminds me very much of early in Tom Brady's career.
And that 100 passer rating his first two years was accomplished with a bunch of potheads and guys at WR who run around in a daze some of the time, like nothing is all that important to them. Golden Tate is the worst; "flatters to deceive" is an apt description of Tate. And Percy Harvin, the one true star in that corps, fractures his vagina twice a year on average.
A bit exaggerated but yeah. Last year basically throwing to Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin. This year, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse. And the tight ends have been Zach Miller, Anthony McCoy and Luke Wilson. Not exactly Hernandez and Gronk.
I'm not a fan of Wilson. He holds onto the ball, can't make a decision in the pocket, we saw him overthrow receivers when he runs to his right, consistently, miscommunications with RB all the time, just a bunch of knuckle head things he does. Mark Sanchez 2.0 imo as far as QBing. His athleticism and military-like commitment saves him a bit. Brady comparison is ridiculous. Not a fan.
Russell gets so much flack about supposedly "riding on his defense's coattails and not being able to carry his team".... yet he had 8 4th quarter comebacks the past 2 years. That ties him for 1st in the NFL with Luck. What makes those 8 comebacks all the more impressive is the fact Seattle is a winning team and does have a great defense, so they shouldn't find themselves trailing very often, meaning- Wilson's 4th Quarter conversion rate has gotta be ungodly high. It could very well be among the best in the history of the game. For comparison, Tannehill had 5 4th quarter comebacks, which isn't anything to laugh at, but how many times did Miami trail the past 2 years in order to reach those 5 comebacks? Wilson had nearly twice as comeback wins in probably half the amount of opportunities. That's sick. It's the definition of clutch and carrying your team when they need you to step up.
