OK, I’m watching the draft, and I have come to the following conclusion:

I could be an NFL GM.

What led me to this decision?  One pick in particular; the 25th pick.  Denver decides to pick a quarterback and traded for the pick.  No problem so far; they have a journeyman in Kyle Orton and an unproven Brady Quinn as their QBs right now.  Picking one in the first round makes sense.  So with this pick they take……..

Tim Tebow.

Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy are still on the board, and you take Tim Tebow.  This is an example of rationalization and groupthink at its worst.  Tebow has great character and is a great leader and all, but there’s only one problem:

He can’t throw the freaking ball!

Character and attitude matter.  Leadership matters.  But an NFL quarterback has to be able to throw the ball.  Say what you want about Clausen and McCoy; we have no idea how good they’ll be but we know they can throw the ball.  And to make things worse, Jon ‘I don’t say anything negative about anyone when I’m on the air’ Gruden and Steve Young start spinning for Tebow immediately afterward, talking about how great the pick is.  And while they’re going on, Mel Kiper is laughing at them.  And look, I know Mel isn’t right about everything, but I definitely have to agree with him that you shouldn’t pick a QB in the first round who has issues throwing the ball.  Yikes.

I don’t claim to be some great evaluator of talent, but I have a simple rule every year for every draft in every sport: pick guys who can play.  And to me, if you have trouble with basic things that your position calls for, then you can’t play.  Quarterbacks who have basic skill deficiencies but are considered worth a gamble usually go in the later rounds, not in the first round ahead of two guys who don’t have the same problem.  I’ve got no personal beef with Tebow, but how many other quarterbacks with such a huge red flag on them have gotten picked so high?  You’ve got to be kidding me.

This is a fail of the highest order.  Time to get the resume in order.  I may not be Bill Polian, but I can sure as heck make a better pick at quarterback than the Broncos did tonight.