About two and a half years ago when everyone was gearing up for the 2006 NFL draft the two big questions were who would get picked first and which quarterback would go first. The debate over the number one pick was mainly between Reggie Bush and Vince Young and the QB debate was down to Young, Matt Leinart, and Jay Cutler. While everybody knew about Young and Leinart, only the more serious college football observers knew just how good Cutler was. Shortly before the actual draft, Cutler's stock shot up among a lot of scouts and GMs, and most of us on the outside really didn't know why (myself included). It was around this time that ESPN NFL analyst and former NFL running back Merrill Hoge dropped the bomb that he felt Leinart and Young weren't going to be very good at all and that only Cutler had a real shot at making it. Like most people who remember hearing him say that, I shouted down Hoge and proclaimed him an idiot who was going al Skip Bayless on us and making a ridiculous argument just for the sake of appearing contrarian to the conventional wisdom. Boy, was I wrong.
Now Young is struggling, to say the least, while Leinart is known more for partying with coeds in hot tubs than for anything he's done on the field. Cutler, on the other hand appears to be doing well for himself. The bigger question here is why are so many first quarterbacks so lousy? From 1996 to 2006 there have been 27 quarterbacks taken in the first round. Five were complete and total washouts (Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith, Cade McNown, and Jim Druckenmiller). Seven more look to be career backups at best (David Carr, Patrick Ramsey, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller, JP Losman, Rex Grossman, and Alex Smith). That's almost half the group that either didn't make it or did not live up to their advance billing. You throw in the young guys who are struggling (Jason Campbell, Young, and Leinart), and that's over half the group now. And on the opposite end only three have Super Bowl rings (Peyton & Eli Manning along with Ben Roethlisberger). Now maybe the success rate is about the same as it is for other positions, but we all know that a sorry quarterback drags his team down a lot further than a sorry left guard does.
Can the guys who know how to pick 'em spread some of that knowledge around? I know there will never be 32 great quarterbacks in the league, but can we at least get to the point where so many first rounders don't suck so bad?
Better to get one in the later rounds and develop them
yea and also most gms dont pick players that fit into their system mostly qbs