rynesandbergfan23
Bench Warmer
By Pat Kirwan
NFL.com Senior Analyst
(April 16, 2007) -- Players aren't perfect by any means. And if a team is looking for that perfect player, it will never find him. The longer the draft preparation drags on, the more reasons pile up as to why a team should or shouldn't take a certain player. Guys get harder to like the longer people sit in draft rooms and poke holes in the candidates.
It has been said on a regular basis that the most mistakes are made when evaluating quarterbacks: Peyton Manning was too mechanical; Tom Brady was too weak; Philip Rivers threw side arm; Drew Brees was too short; and the list goes on. I'm not sure that it matters, but I do know that they are the most important players on the field. No team will get very far without a quarterback.
How many games do you think the Super Bowl champion Colts would win without Manning? Not many! But when Manning was coming out of college, there were many teams struggling with the issue of who was the better QB -- Manning or Ryan Leaf. Was it because Manning was under first-pick evaluation for over two years? Did teams study him with such scrutiny that he appeared to have too many flaws? Brady Quinn has been under that microscope for two years and he's getting a heavy dose of that same evaluation issues right now. But can you really pass on him in the draft if you need a QB?
Some of the teams at the top of this draft have passed on a number of quarterbacks before and could do it again.
The other issue that haunts teams is the "Ghosts of the past." Not every team has the same recovery rate from bad decisions, especially when it comes to highly drafted quarterbacks. Cleveland put all of its hopes and dreams of a world championship on the arm of Tim Couch and that was a disaster. The Lions convinced themselves that Joey Harrington was going to lead them to the promised land and he was sent packing. The Raiders had most of their success with veteran quarterbacks, not draft picks.
Are those reasons to avoid future quarterbacks at the top of the first round? The Chargers didn't think so after Leaf failed miserably. They didn't flinch when it came time to take Rivers, even though they were getting a serviceable career out of Brees at the time. San Diego looked at Rivers and decided he could make the team better. Brees blossomed a year later and the Chargers held off the transition to Rivers for two years, which was probably a good thing for him. The point is, the Chargers never lost sight of getting a franchise QB, even though many critics said Rivers had a strange release and was going to have his passes knocked down.
It is understandable that the Lions and Browns, along with the Raiders, have been gun shy about quarterbacks in the first round. But now, it's time to act for at least two of these three teams. Look at the history of quarterback decisions over the past four years for these three teams. I went back and reviewed the past few years of these three teams' draft decisions where quarterbacks were within reach.
THE RAIDERS
2006 -- Selected safety Michael Huff at the No. 7 spot and passed on QB Matt Leinart (No. 10) and Jay Cutler (No. 11). Both quarterbacks are starting in 2007. If Oakland had taken either QB last year, the team would be talking about choosing Calvin Johnson right now as the perfect compliment to its young QB.
2005 -- Selected corner Fabian Washington at the No. 23 spot and passed on Aaron Rogers (No. 24) and Jason Campbell (No. 25). Campbell is now the starter for the Washington Redskins.
2004 -- Selected Robert Gallery at the No. 2 spot and passed on Rivers (No. 4), Ben Roethlisberger (No. 11) and J.P. Losman (No. 22). All three quarterbacks are currently starters.
In the last three years, the Raiders have passed on six QBs who are present starters in the NFL and two of them are in their division. Enough is enough! Oakland must take JaMarcus Russell. The evaluation process in the past led the Raiders away from enough starting quarterbacks that it's time for owner Al Davis to just take Russell. No trading down. No more meetings to talk yourself out of the decision. No looking at other rounds for a guy. A Tom Brady comes along only once every 20 years and no one in Oakland has 20 years.
The Raiders had two critical moments : Last year when they passed on Leinart and Cutler and in '04 when they could have taken Rivers or Roethlisberger.
THE LIONS
2006 -- Selected LB Ernie Sims at No. 9 and passed on Leinart (No. 10) and Cutler (No. 11). Jon Kitna could have done the same thing for one of those quarterbacks that he did for Carson Palmer.
2005 -- Selected WR Mike Williams at No. 10 and passed on Rogers (No. 24) and Campbell (No. 25). It's understandable that the club was still trying to develop Harrington and was trying to give him a supporting cast.
2004 -- Selected Roy Williams at the No. 7 spot and passed on Roethlisberger (No. 11) and Losman (No. 22). No problem with this decision, except it must have hurt the Lions to see Big Ben win a Super Bowl in their stadium a year later.
In the past three years, the Lions have rejected first round quarterbacks six times. Five of them are starters in the NFL and all of them are about 10 years younger than Kitna. It's time to pull the trigger on Brady Quinn and let the Harrington experiment go. Quinn threw 95 touchdown passes in college, accumulated 11,762 yards and had 11 games of 300 yards passing. Take a chance.
The Lions had two critical moments : Last year when they passed on Leinart and Cutler and '04 when they could have selected Roethlisberger.
THE BROWNS
2006 -- Selected OLB Kamerion Wimbley at the No. 13 spot. He's a very good player, but Leinart and Cutler were only two and three spots away. If the Browns really loved either one they could have moved up to Detroit's spot at No. 9, since the Lions didn't want a QB. You never know if you'll be that close again to getting a QB who can win in this league.
2005 -- Selected Braylon Edwards at the No. 3 spot and passed on Rogers and Campbell. They did come back in the third round and chose Charlie Frye.
2004 -- Selected Kellen Winslow, Jr., at the No. 6 spot and passed on Roethlisberger.
2003 -- Selected Jeff Faine at the No. 21 spot and passed on Rex Grossman (No. 22). Then in the third round, they took DB Chris Crocker instead of Chris Simms.
Because the Couch experiment is older, I went back four years and the Browns have passed on four quarterbacks starting in the NFL. The point is not that the Browns have made mistakes, but that it is time to get a quarterback.
Critical moment : Choosing Winslow over Roethlisberger. What's even tougher to look back at is the fact that four starting QBs were there for the taking and two others were close. This year, one could be close again if Detroit doesn't take Quinn.
Finally, what's ironic about Cleveland and Detroit is that both teams tried to salvage their QB situation with Jeff Garcia over the last three years -- Cleveland in 2004 and Detroit in 2005. Garcia failed at both stops, but excelled in an Eagles uniform and now works for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
By the way, the Bucs told me they will take Quinn if he happens to falls to them. The three teams at the top of this year's draft have collectively passed on 15 opportunities to take quarterbacks -- currently starters -- and two of these teams have got to get it right this time around.
NFL.com Senior Analyst
(April 16, 2007) -- Players aren't perfect by any means. And if a team is looking for that perfect player, it will never find him. The longer the draft preparation drags on, the more reasons pile up as to why a team should or shouldn't take a certain player. Guys get harder to like the longer people sit in draft rooms and poke holes in the candidates.
It has been said on a regular basis that the most mistakes are made when evaluating quarterbacks: Peyton Manning was too mechanical; Tom Brady was too weak; Philip Rivers threw side arm; Drew Brees was too short; and the list goes on. I'm not sure that it matters, but I do know that they are the most important players on the field. No team will get very far without a quarterback.
How many games do you think the Super Bowl champion Colts would win without Manning? Not many! But when Manning was coming out of college, there were many teams struggling with the issue of who was the better QB -- Manning or Ryan Leaf. Was it because Manning was under first-pick evaluation for over two years? Did teams study him with such scrutiny that he appeared to have too many flaws? Brady Quinn has been under that microscope for two years and he's getting a heavy dose of that same evaluation issues right now. But can you really pass on him in the draft if you need a QB?
Some of the teams at the top of this draft have passed on a number of quarterbacks before and could do it again.
The other issue that haunts teams is the "Ghosts of the past." Not every team has the same recovery rate from bad decisions, especially when it comes to highly drafted quarterbacks. Cleveland put all of its hopes and dreams of a world championship on the arm of Tim Couch and that was a disaster. The Lions convinced themselves that Joey Harrington was going to lead them to the promised land and he was sent packing. The Raiders had most of their success with veteran quarterbacks, not draft picks.
Are those reasons to avoid future quarterbacks at the top of the first round? The Chargers didn't think so after Leaf failed miserably. They didn't flinch when it came time to take Rivers, even though they were getting a serviceable career out of Brees at the time. San Diego looked at Rivers and decided he could make the team better. Brees blossomed a year later and the Chargers held off the transition to Rivers for two years, which was probably a good thing for him. The point is, the Chargers never lost sight of getting a franchise QB, even though many critics said Rivers had a strange release and was going to have his passes knocked down.
It is understandable that the Lions and Browns, along with the Raiders, have been gun shy about quarterbacks in the first round. But now, it's time to act for at least two of these three teams. Look at the history of quarterback decisions over the past four years for these three teams. I went back and reviewed the past few years of these three teams' draft decisions where quarterbacks were within reach.
THE RAIDERS
2006 -- Selected safety Michael Huff at the No. 7 spot and passed on QB Matt Leinart (No. 10) and Jay Cutler (No. 11). Both quarterbacks are starting in 2007. If Oakland had taken either QB last year, the team would be talking about choosing Calvin Johnson right now as the perfect compliment to its young QB.
2005 -- Selected corner Fabian Washington at the No. 23 spot and passed on Aaron Rogers (No. 24) and Jason Campbell (No. 25). Campbell is now the starter for the Washington Redskins.
2004 -- Selected Robert Gallery at the No. 2 spot and passed on Rivers (No. 4), Ben Roethlisberger (No. 11) and J.P. Losman (No. 22). All three quarterbacks are currently starters.
In the last three years, the Raiders have passed on six QBs who are present starters in the NFL and two of them are in their division. Enough is enough! Oakland must take JaMarcus Russell. The evaluation process in the past led the Raiders away from enough starting quarterbacks that it's time for owner Al Davis to just take Russell. No trading down. No more meetings to talk yourself out of the decision. No looking at other rounds for a guy. A Tom Brady comes along only once every 20 years and no one in Oakland has 20 years.
The Raiders had two critical moments : Last year when they passed on Leinart and Cutler and in '04 when they could have taken Rivers or Roethlisberger.
THE LIONS
2006 -- Selected LB Ernie Sims at No. 9 and passed on Leinart (No. 10) and Cutler (No. 11). Jon Kitna could have done the same thing for one of those quarterbacks that he did for Carson Palmer.
2005 -- Selected WR Mike Williams at No. 10 and passed on Rogers (No. 24) and Campbell (No. 25). It's understandable that the club was still trying to develop Harrington and was trying to give him a supporting cast.
2004 -- Selected Roy Williams at the No. 7 spot and passed on Roethlisberger (No. 11) and Losman (No. 22). No problem with this decision, except it must have hurt the Lions to see Big Ben win a Super Bowl in their stadium a year later.
In the past three years, the Lions have rejected first round quarterbacks six times. Five of them are starters in the NFL and all of them are about 10 years younger than Kitna. It's time to pull the trigger on Brady Quinn and let the Harrington experiment go. Quinn threw 95 touchdown passes in college, accumulated 11,762 yards and had 11 games of 300 yards passing. Take a chance.
The Lions had two critical moments : Last year when they passed on Leinart and Cutler and '04 when they could have selected Roethlisberger.
THE BROWNS
2006 -- Selected OLB Kamerion Wimbley at the No. 13 spot. He's a very good player, but Leinart and Cutler were only two and three spots away. If the Browns really loved either one they could have moved up to Detroit's spot at No. 9, since the Lions didn't want a QB. You never know if you'll be that close again to getting a QB who can win in this league.
2005 -- Selected Braylon Edwards at the No. 3 spot and passed on Rogers and Campbell. They did come back in the third round and chose Charlie Frye.
2004 -- Selected Kellen Winslow, Jr., at the No. 6 spot and passed on Roethlisberger.
2003 -- Selected Jeff Faine at the No. 21 spot and passed on Rex Grossman (No. 22). Then in the third round, they took DB Chris Crocker instead of Chris Simms.
Because the Couch experiment is older, I went back four years and the Browns have passed on four quarterbacks starting in the NFL. The point is not that the Browns have made mistakes, but that it is time to get a quarterback.
Critical moment : Choosing Winslow over Roethlisberger. What's even tougher to look back at is the fact that four starting QBs were there for the taking and two others were close. This year, one could be close again if Detroit doesn't take Quinn.
Finally, what's ironic about Cleveland and Detroit is that both teams tried to salvage their QB situation with Jeff Garcia over the last three years -- Cleveland in 2004 and Detroit in 2005. Garcia failed at both stops, but excelled in an Eagles uniform and now works for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
By the way, the Bucs told me they will take Quinn if he happens to falls to them. The three teams at the top of this year's draft have collectively passed on 15 opportunities to take quarterbacks -- currently starters -- and two of these teams have got to get it right this time around.
