Pages

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Grantland: It's Not Them, It's You

Chris Brown of Smart Football  breaks down the top three quarterback prospects in the 2014 draft. He posted this just before the draft, but I didn't get a chance to link it until now. It's still an interesting read if you're an NFL fan, especially if your team drafted one of those guys.

Hit the jump for Ashley Sky, who is somewhat attractive.



Ashley Sky

Ashley Sky

Ashley Sky

4 comments:

  1. Bill Walsh's notion of "spontaneous genius' in a quarterback is interesting.

    I think it's safe to say that Joe Montana, Fran Tarkenton and Archie Manning possessed that quality at the professional level, Archie at the college level for sure. I'd have to give it to Tim Tebow as well which may reveal a weakness in assigning that quality as a primary desirable.

    I'm not sure I'd give it to Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or even Johnny Unitas for that matter as those last three I'd have to call "technicians" or maybe even "surgeons" for the play after play precision with which they work or worked.

    Were it me playing General Manager on a professional football team, I'd never draft a QB. I'd draft front 7 defenders, safeties and offensive lineman draft after draft after draft ....... until I got fired ..... or enshrined.

    I'd sign veteran QBs who were tired of getting hit in the mouth and would appreciate my stud O line and the fact that my stud D was going to be hitting someone else in the mouth, veteran CBs who would appreciate my pass rush and veteran Receivers and Backs who would appreciate my accurate arm at QB standing there with time to throw and some holes to run through, respectively.

    Just saying"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is an interesting take on things. I tend to agree in principle, though I think in practice this would result in you getting fired rather than enshrined. The teams that get to the Super Bowl do so with a combination of infrastructure investment (stud O and D lines) and skill investment (QB, WR) ... and some luck along the way.

      I don't know what to make of the three QBs in the linked article (Bortles, Bridgewater, Manziel). Of the three I have the least confidence in Manziel being an NFL QB with any success. I'm prepared to be proven wrong, but that hot-dog scramble stuff won't work consistently in the NFL. But who knows? I guess Cleveland will find out.

      Delete
    2. I didn't say I wouldn't invest in QBs and skill guys, I just wouldn't draft/develope them.

      I probably would draft a skill player very occasionally when they were also return guys.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, okay ... I get what you're saying. You'd need a very understanding and patient owner. When the Andrew Luck or Sammy Watkins came along, the pressure would be there to take him in a draft.

      But ... if you take a look at how the NFL draft has been trending lately, it's going in the direction you describe. There's still some temptation to grab QB candy, but the first round this year was mostly about O-line, D-line and some DBs. Interestingly, no RBs. They have really fallen from favor in the NFL draft in recent years.

      Delete