Greg, how many "great" QB classes are there? 2012 is looking pretty great. 2004 has 2 or 3 HOFers. 1983 has 3 bona fide HOFs. So draft a QB once every 10 or 20 years, and hope you get one of the great ones?
To say this isn't a great QB class isn't to say that you shouldn't draft a QB in the first round. IMO, he's just saying there aren't any "great" prospects. Not only is there no Andrew Luck, there's no RG3, no Phillip Rivers. But there are a lot of good prospects; Stafford, Ryan, Bradford, Cutler.
We'll probably get three bonafide starters out of this class, maybe four. You've seen my list of 6. I think these guys are most likely to have successful careers as starters.
- McCarron
- Bridgewater
- Murray
- Bortles
- Manziel
- Fales
& there are still guys like Connor Shaw, Jimmy Garopolo, & Zach Mettenberger who may very well turn into a quality starter. There's just no way anyone can point to any one of the guys in this draft & say, "He's going to be a quality NFL starter." Not that I can see anyway.
Whoever we pick (if he's one from this list) will have a much better opportunity to succeed if we fix our OL. I'm sure no one denies that, but the question is how do we do that. Some of us point to our 2010, 2011 line & say "we can do it with an Eric Winston type talent" or with Winston himself. But that OL was great at RB, not very good at protecting the QB & not the OL I'd want to start a rookie behind. That OL was great as long as Schaub got into a rhythm & got the ball out on time. I don't see even the great Teddy Bridgewater operating 3 & 5 step drops as well as Matt Schaub was during that time period.
I'd like to get an elite OT to add to our line, if he plays the left side & pushes Duane to the right, or if he's not ready to take the left & has to play the right, we're better off than we were last year. I like Robinson, Matthews & Lewan, if we got one of those three, Case Keenum would look like a starting QB... or at least there's a good chance he will.
I'd be happy (& excited about our future) if we managed to get Bridgewater then Kouandjio or Moses in the second. But there's a good chance, better than good that neither guy will be there at 2-1. But three of
my six QBs will & their chance of being a prolific NFL starter will be better than whoever Cleveland, Jacksonville, or Minnesota takes. If we get Robinson, Matthews, or Lewan in the first.
All my opinion of course.