"Reaching" is a concept defined by outsiders looking in. If you've got a guy highly rated, especially at QB, you take him. There is no such thing as a reach as long as you're right.
Except for a scout for the Jets who was pounding the table for him in the first round (I think Bradway was his name), but no one listened to him.
EXACTLY!
No.
You don't have to just take a shot. When you just take a shot, you're going to end up with Darnold, or Trubisky, or Gabbert, or whatever bust you want to choose.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD SCOUTING DEPARTMENT, and you have to trust them.
Unlike the Jets who that Bradway guy pounding the table for Russell Wilson and everyone ignored that guy.
And? Everything you've just said is exactly my point. Should the Browns have drafted Mayfield and the Jets Darnold, and then Wilson? Because that's what you're condoning. Those were the teams that "took a shot."
Scouting QBs and getting it right isn't easy. People fail at it all the time. Using a shotgun scattershot approach isn't going to improve the odds. Except to put you in the 60% who are going to probably miss.
The Bears chose Trubisky and the Browns traded their pick to us and then the next year took Baker Mayfield. And then the Browns tried to MAKE Baker Mayfield a better choice than Deshaun Watson, but then ended up trading the farm for Deshaun Watson.
If you pick a guy just to pick a guy, you're screwed, and you may well move yourself out of position to take the guy when he becomes available.
You've got to do a good job scouting so that you pick the right guy. And you don't have to be picking #1 or #2 overall to get a great QB.
I'm not saying we shouldn't choose Stroud or Young. I'm just saying we shouldn't be drafting them just because they're QBs and we need one of those. Our coaching staff, our scouts, and front office have to be damned sure they're drafting "the guy" or at the very least, someone they can work with to develop into "the guy."
