Draft Recap

So I watched many hours of draft coverage, and still have the last few hours to watch on DVR, but I think it is fair to make some assessments.

Other than the Miami Dolphins, I don’t think many teams botched the draft. Most were kind to Miami after drafting QB John Beck in the second round, but Miami still sucked it.

Oakland is taking a seemingly necessary gamble with JaMarcus Russell (QB) with the top pick, and if he turns out to be John Elway, they will look like geniuses. There is always the potential that he will be Akili Smith (with whom Russell has more in common than Elway, but that’s just me…) and we can pretend that we didn’t rave about this pick.

Detroit made the right move with WR Calvin Johnson. Perfect pick. Unfortunately, they screwed themselves a bit by only drafting one lineman, Manuel Ramirez from Texas Tech (a guard), and not until the fourth round. By far, their most glaring need on offense is on the line and they picked two offensive players before addressing that need. They also had four picks in the first two rounds, in a draft that was guard-heavy and tackle-thin, it is shocking that they wouldn’t have gone for Tony Ugoh (OT) or Aaron Sears (OG), both available at their original spot in the second round. I’m sure Drew Stanton (QB) would’ve been available later in the second round at one of their lower picks. Otherwise, this was a strong draft for the Lions.

The big revelation at the draft (aside from Dolphins coach Cam Cameron’s inflated sense of punt returners), was how ridiculously devoted the analysts are to ideologies surrounding quarterbacks. Every draft in the new millennium but one (2006) had a quarterback as its top pick. Since 1990, only six non-quarterbacks have been drafted first, five of which were defensive linemen. We operate under the suggestion that the most important player on any team is its quarterback.

A second ideology has developed since Tom Brady was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 draft (with 198 players ahead of him). Their seems to be a growing consensus that high-priced quarterbacks are overrated and that one needs to find that ‘steal’ in the later rounds.

This draft showed a preference for second-round quarterbacks, with three teams drafting players in that round, with several more tempted to do so, if the conditions were right.

Plus, with the increased (relative) satisfaction of teams with their incumbent quarterbacks, there is more interest in picking up players that can make more of an immediate impact.

Lastly, there is the salary impact. Teams are more inclined to play their high-priced first-rounders right away, regardless of development and without regard to this possibility. This impacts the team when expectations for a player are too high, based solely on draft position, and the player ‘underperforms’.

With all of this in mind, most of ESPN’s coverage seemed to revolve around whether Brady Quinn (arguably one of the top 5-10 players in the draft) was closer to JaMarcus Russell in talent/impactability or to the second tier (Stanton, Beck, Trent Edwards, and Kevin Kolb). Some thought the later (perhaps based on his ‘slide’ down from projected spots of 3^rd and 9^th to 22^nd), while others still considered him an elite pick.

Here’s what I think: for all but four-six teams, drafting Brady Quinn would have meant a ‘quarterback controversy’ would erupt. Partly money, partly ego, partly fan input; this would be a controversy that most teams didn’t want. The problem is that most people will assume that there are 21 players better than Brady Quinn in this draft (there aren’t) and that JaMarcus Russell is that much better than Quinn (he’s not) and that he’s only marginally better than Kevin Kolb, taken with the 4^th pick of the second round (he’s so much better than Kolb). This is aided, not just because of draft position, but in the financial tying of positions: Brady will be forced to take less than Reggie Nelson (S) who was drafted before him, but more than Dwayne Bowe (WR) taken after him. Though this was done to keep contracts under control, it lends credence to the belief that this is actually a head-to-head (-to-head-to-head-to, etc.) competition. It is not.

Brady Quinn has the poise and affability of Tom Brady or even Steve Young. He has a great arm and a propensity to challenge any defense. Despite playing for a weaker Notre Dame team than previous ND products, he always kept them in the game and he never forced bad passes (ala Stanton or even Russell). He shows true leadership potential and a strong presence in the huddle (I’m told!). The knock on his accuracy is odd, but based solely on completion percentage (a statistic dramatically impacted by one’s receivers). I even heard a dig that he always throws one ‘fluttering’ pass each game. What crap is this? Are you scraping the bottom of the barrel to find a knock on this guy? Have you watched any college quarterbacks?

Anyway, he has fewer character and makeup questions than Eli Manning, drafted first three years ago and is struggling to fit into the Manning family mold. Philip Rivers and Ben Rothlisberger have outperformed him so far.

But the real question is how do we, the fans, deal with these competing ideologies? What is there to the draft if Quinn is either ‘overrated’ or ‘too expensive’? He is the closest quarterback to a sure thing in the whole draft, he is in remarkable shape (read durability), and he has such great character and charisma! The only real rationale for the Quinn slide is group think and subscription to these outdated and inappropriate ideologies.

The real question now is which college quarterbacks do we get to start picking on for 2008?