Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruhskins
And if you draft a first round lineman you have the chance to get the next Ryan Clady, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Jake Long, Joe Thomas, Jeff Otah, Michael Oher etc., etc., etc.
|
Don't forget Micahel Roos, Marcus McNeil, Jason Peters, Eric Winston, Jeremy Trueblood, Donald Penn, David Stewart, and Matt Light. All guys selected after the first round.
We're also in an era were 7 first round lineman have started for a Super Bowl champion. Yet 8 of the last 10 Super Bowls were won by franchise QB's.
Quote:
There were only 7, out of a possible 50, drafted in round 1.
Of that, the highest was Jonathon Ogden at number 4 overall in 1996. In fact, he was the only top 10 olineman on a Superbowl winning team this decade.
Only one team, the 2005 Steelers, had mutliple first round o-lineman.
2 of the 7 are Kenyatta Walker (hardly a cornerstone) and Damien Woody
|
Keep in mind you're also coming off a Super Bowl where the starting Left Tackles were a 5th round pick and an UDFA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruhskins
We're not talking about picking up guards in the first round, we're talking about picking up a franchise tackle.
|
And yet there are a handful of quality tackles that were selected in the 2nd round in recent years. This past year for instance there wasn't a whole lot of difference in performance between the first round tackles and the second round guys, in fact I think the second round guys made a much stronger statement this past year then the guys selected in the first round.
Eben Britton, Phil Loadholt, and Sebastian Vollmer all became regular starters by season end and are now staples on their line for years to come. If it hadn't been for Michael Oher the second round tackles would have outperformed their first round counterparts.
Plus we had a franchise tackle for the last 10 years while struggling with an anemic offense that suffered from *surprise* QB problems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruhskins
If the JC experiment fails, then we have another top pick in the 2011 draft. If it doesn't, then we had a winning season...and unless we trade away our first rounder, we can still pick a first-round QB in 2011 for the future.
|
Again a one year jump start on developing a blue chip QB prospect is extremely valuable especially when it means you'll probably save draft picks down the line. Trust me we will not be picking in the top 10 for a while, unfortunately I can't promise you that we'll be picking in the bottom 10 either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruhskins
You're still talking about a "quality prospect" that didn't play much his last season in college and has a shoulder injury. In the Elway aftermath, Shanahan had moderate success with Jake Plummer before getting Cutler in the mix.
|
The type of accuracy Bradford has is rare so of course I want us to draft him, especially after Shanahan says the number 1 quality he wants in a QB is accuracy. By the way I don't want moderate success, I want a freaking championship. I want Obama leaning into the mic with a football asking "whereeee's Chris Cooley?" I'm tired of hoping we limp into the playoffs. Of course over the next year or two that will be our goal but I want something to look forward to after that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Shanahan
"I'm looking forward to it." Shanahan explained what he wants in a quarterback, and Campbell would do well to listen up. "I need a quarterback, No. 1, to be accurate, and No. 2, to be passionate about the game, about the preparation, the study and the execution," said Shanahan. "I've been around a lot of leaders and they do it different ways -- Joe Montana, Steve Young and John Elway. But they all had a deep desire to be the best."
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruhskins
You're still talking about a "quality prospect" that didn't play much his last season in college and has a shoulder injury.
|
Third degree AC joint sprain that was fixed with a 35 minute operation. Compare that to Drew Brees who came off a 360 degree tear.