FanPost

ENOUGH...We Are Drafting a QB. Here's Why.



I am not even going to take the time to attempt to refute the very strange position that I have seen being espoused recently on this site the last few days regarding what position should be focused on in the first round of this year's draft. Clearly the Redskins trevails have caused people to start thinking pretty oddly. Who can blame people for being gun shy and willing to abandon what is considered conventional wisdom? I understand that being conventional isn't always right, but this is not one of those times.

We are in a passing league. QBs take time to develop. It is virtually impossible to turn a team's QB around via free agency unless wild circumstances occur like the Rivers/Brees situation. Therefore, we have to take the appropriate steps forward to begin our QB transition. Anything less would be player personnel malpractice. And will likely cause this regime their jobs.


Instead of using subjective arguments, I will simply show you the last 8 drafts top 5 picks. I use the top five as they clearly demonstrate teams that have had more than one need and lacked mostly lacked a franchise QB.

What you will clearly notice is that those who passed up a QB to sure up some other position, still grappled or are still grappling with the fact that they don't have a QB to support the other talent that they sometimes hit on, or even worse, talent they missed.

Yes, there were some misses on QBs, but that is not dispositive of the fact that they needed to select a QB. They simply picked the wrong one.

We may also pick the wrong one, especially with our current regime's record of QB evaluation. But what is clear from the evidence is that in the vast majority of the cases, bypassing a QB to fill other needs ultimately has not had the effect many are projecting here. You can not turn into a winner without a QB. We know we don't have one. Logic says, let 's get one and move on.


The last 8 drafts prior to this year are below.

2003

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2004

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2005

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2006

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2007

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2008

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2009

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2010

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The point of this is not to evaluate peoples' draft picks. As a matter of fact, I see few true all out misses here (I am looking at you Jamarcus) The point is every one of these teams either could use a QB or had just drafted one highly in the prior 1-2 years (except for GB). The results:

You will notice Oakland, Cleveland, Miami, Washington, Detroit, Tampa, KC, NYJ and St Louis enjoy having high draft picks and until they decided that a QB was a good idea, they continued to have the opportunity to have their names called early. Picking Jake Long, Chris Long, Ronnie Brown, Braylon Edwards and the like (thought of as potential elite Impact players) was nice, but they did absolute nothing for a team in the NFL without a franchise QB, elite or not. Big Ben and Joe Flacco may not be elite, but they fill the role of QB effectively, and were well worth a first round pick as you can not continue to meander in mediocrity waiting for the perfect QB to fall into you lap.

It is time to do what has to be done. The long term plan is not a long term plan without a QB, no matter how many Trent Williams, Laron Landrys, Ryan Kerrigans, Brian Orakpos and Carlos Rogers you draft in the top 20. In case anyone hasn't noticed, they can't get you over the hump without a QB, and many walk before the team has a chance to reap the rewards.

There is only one logical move for the Redskins in the first round this year with our current QBs and opportunities to fill other positions via other picks, trades, or FA.

Select a QB.