I chuckle every time I hear it. Dallas needs to draft a quarterback. The Cowboys aren't grooming anybody to replace Romo. We need a good backup.
My question would be.......who? What teams have this strapping lad in waiting as a surefire "next" guy in their organization. Most starters in the NFL are lousy these days. The backups are even worse.
Fast forward five years when Peyton, Brees, Brady, and Romo are retired. Who will be the top five quarterbacks circa 2020?
Perhaps an aged Aaron Rodgers in his twilight, Andrew Luck, Andy Dalton, Russell Wilson, and Matt Ryan? Seriously? I realize others yet drafted could work their way into that fold, but are any of these young guys inspiring images as future all-time greats?
Factor in the complete lack of training colleges are providing quarterbacks for the NFL, and it boggles my mind why anybody would waste a first round pick on a quarterback these days. The most recent picks have been so gawd awful, that we ladle Andrew Luck with praise befitting of Johnny Unitas. The fact is, there is still much for Luck to learn, and he's an interception machine at times.
The nature of the QB position was already a crapshoot. Now, factor in this epidemic of one-read high school read-option offenses that have taken over college football, and the future doesn't look so bright.
Let's take a look at the last 10 years of quarterbacks taken in the first three rounds:
Jameis Winston ROOKIE
Marcus Marriotta ROOKIE
Garrett Grayson ROOKIE
Sean Mannion ROOKIE
Blake Bortles PENDING
Johnny Manziel BUST
Teddy Bridgewater PENDING
Derek Carr PENDING
Jimmy Garoppolo PENDING
EJ Manuel BUST
Geno Smith BUST
Mike Glennon BUST
Matt Barkley BUST
Andrew Luck
Robert Griffin BUST
Ryan Tannehill PENDING
Brandon Weeden BUST
Brock Osweiler PENDING
Russell Wilson (Overrated, but OK)
Nick Foles LIKELY BUST
Cam Newton PENDING
Jake Locker BUST
Blaine Gabbert BUST
Christian Ponder BUST
Andy Dalton
Colin Kaepernick VIRTUAL BUST
Ryan Mallett BUST
Sam Bradford BUST
Tim Tebow BUST
Jimmy Clausen BUST
Colt McCoy BUST
Matt Stafford
Mark Sanchez BUST
Josh Freeman BUST
Pat White BUST
Matt Ryan
Joe Flacco
Brian Brohm BUST
Chad Henne BUST
Kevin O'Connell BUST
JaMarcus Russell BUST
Brady Quinn BUST
Kevin Kolb BUST
John Beck BUST
Drew Stanton BUST
Trent Edwards BUST
Vince Young BUST
Matt Leinart BUST
Jay Cutler VIRTUAL BUST
Kellen Clemens BUST
Tavaris Jackson BUST
Charlie Whitehurst BUST
It isn't pretty. There are precious few quarterbacks on the planet capable of playing at an elite level in the NFL, and Dallas is lucky to have one. This notion that you just groom somebody up to be next sounds awesome, but it's comes with an incredibly high failure rate along with it.
These days, quarterbacks are going to take 4-5 years to prepare because of the simplistic college offensive schemes, so why spend a high draft pick on a guy that will become a free agent at the time he MIGHT be ready?
I believe the level of play at the quarterback position is going to take a steep decline in the coming years. The hope is, college recruits will start to demand pro style offenses to sign with schools because the money and draft position starts drying up in the NFL for quarterbacks.
Until then, it's best not to waste valuable draft picks on them unless unusually sure about a player. Rather, go get somebody in free agency when you need them. Let somebody else take the risk and spend the time developing them, and focus draft picks on more predictable commodities.
