Why you take a QB at 4

[jterrell]

There's been a lot of discussion around do you or don't you.
Is it better to build up every other position or start at QB....

All that is good football discussion but I think you have to look at recent history, project a bit forward and make the best possible decision.

So to me this is one of pretty cut and dried in favor of taking a QB if one grades out as an R1 guy. Notice I am not even limiting it to franchise guy but simply R1. ((Dallas will probably only have 12-15 guys with R1 grades))

The primary factors:
1. Team's QB Situation. We have an aging Romo coming off another likely surgery and definitenly more overall health concerns. Behind him we have Free Agents and an UDFA whose pop-gun arm seems a long shot to ever do more than warrant clipboard and later coaching duties. So need is fairly high.

2. History. Dallas has to learn from the Aikman era. No matter what Troy says, you can't wait until your stud is gone to get in another guy. That doesn;t mean being GB and grabbing a QB every year while you have Favre in his prime necessarily but you have to get in some talented youth to groom once your QB crosses 30.

2a. You have to look at what Dallas has tried or been tied to doing. Dallas gave a 4th for a developmental guy and saw that those players are simply real long shots. Players lacking NFL tools are just pipe dreams. You could hit the lotto but it's still playing the lotto.

2b. Dallas has wanted to (and considered) get in a talented younger guy. See Brady Quinn and Johnny Manziel. Those two names should give you food for thought here. Dallas was never really linked to "better" QB draft options than that. It's rare to get up this high in the draft unless you are CLE. And if you get a QB who can start games there really is no over-drafting. Legit starting QBs are very hard to find and very valuable. So taking a shot when you have the resources is a must.

3. Projected forward. NCAA football presents you with a lot of high passing totals and a number of great dual-threat QBs. Unfortunately, college football is so very different form the NFL. In the NCAAs where there is far less speed on the defense a guy like Braxton Miller is going to FAR outperform a guy like Troy Aikman. --Miller would have won a couple National Titles minimum under Switzer at OU but Troy had to transfer.... So it is hard to find those guys with legit NFL mesaurables and skillsets who offer all the other pieces. At times those guys like Mettenberger, Hackenberg or Glennon you are overlooking poor collegiate play just to see tools. 2017/2018 looks like more of the same. DeShaun Watson looks pretty special and as a total package ...he is easily the best QB/atrlete prospect in college but man is that guy really a future NFL stud? I don't think so. I simply don't see the consistent arm accuracy... and he seems very likely to go #1 overall in 2017.

For me all the above considered I think this year getting a QB is vitally important. I do not know when I'll get this kind of draft selection again. --hopefully not in my lifetime. I do not see a list of great prospects for 2017 or 2018 staring me in the face. And I do not see Romo lasting beyond 2 more full NFL seasons. A 3rd year would seem either forced (due to zero other legit options) or a gift from the football Gods. So I'll gladly take a QB this year that requiresonly 1 draft pick used and let him develop at a natural pace. Give him the pre-seasons and all the practice snaps Romo misses as part of his careful usage. Give him game time in blow outs and otherwise bring him along at a cordial pace adding to his skillset and getting him mentally ready to blitzing and all out pressure. Give him the best chance to succeed.

 

[waving monkey]

What a brain freeze it is,since there will be those who disagree with this post.
Good over view for our circumstances as we approach the draft

P.S. This is called puttin your big-boy pants on.

 

[Killerinstinct]

You can't use a no 4 pick on a QB when you already have a 100 mil qb with years left on his contract. I guess you could if the rest of the team is in good shape but it is a luxury and one teams that have done a good job building can take. This team has holes all over the place and it doesn't matter who the back up QB is when you are lacking in so many areas.

 

[skinsscalper]

I can't remember the poster so I can't properly give credit, but it was said in another thread that the QB position was the sole reason for our 4-12 season, to not make it the highest priority is the most foolish thing possible.

Now, I know, that back up QB was the most inept position on our team last season, but we saw a glimpse of life without Tony Romo. We also saw life without Aikman and going with the lower round pick to try and address it. Failures of epic proportions on both fronts. If Wentz is rated your highest player where you pick, you take him.

I also read a comment from another poster that said we have no need to draft a QB high because we aren't rebuilding. Teams that take that approach are constantly rebuilding because they weren't smart enough to draft to keep themselves from having to constantly rebuild.

Now, if Wentz is NOT your highest rated player then I can understand drafting elsewhere. But if Wentz and the guy you're getting ready to hand the card in for are THAT close, you go with the position that has a bigger impact on the game. In my mind that's QB. I could care less how Wentz starts his career (backup) I care about how he ends it (hopefully franchise player).

 

[skinsscalper]

You can't use a no 4 pick on a QB when you already have a 100 mil qb with years left on his contract. I guess you could if the rest of the team is in good shape but it is a luxury and one teams that have done a good job building can take. This team has holes all over the place and it doesn't matter who the back up QB is when you are lacking in so many areas.

It depends on your approach in FA. That would (and should) affect how you approach the draft. All the "holes" on this team won't be filled by rookies and if they are, we're in for a rough ride anyway.

 

[jterrell]

You can't use a no 4 pick on a QB when you already have a 100 mil qb with years left on his contract. I guess you could if the rest of the team is in good shape but it is a luxury and one teams that have done a good job building can take. This team has holes all over the place and it doesn't matter who the back up QB is when you are lacking in so many areas.

If you plan 1 year a time in anything you will fail.
It is the largest problem with our business community.

You shouldn't ignore the immediate but you have to balance it versus costs down the road.

No 1 player will effect the game like a QB. None. And the draft is about team-building not year 1.

 

[jazzcat22]

Agree, take the QB while you can, this opportunity may not be there, and most likely will not be there next year.
I keep reading some people saying the do not like this years QB class, but next years is better. I wish they would say who and why though.

I feel there are 5 QB's in the first 2 rounds that can sit and learn, and will be better QB's because of it. As opposed of thinking since they are not an Andrew Luck type that is needed to start right away.
There is also not one player in the top 10 that can come in and win this team a championship because we selected him and not a QB.

 

[waving monkey]

You can't use a no 4 pick on a QB when you already have a 100 mil qb with years left on his contract. I guess you could if the rest of the team is in good shape but it is a luxury and one teams that have done a good job building can take. This team has holes all over the place and it doesn't matter who the back up QB is when you are lacking in so many areas.

In good shape is a very interesting term. By the way our QB position isn't in good shape.
The most important position on the team when your starting QB goes down is the back up QB.
But it goes further then back up because not long from now that back up will be the starting QB
and I read his [Wentz] a good one. It's how successful enterprises operate

 

[Yakuza Rich]

You take a QB at 4 because Goff, Lynch and Wentz can all play and have the potential to be future franchise QB's in a league that is dictated by the QB position. Taking a QB outside of the first round has had an abysmal track record. And if this team doesn't make the playoffs next season, it should be adios to Garrett and Co. and at least the new head coach can come in with a potential franchise QB.





YR

 

[stilltheguru88]

You can't use a no 4 pick on a QB when you already have a 100 mil qb with years left on his contract. I guess you could if the rest of the team is in good shape but it is a luxury and one teams that have done a good job building can take. This team has holes all over the place and it doesn't matter who the back up QB is when you are lacking in so many areas.

Thank you. Youd think Elway and Marino were in this class.

 

[Bigdog]

You can't use a no 4 pick on a QB when you already have a 100 mil qb with years left on his contract. I guess you could if the rest of the team is in good shape but it is a luxury and one teams that have done a good job building can take. This team has holes all over the place and it doesn't matter who the back up QB is when you are lacking in so many areas.

I remember when I was living in Boston for a few years during the Big Dig construction and there was a sign before you went thru the Ted Williams tunnel. It said "Rome wasn't built in a day. If it was, we would have used their contractor." If you don't have a good qb you don't have a chance to win. Period.

 

[Killerinstinct]

Thank you. Youd think Elway and Marino were in this class.

Looks more like Brady Quinns and Ryan Leafs to me but there will be no shortage of people that believe drafting a QB at 4 is somehow a can't miss proposition. I don't think there is a single QB in this draft that would be a top 10 pick if not for the "overdraft a QB angle." If you overdraft a QB and miss on a top 5 pick then you become Cleveland. Drafting a high QB every couple of years.

This is a rare year where there is likely to be FA QB's available that are better than the top QB prospects in the draft.

GOFF and LYNCH or both products of their systems. If there was any viable QB options this year they would be relegated to Bryce Petty status but they aren't even that good.

WENTZ puts up good stats playing against talent deficient teams. I said good, not great. He should be destroying the competition he had if he was even remotely good enough to be a top 5 pick.

I sign a FA to back up Romo. Maybe Chase Daniels or RGIII.

I use that no 4 pick to parlay into as many top 100 picks as I can get and bring some talent into the fold.

 

[Idgit]

Pretty hard to argue against a QB this year if the top three grade out as 1st rounders. Harder to argue QB2 is not a screaming need that has to be addressed.

Personally, I go QB and don't look back and consider it the one fortunate thing about this dismal season. But even if we don't, I won't cry about another impact defender if we get one.

 

[kevm3]

You draft a qb if you feel that you are getting a top talent with that number 4 pick. you don't take a qb just to be taking one. Getting a game manager with the number 4 pick while you pass out on franchise players at other positions would be a travesty. Now if you can come away with the guy that's going to lead the franchise for the next decade, you absolutely do that, but if there's no outstanding option at qb, you absolutely pass on taking one in the 1st round.

 

[Silver Surfer]

If your $100 million QB is sitting on the sidelines watching the game like us, he's worth nothing, nada, zippo, bupkis..... At the same time, he's creating the a black hole for your franchise that's sucking your chances of success out into oblivion; or as Mike Tyson would say "Bolivian".

 

[CCBoy]

If you plan 1 year a time in anything you will fail.
It is the largest problem with our business community.

You shouldn't ignore the immediate but you have to balance it versus costs down the road.

No 1 player will effect the game like a QB. None. And the draft is about team-building not year 1.

You always have sound view...but there is a question here. The Cowboys actually have a view of a fully functional Tony Romo for three to four up coming seasons. Fix his collarbone problems, and that does look reasonable.

Next, vulnerability was increased, only because the top non-quarterback offensive producer was out or very limited for almost the entire season as well.

That degree of bad luck is actually rare in the NFL. (losing both top offensive producers on a team)

So there can be some flexability as well as ability to meet back-up criteria in both the draft and free agency. This time, it may cost more than in the past, because the pain is recent and the time limit for a true Romo led run is in the picture completely now.

But that still doesn't eliminate the need to continue strongly at improving a defense, that in three seasons was both, the NFL's worst defenses and now, one of the all time worst at turn-overs.

That in itself, tells where the problems are...and I'm sorry, but QB isn't the chink in the armor, now, and more important...the defense still is.

 

[jazzcat22]

Looks more like Brady Quinns and Ryan Leafs to me but there will be no shortage of people that believe drafting a QB at 4 is somehow a can't miss proposition. I don't think there is a single QB in this draft that would be a top 10 pick if not for the "overdraft a QB angle." If you overdraft a QB and miss on a top 5 pick then you become Cleveland. Drafting a high QB every couple of years.

This is a rare year where there is likely to be FA QB's available that are better than the top QB prospects in the draft.

GOFF and LYNCH or both products of their systems. If there was any viable QB options this year they would be relegated to Bryce Petty status but they aren't even that good.

WENTZ puts up good stats playing against talent deficient teams. I said good, not great. He should be destroying the competition he had if he was even remotely good enough to be a top 5 pick.

I sign a FA to back up Romo. Maybe Chase Daniels or RGIII.

I use that no 4 pick to parlay into as many top 100 picks as I can get and bring some talent into the fold.

Tell me which QB on this list is better to have than any draft prospect, and also tell me why.
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/quarterback/

Daniels, possibly, but he is not the answer. But we still need a QB of the future while the opportunity is there. No to RG3 & JF.

 

[RS12]

If you plan 1 year a time in anything you will fail.
It is the largest problem with our business community.

You shouldn't ignore the immediate but you have to balance it versus costs down the road.

No 1 player will effect the game like a QB. None. And the draft is about team-building not year 1.

Welp, we dont always agree but this is one of your best posts.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Pretty hard to argue against a QB this year if the top three grade out as 1st rounders. Harder to argue QB2 is not a screaming need that has to be addressed.

Personally, I go QB and don't look back and consider it the one fortunate thing about this dismal season. But even if we don't, I won't cry about another impact defender if we get one.

I have to agree, draft the heir apparent now if he is your guy and available at #4.

Cowboys have made the mistake in the past of failing to properly address the QB position in round one, time to learn from the ineptitude that followed.

Fourth rounds picks in all probability are not going to be the answer and seem like a waste.

However, I am not militant in this position, if they decide to address QB in Free Agency and bypass a QB in the first, draft an impact player at #4 whether it is defense or offense.

Do not trade down unless someone blows you away with an offer.

 

[NEODOG]

No matter what we say..... The team went into the '15 season with SB aspirations. Then #9 got hurt, which exposed other areas:
1. Passing D
2. Pass rush
3. Back up QB
4. Run Stop
Which I think the order of priority has been STATED by the team.......
If they love Wentz, so be it..... The weakness of the team isn't a back up QB until #9 can't take a snap.