Is there a chance we draft a QB after the first round?

[MHS831]

I would say there is no chance. Absolutely none. We have two project QB's on the roster right now. If we were gonna go QB it would be with the first. But they are projects too. And any picks we use on QB's again are gonna be ignoring one of our other myriad of needs. Sell Alex Smith on the prospect of a new start on the East Coast and let Pickles ride the pine. Make signing one of the better TE FA's a priority and draft BPA. If we land Marcedes Lewis and Alex Smith all the worries about offense and QB will disappear.

Hope so, but if Rivera doesn't like Clausen and Pike...

[MHS831]

I just don't see why it is so wrong to bring in another rookie in addition to a veteran. The veteran can do the job and teach while the rookies develop and compete for the job. The rookie I propose drafting has a completely different skill set than Clausen. The Coryell west coast type offense we are running is most effective with a tall, strong-armed QB.

So, we should not draft a QB with those skills and traits because we already have a short qb and a tall, weak-armed QB developing.

Add a third young QB to the mix who can be coached up. Clausen is probably a bust--maybe not, but probably. He does not fit the offense as wel, but I think it would benefit him.

If you draft a CB in the third or a DT, chances are they will need time to develop too. Why not UPGRADE the most important postion in football? If Matt Schaub were on a decent team in a big market, you would think he is a top QB. He was drafted in the 3rd round. Brady in the fifth or sixth, etc. Both were drafted behind all pro QBs and sat the bench for a while.

Most of you don't think of the draft beyond 2011. That is flawed logic. The player will sign a 4 year contract. You want to offer a second contract. Think 8-9 years.

[rayzor]

The dumbness to which you refer is the reason scouting and coaching are important. Do you think the better plan is waiting for a Luck to come out fo the draft? Or sign a backup off another roster to a multi-million dollar deal? The only way to avoid being in this mess is to start drafting and developing QBs. Why is that dumb to you?

Your criticism adds the caveat that we know the QBs we are developing will fail in 2-3 years. Yeah, when you put it that way, it is stupid. You call them turds. Here is an idea: DON'T DRAFT TURDS! But I didn't say they would fail. There are no starting QBs in the draft and you don't like free agency. Do you have a REALISTIC plan?

I propose drafting a player now with all the intelligence and tools to succeed in the NFL. Since so many college offenses use the spread, the conversion often takes time. That is why fewer pure QBs are coming out today. They ran a spread offense where they could get away with poor mechanics. Today, you have to fix these problems--which are fixable--before throwing the kid into the fire. Not rocket science. If your scouts are good and your coaches better, you should be able to find gems in the draft. This to you is dumb?

scouting departments fail all the time. i didn't say to sit and wait. i said to get proactive. sitting around with our thumbs up our butts hoping that we will one day see that clausen (or that string bean) will some day amount to something worthwhile. that is a plan all set up for the fail. and i did throw in there the minute possibility that clausen could be the guy, but why would you want to wait around and spin your wheels until you have the balls to see if he has what it takes?

oh...and my plan...i've said it several times but you have a reading comprehension problem apparently.

let me say it for you again and i'll even type slow for you.

we go out and pick up a couple younger vets who have the potential to be a starter long term. they aren't going to be any less talented than some 30 something who has done nothing but prove they are career backups or someone whose time has come and gone. got it? you get someone in who can compete for the job instead of handing it to an over the hill career scrub.

you always allow for competition at the job with the idea of trying to find someone you can move forward with.

if clausen is up to the job, he'll win it. if he isn't then he won't. if he is the guy going forward, then get him in the game and let him prove it. thats the only way we will ever know if someone can do the job. let them win it and let them try to do it.

oh...even if my plan was to sit and wait for luck next year it would be a whole lot better than getting some old guy in here and letting clausen sit for a couple years and then putting him in the starting role for a couple years and seeing if he can do the job. waiting one year >>>> waiting 4-5 years before you get around to finding the next potential guy.

[MHS831]

oh...and my plan...i've said it several times but you have a reading comprehension problem apparently.

.

No reading comprehension problems--I just quit reading when I realize the author is an idiot.

You make false allegations about my position and then attack the statements you interjected. I never said draft or develop turds or sit on our thumbs. My plan elimates the likihood of developing turds and involved bringing in a veteran.

Don't talk about failed comprehension, you warrior scribe, you.

[rayzor]

meh.

[Mr. Scot]

again, here's the fail with that plan. how long is it going to be before we realize that neither clausen nor pike are capable of becoming a franchise QB? 2-3 years? we let them sit for 2 years and then let them start for 2 years to give them time to see if they can adjust and then we start the whole thing over again? wow, what a receipe for staying at the bottom.

sorry, but no franchise should ever take that route.

this is the DUMBEST plan and team could make. sorry, but it is just a horrible plan.

since there are no franchise QBs in this draft, take a flyer on a young guy or two who has already sat on the sidelines for a couple years and see if they have learned enough. let them battle it out with clausen for the job.

i am not content with this team spinning it's wheels for a couple years to see if some turd has learned enough by sitting on the sidelines to play the game. i know, i know, clausen might possibly be that guy, but there is no guarantee that he will and we need to act as if we already know he isn't in thinking ahead. until we have FOR SURE found that guy, we haven't and we don't need to pretend that or act like we have.

You're essentially talking about bringing in another Jake Delhomme.

I'm fine with that, but I also want us to bring in another Rodney Peete. We did that over a two year period when Fox took over. This year I'd rather it be all in the same year.

[MattB]

I've always liked the GB/Philly philosophy of drafting QB's in the 2/3 rounds and always having a young guy to develop. Obviously you need an established starter to do that though.

[Woodie]

scouting departments fail all the time. i didn't say to sit and wait. i said to get proactive. sitting around with our thumbs up our butts hoping that we will one day see that clausen (or that string bean) will some day amount to something worthwhile. that is a plan all set up for the fail. and i did throw in there the minute possibility that clausen could be the guy, but why would you want to wait around and spin your wheels until you have the balls to see if he has what it takes?

oh...and my plan...i've said it several times but you have a reading comprehension problem apparently.

let me say it for you again and i'll even type slow for you.

we go out and pick up a couple younger vets who have the potential to be a starter long term. they aren't going to be any less talented than some 30 something who has done nothing but prove they are career backups or someone whose time has come and gone. got it? you get someone in who can compete for the job instead of handing it to an over the hill career scrub.

you always allow for competition at the job with the idea of trying to find someone you can move forward with.

if clausen is up to the job, he'll win it. if he isn't then he won't. if he is the guy going forward, then get him in the game and let him prove it. thats the only way we will ever know if someone can do the job. let them win it and let them try to do it.

oh...even if my plan was to sit and wait for luck next year it would be a whole lot better than getting some old guy in here and letting clausen sit for a couple years and then putting him in the starting role for a couple years and seeing if he can do the job. waiting one year >>>> waiting 4-5 years before you get around to finding the next potential guy.

This really isn't so much a plan as a generalized idea. A plan would have specific answers to help solve the problem. But you only provide a vague idea of getting "a couple younger vets who have the potential to be a starter long term."

The problem with that is there is nobody available that fits your profile. VY, Alex Smith, Matt Leinert, etc. are all guys that have failed to one point or another and have not shown enough to qualify as having reasonable expectations of being anyone's long term answer, let alone ours. And the guys that have been mentioned for trade (Kolb, Orton) are not much better. Not to mention the fact that despite many fans thinking we could easily go get one, the reality is that we don't even know how possible it would be to trade for them.

Philly is asking for far more than Kolb is worth, and without a #2 he's not really a viable trade option even if they come down a bit on their asking price (no way we even think about giving up #1 overall). And if we're being honest here, Orton fits extremely well into Fox's wheelhouse of what he likes in a QB. So, chances are he'll keep his new "Jake" on the pretense of buying time for The Golden Calf of Bristol to develop, while actually waiting for the The Golden Calf of Bristol buzz to fizzle out ( I just don’t see The Golden Calf of Bristol as a Fox kind of QB at all). But even if they do decide to trade Orton, it's doubtful they ask for anything less than a 2nd, which we do not have. So our chances of pulling off that trade would be quite slim. Also, I wouldn’t even think of talking trade for either of them for anything more than a mid-second, at best, nothing higher. So even if we still had #33, it would be too much for them, IMO.

To be clear, I’m not disagreeing with your premise, just the viability of it. While I understand your want for a better option than a stop-gap at QB, there really isn't much to choose from. So it's not simply a matter of wanting a potential long-term starter, but the fact that there isn't one available.

[Woodie]

Also if the CBA is not signed until after the draft, then we would have to use next year's picks if we want to trade, and then you'd be taking a huge gamble for a likely minimal gain. I don't think anyone considers Kolb or Orton to be worthy of a top pick, but that is what you'd be risking giving up if you trade for him.

We have no idea how next season will play out. But since we will be incorporating new schemes on both offense and defense, it is reasonable to assume that it will take some time for our guys to pick it up. The problem is that if the CBA negotiations last until late summer, Rivera & staff will not have enough time to reasonably install and prepare the team. So that could lead to another poor year. If that happens, then it is very possible that we get a top 5-10 pick, if not the #1 again. And by extension, the first pick in the 2nd round. And neither Kolb nor Orton have shown themselves to be worthy of a pick that high...despite what their respective teams might want.

[TheMostInterestingMan]

my biggest fear is that we draft a QB in the 3rd only to find out there IS a lockout and then we turn around and draft yet another QB in Luck with our first next year. That would mean that in three years we drafted a QB in the 1st (Luck), 2nd (Clausen), and then 3rd (say, Dalton). Think about other areas we could have secured. Oline and maybe Dline or secondary. Just seems like a waste of good picks.