LAOJoe & RTTRUTH's 12th Annual Collaborative Mock Draft

I don't remember what the SD front office situation was back then. Sometimes new staff want "their guy".

 

That line of thinking is something that I harp on this time of year.

Situations can make or break a career and immediately change the growth curve for a rookie.

 

Why wouldn't Brees have been great had he remained a Charger? Or had he gone to Miami for that matter?

 

I actually have Slater right ahead of Sewell in my overall rankings so I was pretty happy to get him. Pitts was the target but the Lions sniped him away

 

I'll use a close team example. Not world class, but Jacoby Brissett accomplished what he did under a Frank Reich/Chris Ballard umbrella. It was almost starter worthy.
Now, put him with Rex Ryan/Mike Tannenbaum (don't care to look up the GM, point remains). Does he even survive 4 games as starter?? Would have been a disaster.

Even Rodgers. Look the dude is a hall of famer. Likely is great anywhere. But not impossible to think that without the benefit of learning from the bench for 2+ years, and going to the context of that 49ers team instead of GB, getting thrown to the fire week 1 or week 5 of his first year, he might have struggled.

 

There’s no way we can say for sure he wouldn’t, but you can look at his before and after numbers and it’s obvious that the change made a meaningful impact in his play.

 

No. But you're saying the Chargers didn't believe in him. I'm trying to draw the line between not believing in him and spending the 32nd overall selection on him (a 2nd rounder pre-Texans). It doesn't logically follow.

 

Well it's possible time and experience helped. But certainly possible you're dead on the money also. Sean Payton is clearly a top 3 head coach today and probably in most eras. He just knows how to be creative and use his personnel properly.

 

And keeping with the theme of the current discussion...

Alex Smith just announced his retirement.

 

The other aspect of it that I want to stress is that teams tend to misfire and overvalue the QB prospects. As RT noted, many of the QBs that go in the top five would not be rated as true top five prospects. But teams think they HAVE to jump in and pay whatever price to get the kid that might be the starter for the next decade. I say the GMs do more harm than good.



Without looking it up, if you take the QBs who ranked in the top ten in passer rating last year, how many of those ten would you guess were drafted in the top five picks of their draft class?

 

Obviously he was perfect fit for the Saints, but I still think he's great in San Diego. The shoulder thing is truth though. I forgot he had the medical concerns.

still though. I think most would say, Brees > Rivers....The height thing is very real. It's still mind blowing to me that we passed on Russ and took Brandon Weeden. (sigh)

 

I'll say 2-3. Bit cheaty, so sue me

 

Makes it hard to just say "this guy will succeed!" I always think about prospects with a Giants blue tinge anyhow so I just stick with that line of thinking. But honestly the Giants have been a disaster post the 2011 superbowl. Hard for anyone to find success with the mess they became. Looks like with the groups of coaches they have assembled they *may* finally be moving past that era. But the Giants are committed to Jones and I still think he was better suited to the west coast based system he was initially drafted for than he is the mess that Garrett runs...

 

That is a different conversation to have but yes, I think a lot of people came away from that draft wondering what the hell was going on in Berea.

 

Clearly, they wanted the prototype. I'm not saying they didn't believe in Brees, but they incorrectly (IMO) thought they could upgrade.

 

If I am not mistaken -- Pat Shurmur was what was going on... History pretty clearly shows you don't want Pat Shurmur to be charge in your city at this point =P

 

Don't forget they actually drafted "NFL Royalty" in Eli Manning to replace him. The guy had some injuries and was undersized. I totally get the idea of moving on when you are looking at the investment they had in Brees vs. the 04 QB class.

 

Amen to that...lol!

 

Anyone else?

The question is: of the QBs who ranked in the top ten in passer rating last year, how many were drafted in the top five picks of their respective draft classes?

 

You know what still irks me, and speaks to dysfunctional front offices, remember when Cleveland hired Michael Lombardi as GM, Mike Pettine as HC, let them trade draft capital into future years, then fired them both after one season??? Can't think of another time that happened off-hand.

That kind of dysfunction TD, is why I don't buy that all four of those QB's instantly make Cleveland good. And stable. That kind of instability just doesn't help anyone reach their potential. And the incident itself was shocking to me then, and I still feel bad for those guys now.

Time to refocus. What's happening with Denver here?

Edit: Still has 25 minutes. Cool