Thursday, January 7, 2010

What are the Rams chances of drafting a franchise QB in the second round?

Better than 50/50 I think. Perhaps better than getting on in the first round. Let me tell you why. There are now 5 top-end QB prospects in the 2010 draft. In no particular order, they are:
  • Tim Tebow: Not a QB says Mel Kiper Jr
  • Colt McCoy: Just a backup say most
  • Jevan Snead: Should have stayed in school; had a bad junior year.
  • Sam Bradford: Has a surgically repaired throwing shoulder
  • Jimmy Clauson: Doesn't impress as an NFL prospect, say many.
Interestingly enough, a close inspection of the web pages devoted to the draft shows no consensus on the question of who the top candidate is. Each site favors one, each site slams another. One (like CBS) favors Tebow and McCoy. Another (like ESPN) decries Tebow and McCoy. No consensus. Each one of these sites has a hard knock or two for each of these QBs. It would seem every QB candidate in the 2010 draft is carrying some negative baggage.

As a quick aside, it should be noted that Marc Bulger is said to be contemplating retirement at this point. If I had suffered as many injuries as he has over the past three years, I would think about it also.

What does this mean for the Rams, the NFL team most desperately in need of a QB, and the team that holds the all-important #1 pick? It means you don't use the first pick in the draft to select a QB; that's why it means.

It should be noted, in passing, that the Rams have not selected a QB in the first round since 1964 when we selected Bill Munson of Utah State. That was two years before I was born and I am 43. Nope, we did not draft Jim Everett. Houston did. We traded for Jim, and what a block buster it was also.

Do you trade the pick? If we can I would, but we tried that last season to no avail. We couldn't pay the Jets to do a deal for the #2 pick when they wanted to move up. Suppose we move down just a few slots in a deal with Tampa or Cleveland: What then? Do you use such a high pick for one of these QBs? If so, which one?

Do you use the pick to take someone else? That someone is obviously Ndomukong Suh. Coach Spagnuolo is a defensive coach who loves to dominate in the trenches. You have to be sure that he is drooling over the prospect of selecting Suh.

If you use the top pick to acquire Suh, do you wait until the second round to pick a QB? If so, what are your prospects for getting a good one there?

These are the questions that my friends and I have been arguing about (non-stop) for 4 days now. This is good. It keeps my mind off the arthroscopic surgery I have tomorrow.

To give you the Cliff's Notes on this debate: My hopes for acquiring a franchise QB in the second round have been growing and growing with each new URL thrown my way. I can see several scenarios in which high quality Quarterbacks, like Tebow and McCoy, fall out of the 1st round.

Believe me, I know it is early. Everything will change during the NFL combine. A lot of opinions will be formed. A lot of opinions will change. However, it looks like every QB has a knock on him, and these 'facts' will echo around Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.

It is a very high risk proposition to draft to your strength, and wait until the second round to go after your most devastating need. However, given the prevailing conditions, I just might be willing to take that massive risk. It would be absolutely horrid if we took Clausen in the first round... or the second.

Can you imagine the impact that getting Suh in the first and Tebow in the second would have on the Rams?