Given the importance of having a great quarterback — and in light of the absence of truly great quarterbacks for every team — there’s a temptation to draft quarterbacks higher than they should be drafted, relative to the available players at other positions.
This year, it’s unclear whether the urgency to find a great quarterback will get teams like the Panthers at No. 6 or the Falcons at No. 8, or someone else, to pull the trigger on a signal-caller in the first dozen or so picks.
Recently, Seahawks G.M. John Schneider was asked to assess this year’s quarterback class, which is perceived to be less talented than the quarterback classes from recent drafts.
“I would say there’s a quietness about it that can make people feel either anxious or extremely calm,” Schneider told reporters. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of buzz right now. That’s happened in the past, too, where all of a sudden, I think it was the year that Jake Locker and [Christian] Ponder, and that whole group of guys went, or it was pretty quiet, and then they all went really high.”
That was 2011, the year of the lockout. With no prior opportunity to address the quarterback position that year via trade or free agency, quarterback-needy teams overdrafted them.
The Titans took Jake Locker at No. 8. The Jaguars took Blaine Gabbert at No. 10. (Both passed on J.J. Watt, who went to the Texans at No. 11.) Then, the Vikings took Christian Ponder at No. 12.
Each of those three quarterbacks became busts, but the rookie wage scale (which was expected as of April and which became a reality in August) reduced the cash-and-cap consequences of swinging and missing. Indeed, thanks to the reduced financial commitment made to a highly-drafted quarterback, teams can now roll the dice with the knowledge that, if it doesn’t work out, they’ll be able to roll the dice again in a few years. (Or, as in the case of the 2018 Cardinals, the very next year.)
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While it’s far from ideal to…