QB position

[dbtb135]

Luke may not be a blue-chipper, he was an early 4th rounder, but he was the sixth QB drafted in a pretty darn good class behind the likes of Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, J.P. Losman & Matt Schaub. How many of them are starters ? Plus, Luke's a good fit, unlike Simms, and was a much better prospect coming out of school.

How does the talent level of the players taken well before him (2 1/2+ rounds in Losman, 3 in Roethlisberger, 3+ in Manning and Rivers) reflect any on him? Rashaun Woods was also taken in that draft much closer behind Roy Williams, Larry Fitzgerald, Lee Evans. So that point is pretty unfounded. Just because the QBs ahead of him made the QB class very good at the top doesn't mean he's any better.

[mtnman]

Luke may not be a blue-chipper, he was an early 4th rounder, but he was the sixth QB drafted in a pretty darn good class behind the likes of Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, J.P. Losman & Matt Schaub. How many of them are starters ? Plus, Luke's a good fit, unlike Simms, and was a much better prospect coming out of school.

How does the talent level of the players taken well before him (2 1/2+ rounds in Losman, 3 in Roethlisberger, 3+ in Manning and Rivers) reflect any on him? Rashaun Woods was also taken in that draft much closer behind Roy Williams, Larry Fitzgerald, Lee Evans. So that point is pretty unfounded. Just because the QBs ahead of him made the QB class very good at the top doesn't mean he's any better.

Sure, good point. It just means that in any other draft he may have gone higher than where he went in the 4th round - thats all. I'll add that it's hard to gauge how QBs and WRs are going to turn out in the pros; there's so many 1st & 2nd round busts.

Beofre I posted, I went off on a rant comparing Simms and McCown; McCown being the better fit with more talent and was drafted lower than Simms but I edited it before posting.

[stereochemistry]

I'm not saying the time spent by McCown is worthless, in fact I agree that spending time in the system gives him a huge head start against any drafted "franchise QB".  I'm merely arguing against the idea that Gruden can't take a "rookie QB" and work with him, because in reality that's McCown's situation unless you value 5 NFL games his rookie year in Cleveland.

If you don't want to draft a QB and have to invest 2-3 years in his development, that's one thing (and a good debate to have about whether this team is still rebuilding, or primed for a run now).  But if the argument is not to invest those years because we won't see anything of value on the otherside because Gruden "can't develop a young QB", then why are we wasting our time on McCown?

Personally, I like what McCown has shown so far, with the hope that there's more growth there with experience.  But I'm not against drafting a first day QB and developing him in the meantime.