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Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33
It takes a minute to adjust from the NCAA to the NFL. Once that happens the elite QB prospect becomes an elite NFL QB. The difference is in being a prospect, and actually making the transition to an elite NFL QB. In the cases I mentioned earlier in the thread, the elite QBs made those around them better and the teams showed marked improvement without a drastic change of personnel.
No. Both Mannings and others have gone into teams that were in bad shape. Because the team around them is bad, doesn't mean the QB is bad. The QB will take time and have growing pains, especially in the first year in that situation, but it doesn't make him "non-elite". Once the QB "gets it" at the NFL level, he begins to make others around him better. If you put an elite QB in a good situation (Rivers), he will produce faster.
The situation is important, but if the organization is solid and not an Oakland, Cincy, etc. The team will not be in terrible shape for too long. Having an elite QB will make that average team good, and that good team great.
A kid coming out of college can be rated and evaulated as an elite QB, if he makes the transition then the evaluators were right. If not, they made a poor evalaution or the QB went to a terrible long-term situation. It's why elite QBs don't grow on tress and are so important to playoff success in the NFL.
That's like saying all NFL lineman have the requiste skill to play OL, or all NFL RBs have the skill to play RB.....but I don't think there's an argument that a healthy Chris Samuels is leaps and bounds better than Stephon Heyer or Levi Jones. Similarly a LT in his prime is far better than Ladell Betts.
As fans we didn't have all the scouting info and reports that we get to see now, but I recall questions about Shuler's mental abilities before he was drafted.
Franchises don't normally "create" franschise QBs except in extreme cases (Brady, Montana). But I agree that having the tools in place to help the elite QB be successful are important. But those pieces can be built around the QB. The teams that draft QBs in the first round and never seem to succeed are generally poor franshices, with poor talent evaluators.
Here's an example, Manning is an elite QB, he went to a bad situation in Indy. Indy built around him and has been consistently good. Kurt Warner (not an elite QB IMO) has success in the greatest show on turf. He has Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, Issac Bruce, etc. After that he struggles, then when paired with Fitz and Boldin has success. Warner is not an elite QB, he needs the pieces around him to be successful. (For all you Warner fans, I don't need to see his resume, the guy is good, just not elite).
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Manning had a third year Marvin Harrison when he got there, and a fourth year Marshall Faulk, who was later replaced by Edgerrin James. And they had a 1997 1st round draft pick at LT named Tarik Glenn. It was a bad team anyway, in part because the defense there was terrible. Still, it was five years or so before the guy became a perennial all-pro. And we're talking about the greatest of all time.
I don't think you can separate this organization from the Oakland's and Cincinnati's of the world. We have been more successful than those franchises, but we also have way more resources year-to-year. On one hand, I think you need to assume that we're going to be better in the future than we have been in the past regarding player development. That's the only way we can improve to a team that wins in line with our resources.
But on the other hand, what's here is what's been built by that inept management. We don't have a Marvin Harrison in either Thomas or Kelly, we don't have a Marshall Faulk, and we certainly don't have a Tarik Glenn. We just have a pair of tight ends. That doesn't mean we can't draft the next Reggie Wayne or Edgerrin James in the future, and certainly if the next Peyton Manning is out there, we can wait.
But when we're comparing the offenses, we're best compared to the situations that Tim Couch and David Carr failed in. Any advantages we have over those expansion teams is on the defensive side of the ball, which won't affect the quarterbacks numbers very much.