Quote:
Originally Posted by SmootSmack
??? What does that mean?
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It points out that a majority of high-efficiency college quarterbacks who lack NFL build have tended to drop significantly in the draft (rightly or wrongly, I'm not passing judgment) to later rounds despite their awesome accomplishments on the field. High first round projections are usually given to those who fit one of three molds: pro style signal caller (Clausen fits this, as does Rivers, Rodgers, Campbell, Quinn, and Eli Manning), raw but toolzy underclassman with a high ceiling (Locker, if he had come out, or Sanchez, etc), or projectable gun with quick release/rocket arm (Stafford, Russell, maybe Roethlisberger).
Bradford comes from a completely different angle: supreme college production at a big time program. In the past, those players have tended to be downgraded to the second round or lower do to concerns about adaptability.
If you wanted to disprove my point, I suppose citing Alex Smith would work as an example of someone who didn't fit neatly as a projectable player, but went at the top of the draft anyway, but I'm not sure that would alleviate concerns about franchise-ness.
I've never said I thought Bradford will suck, but the "we have to trade up to get him" mentality is getting a little pervasive, and I needed to present a different way of looking at a player, who, when you take him, his college resume of a Heisman and a 67% completion percentage is all you are getting.
In all fairness, all that matters is that his numbers translate well to the pro level. If they translate really well, he's not an overdraft no matter where he goes. But from a historical scouting standpoint, Bradford, without assuming intangibles we can't imply, has the build of a mid-to-late rounder. For every Romo or Garcia that comes out of the mold to make it, there's a Gradkowski, Frye, or Graham Harrell that doesn't really catch on. But the thing that they all had in common was that no one had to put much down investment on any of them, and could afford to cut bait with the guys who just couldn't play.
It's a different way to look at the "we can't pass him up" mentality. How confident are you (Redskins fan, not necessarily SmootSmack) that his numbers will translate to the pro level, and how much money are you willing to bet that you are right?