2011 NFL Draft

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag59

I will say this. The QB class is ALWAYS weak. We need to get used to it. In fact in retrospect it's usually the guy that no one expected to be succeed that ends up being the bell of the ball.

Some perspective.

The weakest class in recent memory was 2000, where Chad Pennington was the top ranked QB. He was picked 17th overall yet when healthy was among the leagues top QB's including a season where he led the 1-15 Dolphins to 11-5.

In 2005 people also labeled the QB class as weak. The only reason Alex Smith was picked number one overall was because San Fran was desperate to do something at the QB position. Aaron Rodgers then proceeded to drop to the 24th spot. "Teams must have passed him up for a reason." Turns out the reason was that no one knew how to evaluate QB's that year except Green Bay.

Few people thought Matt Ryan was that great of a pick. His college stats were underwhelming and he was labeled as having accuracy issues. Everyone knows you build in the trenches and the Falcons were foolishly passing on Glenn Dorsey. Ryan was going to a team that gave up over 50 sacks the year before. He is now the only QB in franchise history to lead the Falcons to back to back winning seasons.

On draft day most of you thought that Joe Flacco would take years to "develop" and why not, he came from a shotgun spread attack at an FCS school. Today is among the most highly respected young QB's in the game.

Josh Freeman. What a wasted pick right? Tampa was drafting Jason Campbell 2.0. Look at this guy. Best season is 20 TD's and 8 Ints. Never led his team to anything big. Career completion percentage under 60%. Man terrible pick. "Oh but his arm is strong." Big whoop. He'll be a bust.

2004 was a strong class, but that was if you were in position to get Rivers or Manning. The Steelers got the left overs in Big Ben, who has gone on to be the most prestigious QB of the class.

2006. Well as long as you could get Young or Leinart you were able to talk about how strong the class was as you had two remarkable college QB's. One with outrageous physical talent that was able to show clutch on college football's biggest stage. And another who played in a pro style offense for a national championship team. But wait, now those two are off the board? Is the class still strong? All I see is Jay Cutler? He played at Vanderbilt, and wasn't able to do much stat wise. He has a strong arm but how many times have we've seen that mean nothing?

People please repeat it with me. "THE QB CLASS IS NEVER STRONG ON DRAFT DAY." Scouts poke and prod these guys left and right and find virtually every reason why they won't succeed. The fact of the matter is we have no idea how most of them will turn out. If we had drafted most of the above guys on draft day (particularly guys like Freeman or Flacco) most of you would have had a cow.

Forget the strong class concept. We're not building a QB stable. We need one guy to throw the ball. That's it. No one is running a two or three QB offense. If we find that guy that can give us stability at the games most important position we have to take him, even if it means taking the rest of you kicking and screaming.

Next years class is always stronger then this years class when it comes speculation. It's the new Vet min. The funny thing is the guys that people are looking at next year when labeling a class are the guys we're never in position to draft (*read Andrew Luck*).

*End Rant*

The fact that I like 5 different guys in this class to *eventually* become NFL starters is more due to a high point in the cyclical QB demand cycle. But it's also the depth of the class.

Remember, last year was a "strong" QB class, but part of that strength was knowing who to take from McCoy/Clausen/Tebow. There wasn't a great amount of depth in the draft after that. I liked Pike and LeFevour, but they would have rated below Stanzi/Tolzien/McElroy in the same class.

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

The fact that I like 5 different guys in this class to *eventually* become NFL starters is more due to a high point in the cyclical QB demand cycle. But it's also the depth of the class.

Remember, last year was a "strong" QB class, but part of that strength was knowing who to take from McCoy/Clausen/Tebow. There wasn't a great amount of depth in the draft after that. I liked Pike and LeFevour, but they would have rated below Stanzi/Tolzien/McElroy in the same class.

I would agree last year was a fairly strong crop. This years to me, there is are no Bradfords and maybe a Colt, but many Tebows.

Tripp, you got any draft rankings/ratings/grades for this year?

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

I would agree last year was a fairly strong crop. This years to me, there is are no Bradfords and maybe a Colt, but many Tebows.

Tripp, you got any draft rankings/ratings/grades for this year?

This was a bit hastily thrown together, so it probably will change a lot. It's info-packed, but probably not as accurate as I like and relies on conventional wisdom/common opinion more than I usually do since I've had about half as much time as last year to look at film cutups.

The Post Combine Mega-NFL Draft Post, Players by Round « LiveBall Sports

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

This was a bit hastily thrown together, so it probably will change a lot. It's info-packed, but probably not as accurate as I like and relies on conventional wisdom/common opinion more than I usually do since I've had about half as much time as last year to look at film cutups.

The Post Combine Mega-NFL Draft Post, Players by Round « LiveBall Sports

Good stuff. Got me thinking that the Oline has some talent in there that not getting talked about. If you pulled a Vinny-Zorn special and had 3 2nd round picks, instead of getting all recievers, you could probably walk away 3 high-ceiling potential starters up front.