Sports
Drafting the right signal caller is risky at best Overtime Ed Daniels
The right decision at quarterback can make a franchise. It happened here, in 2006, when the Saints took a chance on a young quarterback coming off major shoulder surgery. The wrong decision at quarterback can set a franchise back for years. Just ask the Chicago Bears, who selected North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky with the second pick in the 2017 draft. The Bears, to trade up one spot, swapped picks with the San Francisco 49ers.
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Chicago also sent San Francisco two third round picks, and a fourth round selection. To be fair to Trubisky, he did not have a great supporting cast around him. In 2021, he will serve as Josh Allen’s backup in Buffalo. In that 2017 draft, eight picks after Trubisky, the Chiefs selected Patrick Mahomes. Two picks after Mahomes, the Houston Texans selected DeShaun Watson. In the 2018 draft, Cleveland selected Baker Mayfield with the first pick. But, despite Mayfield’s solid play in 2020, if there was a re-draft, Mayfield would be picked third behind Josh Allen of Buffalo and Lamar Jackson of Baltimore. In that draft, the third pick, Sam Darnold, is on his second team, and the 10th pick Josh Rosen, is on his fourth. In 2019, Arizona selected Kyler Murray with the first pick, and struck gold. Murray made the Pro Bowl a year later, throwing 26 touchdown passes, and running for 11 more. But, that draft also included the Giants’ Daniel Jones, picked sixth, who has struggled mightily. The 15th pick in that same draft, Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins was cut by Washington, and is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2020, Joe Burrow was off to a promising start with Cincinnati (13 TD, five interceptions) before suffering a season ending knee injury in his 10th game. Four picks later, the Dolphins drafted Tua Tagavailoa, who completed 64 percent of his throws with 11 TD’s and five interceptions. But, the star of the quarterback class of 2020, was picked sixth. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert threw for 4,336 yards, 31 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. Herbert threw for a season high four touchdown passes in an October 12, Monday night game against the Saints. In 2016, the first two picks in the draft were quarterbacks, Jared Goff to the Rams, and Carson Wentz to the Eagles. Both the Rams and Eagles paid heavily in draft picks to move up to the first two spots. This offseason, Goff was traded to the Lions, and Wentz to the Colts. With the 135th pick of that same draft, the Cowboys selected NFL offensive rookie of the year Dak Prescott of Mississippi State. In March, Prescott agreed to a new four-year contract with $126 million in guaranteed money. In the upcoming draft, the Saints could spend a mid-round pick on a quarterback, but if they desire to trade up to the top of the draft, the cost could be exorbitant. And, history tells us getting the right signal caller in the draft is a very mixed bag. BC
