Ever since the Patriots were tabbed with the third overall pick in next month’s draft, opinions on how to best use it have flown all over New England.
Trade down and stockpile picks.
Those are the three most popular options, and most believe strongly as to which road should be taken. But there’s one ideology that seems to be gaining steam that is hard to understand, and it’s been espoused by many national pundits. The Patriots shouldn’t take a quarterback because the roster isn’t ready for one.
When did this mentality become mainstream? When did a certain level of team-wide talent become a prerequisite for drafting a quarterback?
In reality, this logic is counterintuitive. The vast majority of teams picking near the top of the draft do so for a reason: they’re not good enough to win games. Does that mean those teams shouldn’t pick quarterbacks because the rosters aren’t ready for them?
That’s what ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky suggested with regard to the Patriots. Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf should look elsewhere because the current roster isn’t ready to support a rookie signal caller trying to make his way into the league. It’s an absurd notion that somehow seems to be generating some support.
The Bengals were the worst team in football in 2020 when they chose Joe Burrow. Two years later they were in the Super Bowl. The Texans were in the bottom five last year before taking C.J. Stroud. Now they’re AFC South champs.
Those two rosters weren’t all that different from what the Patriots have now. Both teams had holes to fill, and both watched talented quarterbacks fill them effectively while lifting those around them.
There are other examples like the 2-14 Colts in 2011 that suddenly were a playoff team with rookie Andrew Luck in 2012. Baker Mayfield inherited an 0-16 roster and was in the playoffs by his third season. Even the Jags were a playoff team in Year 2 of the Trevor Lawrence era. These teams didn’t have any fewer questions before quarterbacks solidified their operations.
Obviously, there are countless examples where the quarterback doesn’t pan out. Bryce Young struggled badly as a rookie in Carolina last season. Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold and Mitch Trubisky are just three recent examples of quarterbacks going to struggling teams and failing to excel.
An argument could be made that those failures were due more to the individuals than the lack of support around them. The Jets in particular possessed a solid foundation of talent around Wilsonand yet still the former second overall pick failed to live up to expectations.
This notion that it’s silly for the Patriots to take a quarterback because the roster isn’t strong enough to handle it is just that – silly. Evaluate the players and make decisions based on those evaluations. If the scouting work suggests that Drake Maye (of whichever quarterback is available at 3) is worthy of selection, the Patriots should sprint to the podium with their draft card and get started on developing their new franchise centerpiece. If not, then Mayo and Wolf should look in a different direction.
But having enough pieces in place around the quarterback should not be a determining factor. In reality, the Patriots wouldn’t be picking third if that kind of talent existed in the first place.
Cha-cha-changes
2024-03-28 03:33:57
#Drafting #Quarterback #Roster
