You’re not just drafting a quarterback, you’re drafting a controversy too!

Congratulations are in order for Detroit, New York and Tampa Bay. These franchises didn’t just get the 3 least versatile athletes in the first round of the NFL draft. The selections of Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez, and Josh Freemen aren’t simply unproven players who can only play the most expensive/slowest-developing position with the lowest success rate in pro football. With drafting a quarterback in an early round, in the NFL draft, you also get the built in headache of constant questions about when the rookie is going to “start”. I’m writing this two days after the picks have been made and that question has already been posed to all 3 player and all 3 head coaches multiple times. Of course the current prevailing theory on rookie quarterbacks, according to people who talk about football in the media, is that they need to sit and learn from a veteran. For the record, all 3 teams seem to have veteran starters in place. However, this situation usually only fans the flames of conservatory. If the vet is perseeved to play poorly early, then there is a clamor to get the young guy some “experience”. The “talking heads”/fans, usually start using this argument when the team is losing, which means that most of what the rookie QB will experience is: “what it’s like to suck”. The “learning on the job” approach does stop the “when will he start” questions, but unless he’s the .0001% that’s actually ready that young (Dan Marino/Matt Ryan) or the .01% that’s ready enough to be on a great team (Ben Rothesberger/Joe Flacco) then you run the risk of getting the “bust” talk going. If the vet is successful as the starter, you get the “who’s the QB long-term” questions. You have that question because you have the legitimate problem of who to play, the guy who’s proven you can win with him or the kid you’re paying more money to, in order to sit on the bench? Then you’re being badgered with the question “why did you draft a guy so high when you already had a good quarterback?” Which is a good question, because any weakness your team has, could have probably been helped by a guy you could have drafted instead of the kid you’re paying pro-bowl money to for him to hold a clip-board. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t draft a quarterback in the first round, I’m just saying that this what you should expect when you do