Drafting a QB is gambling on a young kid.
Yes you can help him and devellop him (Alex Smith, Josh Allen, even T.Lawrence).
You have some day 1 gems : Justin Herbert, RG3
And you have Manziel, J.Russel, Josh Rosen or Ryan Leaf.
Id say im happy thinking we landed a middle of the pack QB with a middle of the pack first round pick.
Andy Dalton kept going to the playoffs, Blake Bortles and Tebow went to AFC championship (i dont know who let them in).
If we can field a top 5 D with a fine rushing attack, Pickett can go to the playoffs too !
Correction. For every Big Ben, there is a Trey Lance, Rick Mirer, and Ryan Leaf.
Johnny Manziel’s draft position is more similar to Kenny Pickett’s. Manziel was #22 overall and Pickett was #20.
At that point and later? You are kind of taking a flier. Sometimes it works out(Hurts, Jackson) but oft times it doesn’t.
Pickett is a “yet to be determined” in my book. I am rooting for the kid, I support him as our starting quarterback, but I am not prepared to commit either way as to his future.
By the way? Bortles was #5 overall…so he was more comparable to the Big Ben crowd. I know that Ben was #11, but 2004 was a weirdly strong year for quarterbacks and in a different draft, he could’ve been possibly a #1 overall.
Anyway…sorry…I got off topic. Yes… drafting a QB is ALWAYS a roll of the dice. Even though NCAA programs have gotten better at preparing quarterbacks for the NFL, Professional Football is a totally different animal.
It’s difficult to predict how a rookie is going to handle not only the speed of the game, level of player athleticism and knowledge, and the insane level of coaching and game planning all designed to make you look like a fool until you get enough experience to recognize those things…
It is also a matter of the mental strain of expectations, fickle fans, a massive playbook…and media attention that most have never seen before.
Of course, every first round rookie goes through this to a certain extent, but every other position is part of a group…the OL, the pass catchers(TE/WR), etc.
Quarterbacks are on an Island in that regard. They are the field general of the Offense and the guy that touches the ball on every single offensive play.
That’s a LOT of shit to deal with as a young man and damn near impossible for a team to predict who will thrive, who will fail and who will become an Andy Dalton type…a valuable asset to the team…but not elite.