For bad teams in the NFL, one solution seems to come to all; draft a quarterback with your first-round pick and everything will solve itself. This belief, however, has proved itself to be incorrect year after year, with many teams struggling to improve with their highly-selected, and well-paid, passers. The crux of the problem? Drafting a quarterback is just not as important to team improvement as general managers and draft experts perpetuate them to be.
Most seasoned football fans should realize that the best teams are built from the lines out. Meaning that once the offensive and defensive lines have been solidified, then only will the specialty players perform at their best. A quarterback, in particular, depends on many other of his teammates for success. He cannot complete passes without a reliable receiver to catch them. He cannot fool defenses with play action passes without a steady running game to support him. And most of all, he won’t have enough time to make plays without an offensive line able to protect him consistently.
So why is it, then, that terrible teams with holes all across the board decide to stick inexperienced and young passers into a flawed system? Last year, the Detroit Lions, a team that finished 0-16 in 2008, selected Matthew Stafford with the first pick despite having a terrible offensive line. What happened? Stafford throws twenty interceptions and misses six games, at two different points in the season, due to injuries. In other words, he was hung out to dry and paid for it.
The point here is when a team decides to make an investment in such an important position, they should be sure they can protect it first. It is no coincidence that the teams that have success with first-round quarterbacks (such as the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers, and San Diego Chargers) are teams that were fringe playoff teams that suffered one down year because of injuries. Those teams had the personnel to win games before they drafted their passers. Teams like the Lions and the Cleveland Browns don’t.
And it isn’t like the only way to acquire a franchise signal-caller is through the first round either. The Houston Texans traded for Matt Schaub after their first-round fiasco, David Carr, failed to pan out and found success.
So my advice to the St. Louis Rams and Browns, the two teams most likely to erroneously select a quarterback, is don’t do it. Focus on your other weaknesses and fill all the holes you have, and success should eventually come.
