The Junkyard

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reservoir_dawg said...

I'm sure some will disagree with me, but I will never understand why anyone would draft Brandon Weeden in the first round as Cleveland did last night. I would be irate as a Browns fan, to go from what I personally think is a great pick with Richardson, to a mind-blowingly bad pick with Weeden.

Someone needs to tell the Browns front office that a 28 year old completely inexperienced NFL QB has very little value. I just don't see how an NFL front-office wouldn't shy away from him, for some of the following reasons:

1) Brandon Weeden is older than Aaron Rodgers. Brandon Weeden has 7 less years of NFL experience than Aaron Rodgers. Think about that for a minute. NFL QB isn't a position you just step into and excel at (I'll get to that in a minute). You're drafting a guy who will be 30 in his second season. Granted, he's not a running back, but QBs age in their 30s as well. 2) Dana Holgorsen's QBs all put up ridiculous numbers. Dana Holgorsen should be credited with two offenses in college football - the one he built at Oklahoma State and the one he runs at West Virginia. The stat lines between Brandon Weeden and Geno Smith at WVU are almost identical last season. Geno Smith threw for 8.34 yds/att while Weeden through for 8.38. Weeden had a 159 passer rating, Geno Smith a 152. Weeden was 37/13 TD to INT and Smith was 31/7. Smith threw for 4400 yards, Weeden for 4700. The year before, Geno Smith was a 2700 yd passer. Brandon Weeden owes a call to Dana Holgorsen for making somebody draft him so highly. 3) QBs are almost never successful in the NFL right away. The one guy that everyone points to now after last season is Cam Newton. Cam Newton was phenomenal as a rookie, but still middle of the pack. He was the 15th ranked QB by efficiency rating. He had effectively a 1:1 TD to INT ratio. His team won only a few games. He also is a completely different athlete than Brandon Weeden and he still wasn't exactly the best in the league. 99.99% of QBs take a few years to become decent QBs. Lets look at the top guys: Peyton Manning - was bad the first year, but was good from year two on. Aaron Rodgers - didn't play substanital minutes until year 4. Drew Brees -didn't have a year above the 70s in QB efficiency until year 4. Tom Brady - was good in year 2. Matt Stafford - year 3 was his breakout(obvious injury issues too). Matt Schaub - didn't find a starting position until year 4. Eli Manning - had a breakout season in year 5. Big Ben - great in year 1. Phillip Rivers - year 3 was when he took off.

These are the best QBs in the league (just off the top of my head) and the vast majority of them took several years. If Weeden follows the normal progresion and doesn't blossom until year 3 or 4, you're talking about having a QB finally ready at the age of 32. What kind of value does that guy have for a franchise that needs to build? And that's assuming that he's even as good as the top guys in the first place.

I just don't understand it at all. I'm sure Weeden is a nice guy and wish him the best, but he's a waste of a first round pick.

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