[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Let's pause for a moment and remember who was in the Super Bowl last year and how they got their starting quarterbacks. Did either draft them in the first round? No. The year before, did either Super Bowl team draft their quarterback in the first round? No. The year before that, did either Super Bowl team draft their quarterback in the first round? Yes, one did but the other didn't.

We've had three chances to take a QB at 1/1. In 2002, we took him and got a guy that will never be a championship quarterback. In 2006, we passed up Vince Young and Matt Leinart (and Jay Cutler) for a guy that's no longer with the team. Last year, we passed up Bridgewater, Bortles and Manziel for someone we hope will finally showcase his once-ridiculous talent.

And what of the teams that took Cam Newton, Jamarcus Russell, Sam Bradford, Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan, Alex Smith....any rings?

The guys we have here now know defense wins championships and they're going all in on defense. Yeah, it sucks to have mediocre talent at QB but you can win in the NFL with that until the right QB for the system comes along. And you can get that right guy in trade, or the second round or free agency. In the meantime, we're building a lights-out defense if all the pieces come together.

I'm not giving up this season. We've got a ridiculously easy schedule and we can still be better than .500 if we just beat the teams we should and pull an upset or two. We probably won't get over on the Colts but we can be a playoff team in Year Two with the talent we have if things break right.

Nobody said anything about a 1st round QB. If we have a Tom Brady or a Russel Wilson I'll take it no matter what round they were drafted in. But Mallet is entering year 5 and Hoyer is entering year 7. Wilson and Brady were low draft picks but both were Super Bowl champs and Pro Bowlers by year 5. Hoyer and Mallett are what they are and the existence of two great QBs not taken in round 1 doesn't change that.