Drayton McLane signed two high-priced free agent pitchers (Doug Drabek and Greg Swindell) which led him to conclude high-priced free agent pitchers were to be avoided at all costs. Season after season of watching his starting pitching fail to win in the postseason finally convinced him to try again in 2004 with the signings of Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens.
I suspect Bob McNair learned from the David Carr fiasco that you can't succeed with a first-round QB instead of learning that rookie QBs need offensive lines to be successful. For years we took DL's because "we have to get to Peyton Manning" now we draft WRs because "we have to open up the offense".
This is not a good year to reach for a QB in the draft. I don't even like the ones projected to go in the top of the draft with the possible exception of Deshaun Watson. IMO, we need offensive linemen and I would start with Utah OT Garrett Bolles if he checks out at the combine from where the draft experts put him. He's lean and raw and can start out at RT or LG while being developed to replace Duane Brown.
Hopefully, Nick Martin makes a full recovery and we will be able to plug him into the line. We can't develop a young QB without blockers and whether we're doomed to another year of Osweiler or not, we can be building the line that protects the next QB as Dallas has done.
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