Quote:
Originally Posted by 53Fan
You say if Clausen busts, what have we lost, just a single 1rst round pick. But if Okung is only "good", what good was the #4 pick then? I would rather have a good player than a bust. I think you may have been a little biased there.
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Pocket mentioned the same thing you said below about missing at #4 sets the franchise back 5 years. What I was trying to point out was that no matter who we pick at #4 there's a chance he could not live up to expectations. Then where are we?
Look at some of our recent high picks that haven't lived up to expectations:
- Carlos Rogers
- Landry
- Sean Taylor (IMO, he would've. RIP)
I don't think these picks set us back 5 years. Had these guys been more productive we would've been in better position, but they haven't destroyed the franchise. If Okung turns out to be just good, not Pro Bowl level, but our expectation at #4 is Pro Bowl, we lost some value at the pick but it doesn't cripple the franchise (I believe Okung will be a Pro Bowl level player within 2-3 years)
In our situation, if we draft Clausen and he's a Matt Leinart, what have we lost. We didn't make a massive trade ala the Bears for Cutler, which will cripple their franchise for years if he has another season like last year. We won't have given up any promising players to move up to get Clausen. If we don't trade Campbell we still have a starting QB, although one with limitations. A miss on Clausen at 4 will realisitcally hurt us for a couple of years at that position. If he doesn't pan out, we're still in the same position we have been since Joe T., looking for the franchise QB.
Every team and situation is different, for a team that's rebuilding around a highly drafted QB and they miss, I think it could take 5 years to recover. Had Manning busted in Indy, they would've been in bad shape. SD was a mess after Leaf. But that's not our situation today.