You mean like the guy who is the closest comparable to him, Josh Allen? He was crap his first two years and now he's borderline MVP every season. Who cares if he sucked for 2 years, every team who picked ahead of Buffalo would trade multiple 1sts to get him and have him suck for 2 years in the last 5 years.
Yep, agreed.
This idea that a top 5 pick has to come in and pay off immediately is incorrect IMO. The number of top 5 picks who are immediately superstars in the first two years is microscopic. Sauce and Chase are the only 2 who stepped into the league as superstars.
Totally agreed.
It's all a moot point now, it just feels like a missed opportunity.
Maybe. Here's my take.
1. I have a very strong sense than John understands special QB talent. And at #5 and #20 overall, we were in a position to really corner the trade market if one of these three were that caliber of player. We didn't. And I think it speaks more to what John really thought about the class in general.
2. If he wasn't enamored with any of the QBs, then I think he absolutely did the right thing to pass on them and continue to build the rest of the roster. Getting the team and roster prepared to plug and play a franchise QB is absolutely a good way to build a SB contender. And the last two drafts are shaping up to be some of our finest -- without question they are the best back to back drafts we've seen from this group.
We really don't know how the next couple years will unfold. We are thankfully, in a position to build up the team. With a QB who showed quality, but is still on what amounts to a prove it deal. And teams that are strong across the board, with a lot of young offensive talent -- are very attractive to any QBs that may happen to reach the open market.
It's not a given that our future franchise QB is even going to be a rookie. We at least have the pieces in place to go get a great QB either via trade or UFA if the opportunity arises. Admittedly it's rare. But it does happen about every 3-5 years. And if we're strong across the board, then having to spend the 2-3 1st round picks to move up 20-25 spots to get the guy we really want is far less painful.
The main takeaway I see, is that we have opened up our opportunities outside of just drafting a rookie. And best case, if Geno really has just flipped the switch and continues to be a top 10 QB -- then we basically have him in the fold at pretty much market rate for the next three years.
We are ideally suited to aggressively pursue whatever form our QB going forward presents itself. That is pretty much perfect IMO.