I put Nick Saban on the hook for both Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees because I'm a realist.
Theorists will come out of the woodwork and point out that 21 teams had a shot at Aaron Rodgers and didn't pull the trigger. How fun for you to operate in the not-real world.
As a realist I recognize that in reality only the teams that need a quarterback are going to be looking at a quarterback. Not all of those 21 teams will have been in a position where quarterback prospects were staring them right in the face. It's the reason Rodgers fell to 24 in the first place.
Can you get on all those teams's case for not taking a QB even though the guys they had were undoubtedly worse than Rodgers (since he's probably the best ever)? Sure. Here were the QB situations among the teams that passed:
49ers: Took Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers
Dolphins: Gus Frerotte/Sage Rosenfels
Browns: Trent Dilfer/Charlie Frye
Bears: Kyle Orton/Rex Grossman
Buccaneers: Chris Simms/Brian Griese
Titans: Steve McNair
Vikings: Daunte Culpepper
Cardinals: Kurt Warner/Josh McCown
Redskins: Mark Brunell/Patrick Ramsey
Lions: Joey Harrington/Jeff Garcia
Cowboys: Drew Bledsoe
Chargers: Drew Brees/Phil Rivers
Saints: Aaron Brooks
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Chiefs: Trent Green
Texans: David Carr
Bengals: Carson Palmer
Vikings: Daunte Culpepper
Rams: Marc Bulger
Cowboys: Drew Bledsoe
Jaguars: Byron Leftwich/David Garrard
Ravens: Kyle Boller
Raiders: Kerry Collins
Using the benefit of hindsight, obviously many of these teams look silly for passing on Aaron Rodgers. But I maintain that Miami looks one of the silliest. Many of the QBs above had established themselves to some extent, and some were taken high and were still being given chances to prove themselves.
To that point in his career, Sage Rosenfels had only been a #3 quarterback. He had only ever thrown 48 passes. Gus Frerotte was a 34 year old, 11 year NFL veteran who had a total of 64 starts. He was a career backup who had only crested 60+ percent completion twice in his 11 year career, had thrown 77 touchdowns and 66 interceptions, and whose shining moment was spraining his own neck banging his head against a wall in celebration after throwing a touchdown.
Up until days before that draft day fall, Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith were widely considered neck and neck for that #1 overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers themselves had decided against Rodgers, admittedly, in part because head coach Mike Nolan didn't like Aaron's personality. Otherwise they had the two neck and neck as well.
In the various specials that have been done coming out of the fall to 24, many of the teams admitted they simply never considered that he would be available when they picked, and it was too hard to make a draft day switching of gears to going from attempting to get a guy that could help them win right now, to taking a QB that might sit the bench for a year behind the guy they had in mind to start.
But none of this applies to Miami because they were #2 overall and knew they were going to get a crack at Aaron Rodgers or Alex Smith, and they knew that their only QB option outside of one of those prospects was a literal 11-year career backup who had his chance as a starter and quite frankly wasn't any good.
Mind you, other teams DO absolutely have egg on their face here. But why should I care? Their bad decisions don't excuse Miami's bad decision. The fact of the matter is, Nick Saban still got a crack at TWO Hall of Fame quarterbacks in TWO off-seasons, both of which came around at a time when Miami was in CRITICAL need of a quarterback, and he passed on both of them!
That's what I won't forgive. Don't @ me with a bunch of crap about how many teams could've taken Tom Brady or Russell Wilson. The realists out there know how those situations differed.
