The Packers are getting fleeced if they're still paying Favre $10 million for this season. It also goes without saying that the Falcons are getting fleeced.
I have to say on Beck, I was not following anything other than fingerpaints and applesauce when the Fins drafted Marino, so I was not around to see what the atmosphere was like the last time we drafted a high round rookie QB...but I have to think there's something different about this climate with John Beck, a sense of knowing, rather than a sense of wondering or even worse, a sense of frustrated waiting. This guy has too much support around the league from guys in-the-know on quarterbacks.
Chris Mortenson has 7 GMs and Head Coaches he commonly approaches about QB predictions because he says they've proven themselves very accurate over the last decade or so in predicting which QBs would pan out and which wouldn't. They all spoke highly of John Beck as a potential first rounder. Now you may say, ok why didn't anyone draft him in the first? Well, keep in mind this is a gaggle of guys that supposedly know what they're doing at the QB position...what are the chances that any of their respective teams are really hurting at QB?
Then you've got the roundtable discussion with Gil Brandt, Ken Herock and Charlie Casserly. Herock got poop-canned from Atlanta, Casserly by Houston by way of Washington, and Brandt I think just sort of retired from the Cowboys to take up an easier journalist career. Anywho they all disagreed with each other all over the board about Miami's draft picks and off season. But at the very end of the article, in one single inoccuous sentence...all three agreed that John Beck is going to be a good pro QB.
Then of course you've got Mueller. Famous for having brought in Delhomme, Bulger, and Aaron Brooks to New Orleans. I don't think he drafted Rick Mirer but he sure did trade him to Wannstedt for a first rounder. Obviously, Mueller was on board with the John Beck pick, whatever that is worth.
And then you've got Cameron. The list of QBs he's been involved with and players at that position is just staggering. From Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, Elvis Grbac at Michigan, Todd Collins at Michigan, to having played against little old Trent Green of Indiana and then personally recommending him to Norv Turner in Washington, Gus Frerotte in Washington, then to Randle El at Indiana and what he did with that program, to recent history with Drew Brees and Phil Rivers...if there's something Cameron knows it is QBs. This guy was all-aboard with Beck too.
Sometimes you wonder if Beck is maybe a bit too nerdy to get along with the modern football player...he's a goody mormon from BYU, film junky, spends his time working on playbook quizzes with his wife...but then you watch him interact with Lorenzo Booker at that Topps football card photo shoot and you hear some testimony from players at BYU...and this guy seems to hold his own fine with the teammates.
And then you've got the practices. At first he had trouble managing the game and the playbook, for obvious reasons. Had some issues with clock management as a result. Also had some issues with the humidity, hard to get use to. But all the while he never looked BAD at any mini-camp. He started feeling more comfortable to where, by the end of mini camps, he started making a few plays that caught some peoples' attention. Then during break, he studies the playbook like crazy and by the rookie training camp everyone is marveling how he has mastered it. He looks good on the first day, then you start to see some trouble he's having on both the first day and the second day recognizing coverage schemes quickly...and by the third day, by all reports he was hot.
And then you ask people about John Beck. Trent Green speaks glowingly about him. Cameron keeps talking about his accuracy, when asked about the (rather unheralded) rookie receivers making an impact right away in rookie camp, first thing Cameron says is that the quarterbacks were real accurate with the ball and that makes all the difference in the world. Ted Ginn's comments on Beck were real interesting, says that he's a guy that could close his eyes and rifle the ball at you and it would come like he's still looking at you, he's that accurate...then talks about how the guy walks through the facility every day getting to know the whole place and working extra, trying to be the best.
You watch the thing unfold and as it unfolds some more you keep trying to ask yourself...is this a mirage? Is this something normal for rookie QBs? Did Ravens fans feel this way about Kyle Boller's start to his career, or did Cleveland fans feel the same about Tim Couch's start? Do they feel that way now about Quinn? Did the Jets fans have this sense about Kellen Clemens?
Like I said, this is a bit of a new experience for us that weren't around during Marino's rookie season, so we don't have much to compare it to...but I have to think at this point that what we're watching is the early growth and unfolding of a success story at the QB position.
