Funny how a dominant and overbearing personality like Parcells gets no blame. Until last yr Ireland was an understudy and did not have final say. Obviously he had some influence, but BP was in charge and had final say on every move.
I will judge Ireland starting with his draft last yr and this upcoming yr. He has done well so far.
With respect to finding a 'franchise QB', in many cases it takes nothing more than pure luck and timing. The Pats stumbled onto Tom Brady. How much of a genius is Irsay? His dad was in position to draft Elway(he refused to play for them). Irsay Jr was in position to draft Manning (a no brainer) and now Luck. Is the Colts FO brilliant or lucky?
The only major QB decision Ireland had any role in, was choosing Jake Long over Ryan and passing on Mallett. I personally don't feel Ryan is an elite QB and Mallett is/was a gamble due to character concerns, so I can't fault him for either move.
The big mistakes were made by Wannstadt (Jamar Fletcher over Drew Brees) and Saban (Brown over Rodgers). Both of which had nothing to do with Ireland.
Well, had stayed out of this thread but this point keeps rearing its ugly head, so will address it:
What about Ireland's "first" year was acceptable? He passed on multiple quarterbacks, he overdrafted a center(and we saw just how impactful that position is), he drafted a running back who ran upright and had problems fumbling who promptly fumbled the ball and injured himself, payed Marc Colombo 2 million dollars, and he attempted to not only give Kyle Orton a bigger contract than what Matt Flynn got but also tried to give draft picks away for a player who is currently warming the bench.
But wait, all of that is somehow awesome because he traded for Bush and brought in a former Dallas Cowboy linebacker who finally worked for a change.
All of that was done, of course, before the howling disaster that is the 2012 offseason.
Im not sure how anyone can objectively look at last years offseason, in its entirety, and feel pleased about the direction of this team under Jeff Ireland. I know people are rightly disturbed about this offseason.
And for the record, the only quarterback Jeff Ireland couldnt get in the 2011 draft was Cam Newton. The majority of teams picking from 6-10 were attempting to trade back. Cleveland and Washington succeeded. And that ignores Ireland passing on Pro-bowler Andy Dalton.
Ireland felt that Chad Henne was a franchise quarterback, that Kyle Orton was a franchise quarterback, that Dalton and others in the 2011 were not starting quarterbacks. He currently feels Matt Moore can be a starting quarterback. Why should we feel confident about how Jeff Ireland views the quarterback position?
