The thing with busted first round quarterbacks is for the most part the reason they didn't succeed in the pros was predicted before they were drafted...it just wasn't heeded.
I mean even look at Peyton Manning. People questioned his ability to win "the big game" because he never beat UF. He still hasn't really won "the big game" and people have for the most part forgotten that he got that reputation in college. His NFL record deserves the rep tho until he proves us wrong.
Meanwhile you've got Ryan Leaf, who had a rep coming out of college for being very immature. In the NFL he was destroyed because of that and not being able to read NFL defenses.
Drew Brees, HUGE knock on him for his size and armstrength, and he's yet to overcome those obstacles.
Jim Druckenmiller, too dumb to grasp an NFL offense and understand what defenses are throwing at him prior to the snap.
Heath Shuler, noodle arm.
Gino Toretta??? Dude he wasn't even drafted very high at all.
All these guys have weaknesses I guess, the key is figuring out which guys' weaknesses you can ignore and which you can't. Rivers it seems like has everything going for him except the ability to gain yardage running, that whacky side-arm throw of his, and armstrength. But those can be BIG in the NFL, or they could not be big. One thing you know about him is that things in the NFL are not going to be easy. He doesn't have the ability to be a scrambling threat (and you say, thats not necessary, and you're right, but its awefully nice to have in the arsenal), he can't paint the entire field with a cannon arm (and you say, thats not necessary, and you're right, but its awefully nice to have in the arsenal), and there is the possibility that his side-arm action will get passes batted down. Will coaches leave that alone or try to change it? I personally think they should leave it alone. His extremely quick release and superb height SHOULD IMO counter-act the low release point...so I don't think that will be too much of a factor. But after that with his lack of armstrength and mobility you gotta understand that the kid has to be better at reading defenses and picking his throws than a Donovan McNabb, Mike Vick, or even Brett Favre...in order to make it.
Losman worries me because there's underlying attitude issues that are controversial...some think they exist and others do not. Reminds me of Cade McNown. He also takes a lot of sacks, and you don't want that to become a habit in the NFL because sacks are drive killers especially in Norv's offense. He's taken so many hits, and his size is not that great despite what some have said, so how many more hits can he take? His foot mechanics are bad. Can he learn good foot mechanics and maintain concentration on the field? His OL may have been bad in college but that only shows what he will do in the face of an NFL passrush because in the NFL things move a lot faster....and that is one of the chief obstacles to a good college QB becoming a good pro. So I would say Losman has that going for him, you can probably project his pro success from his college success a little better.
But his team did not win very often, if I'm not mistaken...and I wonder overall how efficient he made that offense.
