The Greg Cosell thread in the Draft Forum is a good common sense listen. He makes the comment that "transcendent QBs" are very rare. These are QBs that can operate in any system and be elite. As he points out, the majority of QBs drafted in the NFL need the right system to excel. And therefore, the most important aspect to selecting a QB is matching the right QB to your system.
Bill Walsh once said that "Joe Montana was a product of the system. Dan Marino was the system".
I think we've lost sight of just how rare Dan Marino was as a talent.
Cosell goes on to state that Mahomes is such a talent (Marino). But that most QBs that play in the NFL are products of their system.
For me, I think the common sense approach to finding a franchise QB is to first identify "What is our system?".
Until you answer that question, nothing truly matters with boards and rankings. Otherwise, you are just comparing each QB to some rarely attainable transcendent criteria.
And now you start to see why teams that truly build around their QB are the ones that maximize their longevity with a QB. Once you draft a QB, commit to him; build around him.
I think any "taking a flier" comment truly reveals you don't know what you are looking for in a QB. And, as such, any player you pick around him is NOT part of a larger design. It is simply evaluating talent for talent's sake without considering the design you are placing them in to succeed.
You have a plan that doesn't transfer from paper to the field. And you have players on the field that don't translate to the paper.
The Patriots were so consistent because they built around Tom Brady and continued to accent him with weapons that took advantage of his abilities and hid his weaknesses.
Every Phin Fan knows the formula to defeat Tom Brady, yet few teams employed it better than us on a consistent basis: Pressure. Rattle his cage and you rattle his game.
Brady did well in game winning situations, but the pressure was the real determinant. Even in crunch time, rattle his cage.
So, as we look to the draft, remember it is NOT about rankings based on some perfect unattainable set of standards. It is matching a QB to our system OR developing a system to match the QB.
And I don't think we've seen the last of Rosen.
We will draft a QB, but I think this year will be about finding what we have in Rosen as we groom a rookie. I think last year's game exposure and general comments leaked to the public were all part of grooming Rosen for his real chance this year.
Make no mistake, we will draft a QB. But if we don't match the QB to our system or build a system to match the QB, it will fail.