Knowing Mac, he would have taken Trubisky, or if there was a QB worse than Hack in that draft, he would have taken him.
The NFL - really all sports - are subject to the effects of "group think", where everyone agrees on what reality is, even if it's 180 degrees opposite of the factual reality. This is how they can completely dismiss any QB from an Air Raid system out of hand, without looking at the individual on his own merits. There are thousands of similar cases, though most are much less egregious fails. I still maintain that anyone who objectively looked at Mahomes, they would've easily predicted his subsequent success, but the problem was that most teams couldn't break out of the group think.
DO you (or anyone) know how DJ Metcalf ended up at pick 64? Was there an off field issue with him, or injury, or something? Usually hot WRs like that stick out like a sore thumb. I don't remember.
Wow. That sounds like the "experts". A 6' 3", 220 pound guy with a body builder physique runs a 4.3 forty and their concerned with his lateral quickness. lol
I just posted a comment in the Boozer32's thread in reply to BellysLies who noted that most of the great NFL QBs have not been #1 picks. My response agreed with that, and I proposed that if it hasn't already been done, someone should compile a list of all the traits shared by great NFL QBs. I'm betting that no GM - of very few of them - has done this. But I believe that if there were such a list that you'd be able to more accurately identify the college QBs most likely to succeed by how closely they shared these traits. And I don't think W/L record, or many of the other current measurements would be at the top of that list. I believe arm strength, as well as accuracy would be two of the highest. And somewhere near the top would be a "never give up" attitude - and I don't mean the run of the mill persistence, I mean "I'm going to literally die trying to win" attitude. I'm sure there other traits but these would be high on the list. All this is to say that current evaluation criteria are out of whack. They're measuring only what they can easily quantify, as opposed to what really matters, even if it's hard to measure.
Sadly, NCJ, you may be right. I still cannot believe taking Christian Hackenberg in the 2nd. Dwayne Crutchfield and a bunch of others are off the hook.
I disagree, and when I post the links to the articles you'll see how tough the decision was. I believe the Tribune piece on Trubiskey had 50% of the "experts" saying he was the prefererred pick. For every guy convinced that someone can "make it" as a franchise QB, there are 2 or 3 guys less sure or even doubtful the guy can even be a competent QB.
Here ya go....if site blockers come up, usually hitting the PRINT option overrides it and you can read it in that format: The Trubiskey Choice: https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...0191112-mkiclk4l4jb3bndxf7azbtdw6m-story.html The Sam Darnold Choice: https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/05/16/new-york-jets-sam-darnold-2018-draft The Pat Mahomes Choice: https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/01/27/s...l&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=themmqb
Thanks. Interesting reading. But frankly, the first article, about Trubisky, actually made my case: The two best QBs to come out that year (and really the best since LUCK at least) had the qualities that I've noted in several posts recently that set the great QBs apart, and which most scouts and "experts" don't value highly: Like what Texans GM Rick Smit said about Watson: "“In clutch moments, in big games, in games that really meant everything — national championship games, big ACC games — the guy came through,” O’Brien told reporters during the draft. “When the chips were down, he was able to lead his team to victory. That says a lot about a quarterback.”. Or what the CHiefs GM, Brett Veach, said about Mahomes: "..uncanny arm talent, improvisational skills, and bravado..." There's a lot more other comments about both that touch on the same traits that both have: tremendous self-confidence, leadership skills, and physical ability to back it all up. The reason that Mahomes is doing somewhat better than Watson is because he's in a better situation, but also because he has an absolutely elite arm compared to Watson's simply above average arm. But very few scouts were looking at these traits, or if they did, they were secondary or even tertiary traits. Most of the "experts" quoted about Trubisky and Mahomes and Watson, were basing their assessments on numbers, and not on first hand observations or direct interviews with them and their teammates - unless you're a GM whose job it is to potentially draft somebody you're not going to be doing that deep a dive into them. But it's clear from the article that the Bears GM, Pace, had for some reason locked onto Trubisky early. It doesn't say this anywhere, but some of the comments made by Pace might reveal a big ego, and desire to prove himself to be the "smartest guy in the room" by picking Trubisky. But none of the "name" analysts did any in-depth study of these guys, beyond looking at stats and watching some video, maybe seeing them live at a game or two. With that limited data, it's really hard to see those other, more important (IMO) traits that set Mahomes and Watson apart. All those articles did for me was to reinforce my belief that most "experts" are influenced by group think, and are paid whether they're right or wrong, so for them it's much better and safer to go with the crowd. But the articles were entertaining.
It was a horrible call and we have 0-11 to prove it. We could have just went with Teddy until we found our QB of the future.
All the more reason we need the Johnsons to sell the team to someone who knows the sport of football.
Bridgewater should have been the starting QB that season. They got a former Pro Bowl QB on the cheap and, after decades of searching for a QB, they should have actually let him compete for the job in camp even with the supposed "franchise" QB waiting in the wings.
