Unfortunately, you have to. May not seem like a good bet, but you can't win in this league without a top QB. On the other hand, if you can fill a stadium every other Sunday with a mediocre team, you can be happy with that.
Eli was actually drafted first overall in 2004. Rodgers, Ben, and Flacco weren't top 3 picks, but all were taken among the top 24 picks in their years, and were among the first QBs chosen (2nd, 3rd, and 2nd, respectively). Matt Ryan is leading the NFL in YPA and YPC and has a QB rating of 115.1 and was drafted third overall in 2008. Matthew Stafford leads the league in comeback wins and has a QB rating of 99.3 and was drafted first overall in 2009. Sam Bradford is leading the league in completion percentage and has a QB rating of 98.3 and was drafted first overall in 2010. Andrew Luck is definitely having a down year yet still has a 19/8 TD/INT ratio and a QB rating of 93.9 and was drafted first overall in 2012. Dak is a nice story, but he's played exactly 11 NFL games in his career. The only people on your list who could truly be viewed as proven NFL star QBs that are mid-round draftees are Brady and Wilson (and the only knock on Wilson coming out of college was his height), which just shows that the vast majority of later-round QBs pretty much disappear without a trace. If you need a QB and have a chance to land a blue chip prospect I say you do it, and most GMs seem to agree with me.
