Dec 21 2006
Brady Quinn, Brian Brohm… or Matt Schaub?
Today in the Houston Chronicle, columnist John McClain suggests that the Falcons will slap a transition tag on backup QB Matt Schaub, and anyone who wants to sign him away from Atlanta would have to give up a first-round pick.
That sounds like a pretty good deal, don’t you think?
I mean, look at the QBs in this draft right now. You’ve got Brady Quinn, who may or may not be overrated; Troy Smith, whom everyone thinks is too short; Brian Brohm, who comes from a school with a rich history of NFL duds at QB; and JaMarcus Russell, who has a strong arm decent numbers at LSU but will need at least a year or two of seasoning.
Schaub has that seasoning. He also has a live arm, a fairly strong pocket presence, and three years of NFL experience — not necessarily on-the-field experience, no, but anyone who saw his performance against New England last season knows what he’s capable of. You can’t teach a rookie three years of experience. Look at Philip Rivers. He didn’t have any on-field experience the last two years, either, and he’s doing just fine, isn’t he?
The Miami Dolphins could have had Schaub with the 15th overall pick last year, but they decided to be cheap and take Daunte Culpepper with a 2nd-round pick. What a bargain.
There are a lot of teams out there who could use a young QB with a strong arm who can step in and start right now, something most of these prospects probably couldn’t do. For many teams, that may be worth a 1st-round pick — perhaps not a top-five pick, but what if Brady Quinn decides to pull an Eli Manning and tells the team with the top pick (either the Lions or Raiders) that he won’t play for them?
Don’t want to come to Detroit, Mr. Quinn? That’s just fine. We’ll sign Matt Schaub instead and give our pick to the Falcons, who’ll draft Calvin Johnson, and you get to play for Oakland instead. How does that sound?
Matt Millen would probably be crucified for that move, too, but it would be far from the dumbest thing he’s ever done as the Lions’ GM. Granted, this also assumes Schaub stays on the market that long. This year, I don’t think he will…
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Forget whether Schaub is better than the best QBs in the draft, he’s probably better right now than half the QBs starting in the NFL.
Brady Quinn will be exposed in the Sugar Bowl. And LSU’s Jamarcus Russell will provide the contrast so everyone can see what an extroardinary quarterback is really like (I’m betting that many ND fans have only watched ND football this year).
Greetings from Spain, nice blog!!
Don’t know if Quinn is overrated, but let me tell you a Qb that’s extremely overrated, M. Vick. When are the Falcon’s staff realize that Vick is at football what Beckam is at soccer…give Matt Schaub a shot to show what’s he made of!!…
I just watched the Sugar Bowl. I didn’t know who Jarmarcus Russel was before this game; I didn’t even know who LSU’s starting quarterback was. Everyone who watched that game now knows his name. He’s phenomenal talent. It’s more than apparent that he’s a top 5 draft pick, depending upon a team’s needs. Quinn had a good season, but the facts are the facts, in big games against ranked opponents, he has not shown up. He looked bad in the Michigan blowout, the USC blowout, and, most recently, the LSU blowout. ND’s TV contract with NBC, their weak schedule, and the profitability concerns of networks-advertisers greatly helped ND capacity to garner a BCS bid. Robert Smith’s assessment of ND on ESPN following the game was accurate, their just not that good. And, in my opinion, Brady Quinn has been unable to compensate for his team’s deficiencies against ranked opponents. Based upon what I have seen of him this year, I would have to conclude that he’s been overrated all year and his success in the NFL is far from certain.
This is just my opinion,