Draft Your QB Wisely

Is there a day in the year more exciting than NFL Kickoff? Today football fans everywhere carried themselves like a kid on Christmas Morning, and now as we all get ready to watch the World Champs host the team with last year’s best record, we will all be continuously reminded of the importance of properly spending a first round draft pick on a Quarterback. The Steelers will be starting “Big” Ben Roethlisberger, who since being selected 11th overall by the Steelers in 2004, has lead Pittsburgh to its 5th and record 6th Super Bowl Championship while rising to the call as the new face of the franchise. His Tennessee counterpart will be the 36 year old Kerry Collins (who has had more NFL teams than DUIs), while Vince Young, the 3rd overall pick of 2006 will watch from the sidelines as the backup. Much like Roethlisberger, Young got off to a solid start in the NFL and started most of his games as a rookie, but a plethora of questionable decisions both on and off the field have left his future as a star in this league up in the air.

While neither Young nor Roethlisberger were opening day starters as rookies, this year both Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez, both top 5 picks, will lead their teams onto the field on Sunday. As expected, the media will most likely draw comparisons between them on a weekly basis as was done last year with Matt Ryan and the former Fightin’ Blue Hen, Joe Flacco. However, while their stats will be thrown in our face on a game by game basis, the intangibles that separate the top Quarterbacks from the rest of the pack will likely be ignored. Neither one of them have played a game yet and it is way to early to make any sort of prediction, but the first overall pick reminds me a lot more of Ryan Leaf than Tom Brady and while a 1-win season in Detroit would sadly be an improvement over last year, I expect him to win fewer games as a starter there than Charlie Batch did in his career. Sanchez on the other hand brings his California Cool to New York where expectations will be higher than Ricky Williams. However, in what I saw from him in both college and preseason he has the poise to last in this league for many years.

And that’s the Brutal Truth!