One thing which the sudden Ben R trade talk shows...

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

is that everyone who says that the Bills MUST take the best QB they can draft because we need a franchise QB are simply wrong when they claim that drafting is the only way to get our franchise QB.

 

First, it depends on what you mean by a "franchise" QB as clearly you cannot define this as a QB capable of leading your team to an SB win. The simple facts are that tons of QBs acquired from alternatives Wal-mart boxboy Kurt Warner to twice waived Brad Johnson are QBs capable of QBing your team to an SB win.

 

Further, until stellar QBs such as Peyton Manning and phenoms such as RoboQB finally led their teams to SB wins you had to go back to the Boys picking Aikman in the 80s to find a QB a team picked in the 1st to find one who led his team to an SB win.

 

If part of being a franchise QB is winning the SB there are simply way to many examples of teams doing this with players whom they did not draft in the 1st and actually relatively few examples of QBs drafted in the 1st who led the team which picked him to SB wins.

 

Even with this simple statement of reality, one then has the not simple at all task winning the bet that your first round pick at QB is not a stone cold bust as most of these picks will be.

 

Again the simple reality is that stud QBs from Drew Brees to Brett Favre are available in the marketplace with some frequency and this appears to be increasing with vet QBs like McNabb and apparently RoboQB available on the market this year.

 

Picking a Clausen or a Tebow (particularly when you have clear needs in the trenches) is a risky proposition at best and is even more risky this year given that all the QB options have significant questions about them (such as injuries which cost them PT in each case before you even get to skill issues. Given that picking this player means he will be not only learning to be a pro but doing this with a team which is not able to supplement their protection or the D side with a first round talent and picking a B in the first just seems like a bad idea.