Quote:
Originally Posted by milkman
I disagree.
Cassel is his free pass.
He went out and traded for the hot commodity, the NFL proven commodity.
If he turns out to be a one year wonder, then how was Pioli supposed to know that?
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How was Pioli supposed to know that? Pioli should have a better read on Cassel than anybody. He drafted Cassel. He's been watching Cassel for the last few years when nobody outside of New England ever saw the guy throw a pass. And, like everyone else, he watched him up-close this past year when Cassel took over as the starter.
Compare what Pioli knows about Cassel to what he knows of Stafford or Sanchez. With Cassel, Pioli has years of evaluation, both in terms of college scouting and "is this guy going to make our roster?". With Stafford and Sanchez, he has one year of evaluaton at best. With Cassel, Pioli has 16 games of tape of Cassel against actual NFL defenses. With Stafford and Sanchez, he has zero.
If Cassel ends up a one-year wonder, it's a far more damning indictment of Pioli's ability to evaluate talent than if he'd drafted a QB at #3 and whiffed on the pick. And that will especially be true if one or both of the QBs available at #3 turn out to be good players, because Pioli would have written them off in favor of Cassel.
The only way Cassel is the "safer" pick is because he's proven he can do it in the pros, while rookies obviously haven't. But Cassel is still a risk because he's hardly a time-tested veteran (which is why this isn't a "Carl move" to the guy who keeps saying otherwise). It just so happens that he's "safer" than playing an actual rookie.
But in terms of Pioli's reputation, he stands to take a far greater hit if Cassel is a bust than if he'd drafted a QB #3 and that guy was a bust.