Who was "the Steal of the Draft?"

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Weeden, to me, signals a completely different approach to drafting QBs. Simply put, if the player has a flash of evidence to suggest that he might be a franchise QB, he's going in the first. Period.

Luck and RGIII provided sustained looks at elite-level play. Tannehill and Weeded flash.

How the above is conveniently forgotten when discussing the likes of late-round picks is beyond me, but the league is evolving, has been, and the "best" GM in the business isn't reacting.

Alternatively, can't you say that this season was a gut reaction to a disproportionate amount of success from rookie QBs last season? Notably Newton and Dalton. And Dalton actually regressed as the season went on.

Let's say that Weeden, Tannehill and even RGIII struggle a little this year. Or that Dalton backslides a little. What if Ponder doesn't progress and Locker can't claim the starters job? Hell, what if Bradford flames out again and they finally shovel dirt on Sanchez? Will the attitude towards moderately talented QBs change a little? Guys like Luck and Stafford will still fly off the board, but the Tannehills? (I.E. Bray or Smith next season?)

It's possible that Newton being an extreme outlier really changed the attitudes of the draft this year. Moreover, there's an excellent chance that the teams at the top of the draft next season aren't going to be going in hard at QB again because they've already made large investments in the position.

I'm not willing to declare a seismic shift in attitudes just yet. Oh we're getting closer, don't get me wrong. But it's really being fueled by maybe 3 or 4 data points (Newton, Dalton, Stafford, Bradford). But ultimately a lot of other data points are getting incompletes at best right now. If the Lockers, Ponders, Daltons, Gabberts, Weeden's and Tannehill's of the world flame out, I think you're going to see teams start to dial it back a little on all but the absolutely premier QB prospects.

And I don't see how you can argue that there's not a very good chance that most of the names on that list don't amount to much more than a glorified Matt Cassel.