The Patriots, like the Bears and Commanders and NFL others, head toward the 2024 Draft in need of a franchise QB.
There is a decent chance those teams and others will take a quarterback in the first round come late April with the expectation that chosen young man will turn the fate of the franchise around.
Of course we know the likely folly in this football fantasy.
New England and Chicago are in this position for the second time in three-plus years.
Washington has been fishing this franchise QB hole for decades, with little stability to show for its endless efforts.
Simply put, drafting a quarterback is a dubious and if not infuriating task. Sometimes it feels like teams are actually taking a bust player availible rather than the best player available when the QB question enters the equation.
Heck, the Panthers among many NFL teams were all in on Bryce Young last April. But months later the young Alabama product looked anything but a savior in Carolina, having already cost his coach his job.
Is using a high draft pick on a quarterback just a necessary evil? The cost of doing business unless you get lottery-style lucky with a guy like Tom Brady or Brock Purdy or Dak Prescott?
Is there any way to try to take the danger and disappointment out of using, say, the No. 3 overall pick on a developing young athlete who may or may not be ready for the pressures and rigors of life leading an NFL franchise?
Yes, yes there is. But NFL owners probably don’t want to hear it.
Red shirt.
Yup, forcing quarterbacks to sit back and watch for their first professional season might just be the answer to greater chances for long term success.
The proof is in the anecdotal playing pudding.
Sunday’s Super Bowl will include budding legend Patrick Mahomes at the helm for Kansas City, his fourth trip to the big game in six years as an NFL starter after sitting back and watching Alex Smith show him the ropes for a season in the Show Me state.
Brady was behind Drew Bledsoe in 2000 before hitting the ground running to win a Super Bowl in 2001.
Aaron Rodgers apprenticed for three years behind Brett Favre.
Kirk Cousins was behind RGIII in Washington for a couple years but a decade later is still playing while his former rookie running mate is a broadcaster.
Sure there are examples of rookie quarterbacks taking the NFL by storm and proving their mettle right out of the gates. Look no further than the Texans turnaround that C.J. Stroud oversaw this year in Houston.
But there are far more examples of young quarterbacks thrown to the wolves and derailing their careers and their teams’ fortunes when they clearly aren’t ready to play. Zach Wilson ring a bell?
“It’s not a developmental league anymore, especially at that position,” longtime NFL scout and current Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy acknowledged recently on “Gresh and Fauria” on WEEI. “We got Anthony Richardson last year at Florida had 13 starts and, you know what, he’s out there Day 1 for the Indianapolis Colts. So they are gonna get those guys on the field. Very rarely…I mean Jordan Love right now and Patrick Mahomes are the only examples in the last decade where you took a quarterback high and let him develop.”
Having quarterbacks sit and watch might not just be good for the individual player, either. Sure the team may struggle through a season with a hold-over, bridge QB. But that could lead to another high draft pick to pair with the QB-in-waiting, say a left tackle or an impact playmaker?
Oh, and veteran, journeyman bridge QBs might earn another paycheck on the back end of their careers while the next-big-thing seasons on the sideline.
Financially players on both ends of the spectrum would probably actually benefit. Sitting a year would likely increase the chances for first-round quarterbacks earning and getting their fifth-year options on their rookie contracts. And the veterans that they sit behind might hold on for one more contract in their seat-warming mentor role.
As tempting and tantalizing as playing highly drafted rookie QBs may be, it would seemingly be in the best interests of the player, the team and the league as a whole for them to red shirt for a year before they are tossed into the career-making-or-breaking crucible.
But it will never happen. Not as long as it’s left up to individual coaches, teams and owners to decide. There is simply too much pressure to play young QBs right away. Whether it’s good for them or not.
Whether it’s in the best interests of the team or not.
“I like the theory,” Nagy said of the forced red shirt year, “but I don’t think you’re ever gonna get the owners on board with that.
They have to get their shiny new toy out there in front of all the fans. When you are drafting a quarterback up high, that’s the hope. Those guys represent the hope. But in theory, I agree with you. You can break a quarterback.”
And when you break a quarterback, you have to find another one. Usually near the top of the draft. And the entire process begins all over again.
Just ask the Patriots. Or the Bears. Or oh so many other teams over the years.
If there was just a bit more patience with rookie NFL QBs it would probably be better off for all involved.
And as Nagy said, it will also probably never happen.
Oh well, it’s just an idea.
Here’s hoping that Drake Maye. Or Jayden Daniels. Or Bo Nix is ready for the shot he’s probably going to get about eight months from now at Gillette Stadium.
Because unfortunately rookie NFL QBs are treated like a game of hide ‘n seek.
Ready or not…