The argument for and against drafting a QB round 1

The War Room Detroit Lions — The Den
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I know there are a lot of people in the Den for and against taking a QB round 1. So let’s look at it closer.

Let’s assume for arguments sake that 3 QB’s are off the board before we pick and the Lions have choice with who is left. Let’s not worry about which QB’s (just for discussions sake) Let’s just assume the 3 gone are the top 3 on the Lions board.

Let’s hear your arguments for and against taking a QB at 7OA.

Here’s my argument for NOT taking a QB round 1.

  1. Why would a rookie HC want a QB controversy to start his career.
  2. Why risk dividing the fan base and locker room.
  3. Why start off with a distraction of having a two time Probowl QB and a high draft pick at QB.
  4. Why create that kind of pressure for a rookie HC.

You know if the Lions did draft a QB at 7OA that would cause a ton of media questions. Tons of pressures that a rookie HC doesn’t need. I think this is one of the biggest reasons the Lions wanted Goff. To take pressure off our rookie GM and HC.

I am trying to leave the arguments out that Goff is or isn’t good enough. I’m trying to look at it from a team building mentality. What’s the best way to get this thing started?

I think it’s wise to wait a year or two to draft a QB. (If we need one) meanwhile you improve the talent on the roster so that a rookie QB has the best chance to succeed. Let the rookie coaching staff and GM get a few years under their belts before they have to make a franchise altering decision like that. Let them gain some experience. I think it’s wise to wait.

Let’s hear your reasoning for or against.

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Why would you bypass objectively better talent at other positions of need to overdraft a second QB?

I know you don’t want to make this about Goff’s skills, but it’s central to the issue. It’s inarguable that he’s good enough to take a team to the Super Bowl, and I would contend that the odds of any of the QBs left ever being as good as him, let alone better, are not favorable.

We’ve got money (though not an unreasonable amount) allocated to QB. That means we should spend Beenz elsewhere. You don’t get to pick at #7 by having so much talent you can afford to get redundant.

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I’m for taking a QB because I am very much not a fan of Goff’s lack of running ability. I’m not into the narrative that “dual threat QBs get hurt all the time” because with new rules and the amount of QBs that can hurt you with their legs coming out I feel like that’s going to go away.

In my ideal offense, we can always create a numbers issue somewhere for the defense. That’s doable without a mobile QB, but it’s definitely a lot easier with a mobile QB. I don’t want to play old-school offense either, which is what it looks like we’re going to do. I want a hyper-modern passing attack, not an air raid necessarily, but truly modern concepts. The great teams separate from the good teams because of that.

If it’s Mac Jones on the board, I see absolutely no point in taking a QB. I don’t feel like I’m making any kind of upgrade like I do with Fields/Lance.

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I would argue that Goffs ability is certainly central to this issue; and we have 2 sides -

1 believes Jared Goff that the rams are idiots, it wasn’t McVay but Jared Goff who led the team to a super bowl.

The other believes that Jared is a product of Sean McVay and is average to below average otherwise.

I am for taking a QB this year and please let me explain why.

Taking a QB now allows you to have a built in back-up plan should Goff not be the future.

Should Goff be the Probowler half the board expects him to be, then we can trade the drafted QB for a Kings ransom and get more magic beans.

Taking a QB this year means we can spend next years first, and the rams first on getting BPA regardless of position, and there’s some serious talent on the Defensive side of the ball that we all would go ga-ga over.

Otherwise, we might have to trade up in an effort to get a QB next year should Goff not have it, which would be giving up most likely 2 great prospects (draft picks) to get 1 that we may have been able to get the year before without giving up other resources, all the while giving that QB a year of seasoning should he require it, and it’s a built in back-up should Jared get hurt, which he has in his career (not a slight Garf-in-ites).

Lastly, should you start looking at non-QBs in next years draft your likely to have a Jim Schwartz watching jhavid best highlights reaction.

Look at these kids, and tell me you don’t want them in a lions uniform…

Taking a QB now gives you draft mobility in future years. Would you trade 2 of these players for Slovis, Rattler, Ridder, Crumm, Howell next year should Jared Garf not be the answer? Are you willing to take that gamble?

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I’m not going into depth about what I want, as I’ve expressed that for the last few days in other threads. But regardless of what this board wants, I believe those making decisions really like Goff. I don’t even think QB is on the table. They took the Rams offer for a reason and it wasn’t because it was the best. They really like Jared Goff and he isn’t getting a 1/2 or 1 year audition. He’s our QB for at minimum the next two years. And I am happy because that’s what I prefer.

Put a solid roster in place before getting your rookie contract QB. It’s the reason the lions accepted future draft picks. I believe this is the plan and thank god it is!

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It’s about resources. If you believe we will need to draft, or should draft a QB during this rebuild then taking one at 7 is a must. This year if we improve our defense or get lucky at all we could draft anywhere from 5 -14. What if we are drafting 12 next year after a season in which goff played pretty average. Well now it will cost 3 1st rounders to move up and get one. We’ve now blown the opportunity to build the rest of the roster. If we take one at 7… he can sit and learn and then we can use all 4 of our 1st rounders the next 2 years on other spots. If we are lucky enough to draft a QB without having to spend to trade up… we have to do it!

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I agree, and this makes me comfortable that the Lions will be doing the right thing in this draft even if there were a majority of the fans who are obsessed with the new shiny QB.

I don’t think you need to be that extreme. The Rams view their opening as right now. One can reasonably say both that Goff is a good-to-very-good QB and that upgrading to Stafford gives them a better shot at bringing the Lombardi back to LA.

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HSV has it covered well. There’s a limit to Goff’s abilities that has been demonstrated. Enough of a limit that his team traded him and two 1st round picks for our 32-year-old Stafford. He’s a competent bridge QB. But Goff is only part of the equation. The other part is just how prudent your choices are when picking this high. The fact is, the non-QB talent this year is NOT ideal for a team picking in the top 10. How does a GM turn his #7 pick into the largest gain or greatest asset for the team? Taking a WR? Not. How do you maximize your pick’s value? By selecting the best, most valuable player available. Where does that begin? QB.

This is all moot, though. Reason being, Atlanta has the exact same considerations and will not pass on a worthy QB. Lawrence, Wilson, Fields, Lance… that’s picks 1-4.

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If Goff was a franchise QB, he’d still be in LA.

He’s not a franchise QB.

He’s average at best.

He’s never going to be a guy who wins games for you.

That’s why he was traded.

If we have a chance to draft a guy who wins games for us, who is a franchise QB, we should draft him for the same reasons LA traded for Stafford.

Not to mention paying a mediocre QB $30 million a year is colossally stupid way to build a team.

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Everyone’s trying to twist things to fit their narrative. It’s not black and white.

It’s not “We feel golf is a franchise QB! And we are gonna build around him!!!”
Vs
“Goff is the bridge, we need to find his replace now while we have the chance!!!”

Those of us who want to run with Goff for the near future and not draft a QB arent sold that hes our guy. But we do want to see before taking the 4th/5th best QB in the class. There are two philosophies here…one is get your QB now, and then build around him. The other is, build a team, then get your guy.

Goff has been to a super bowl, with a good roster. I think the theory of build around him and see, is the better choice. If Goff does somehow win us 7 games this year, with this roster, I think that’s a pretty good indicator that he is a pretty darn good QB. If he sucks, wins us 3/4 games, We are drafting in the top 10 again next year.

The next two years are big in terms of the entire roster. Not just QB. And if we do build one heck of a roster and Goff isn’t the guy, it’s not like we can’t trade our 2024/2025 picks to get our guy in 2023.

It’s not as simple as “now is our chance!” Build the team first and then evaluate the QB position. Stafford is an elite talent and he couldn’t pull this organization paste mediocrity. We tried that route, I want to try another.

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Is that what you’re doing?

Goff is a franchise QB whose franchise wanted to move on from. You can attribute that to the player or the franchise, that’s up to you.

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Yes - same sentiment on my end. Let’s get the O right, regardless of who it’s for. I DO expect Goff to be plenty good enough. I think he’ll be around 9-13ish NFL QB ranking with us. If he can trend a little toward the 9 side, we should be able to kick a lot of ass with him. I also believe he’d almost be guaranteed to do better than a rookie.

Yup!

IMO, if Goff were to suck, we’d be drafting high anyway (no trade-up needed). If Goff is the man, we’re good to go, because he’s pretty young still.

Of course, the truth is somewhere in the middle, more than likely.

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Lol absolutely that’s what I’m doing. I didn’t mean to sound like I was above it

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Another reason that I didn’t explain in my post earlier is this is how I rank the QBs combined between this year and next…

  1. Lawrence - 21
  2. Fields - 21
    Gap
  3. Rattler - 22
    Large Gap
  4. Wilson - 21
  5. E. Jones - 22
  6. Lance - 21
  7. M. Jones - 21
  8. Howell - 22
  9. Slovis - 22
  10. Daniels - 22
  11. Shough - 22

I think that the talent in this class is way better than next year. I want to get one this year because I just think they’re better. For all of those saying “try Goff for a year and if he doesn’t work, just draft one next year” I say that there is a massive talent drop-off, and that we’re sacrificing a superior talent to have that year.

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Just for the record, I have a personal history of being awful at predicting draft picks.

Examples
-did not like stafford. Was pissed when we took him. He is now my all-time favorite player

-hated the suh pick. Dude was a stud. Probably the best defensive lion I’ve ever witnessed

-jahvid best. Loved him. Saw so many amazing games of his in college. I wanted him bad and when we traded up for him, I was ecstatic.

-Kenny golladay. I was like “are you shittin me?” Who the hell is that bum

That’s just a handful of examples. There are plenty more. I am not a “I told you so guy!” I can’t stand the 1/5 right guess and let ya hear about it guy :joy:

So it’s not like I think I know what I’m talking about lol :man_facepalming:t2:

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Yup if you are forcing me to draft a QB this year or next. I will take one this** year.

But that isn’t the case. I don’t want to take a QB this year or next. Goff gets two years for me before thinking about replacement. If you are only giving him this season, with this roster, he’s doomed to fail. So I guess might as well draft a QB now or we will hear I told ya so for the next year+

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Truthfully, I’m not educated enough on the topic to dispute it.
I also view us as not having to figure it out next year either. I expect our front offices to position us well, no matter what’s going on. Goff sucks, we have higher pics and more trade-up power, as well as an additional year with 2 2nd rounders. Goff kills it, we fill the rest of the roster and just go kick ass.

My first order of business is to get the O as good as we can, so we know what we have in Goff, as well as position a rook to succeed, should we need to get one.

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Right. And the spot where we land is called mediocrity.
That’s why LA moved on and why I’m not taking QB off my board.

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Gonna be interesting to see what they do. I feel Holmes knows Goff very well. If he’s the talent evaluator people claim he is, we can just sit back and trust him… fingers crossed.

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It will be interesting for sure. My hunch is that Holmes is not going to have to make a decision on a QB at pick 7 anyway, so all of this is just conversation.

In the 1st, we know we need an OT, LB and WR and that 1 of those options will be there.

I’m anxious for what occurs in the 2nd and later rounds more than I am in the 1st this year. That’s where we’ll see a clearer reflection of their priorities and prowess.

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