The NFL draft is like shopping at a surplus store like Odd Lots. The inventory varies day to day: maybe they stock up on an overrun of some good lawn furniture one day. Another day, it’s rakes and

shovels. Hey look over there- a shipment in of surplus khaki pants. Problem with a store like that-

and a problem for some teams in the NFL draft- if you go in looking for dishes, and at the time you

go shopping all they have is lawn furniture, rakes and pants, you can’t fill your need for dishes. So

you buy some khakis because you figure you could use them at some point, even though you don’t

really need them now. Don’t really need a new rake, but this one is pretty good. But you really NEED

dishes. Wait a minute, you find some paper plates on the shelf. These will work just fine. I’ve filled

my need. I mean, at least I got SOMETHING.

Consider your need for dishes like an NFL team’s need for a quarterback. You go into a draft seeking

the next Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. Well, that’s not a likely find, so you’ll settle for a Drew Brees

or a Donovan McNabb. You just want to avoid buying a Ryan Leaf or an Akili Smith…but if that’s all that’s

available……

Just like those surplus stores, the NFL draft is unpredictable inventory from which to choose. Go back to

the Ravens first year in the league, 1996. Say they went into the draft looking for a QB from that crop. There

wasn’t a single quarterback worthy of being taken in the first round. Tony Banks was the first taken: 2nd round,

42nd player overall to St. Louis. In all, 8 QB’s were picked in that palty 1996 draft…and none of them ever played

in a playoff game. So you wait a year. You’ll get that QB in 1997. No you won’t. 11 quarterbacks were taken

in that draft, but only 2 were worthy of a choice before the 3rd round: Jim Druckenmiller and Jake Plummer.

Jake is the only QB from that draft to play in a playoff game. That’s 2 entire drafts and 1 QB who threw a pass

in the postseason.

So, think of that as the Ravens go shopping for the “quarterback of the future” in the 2008 draft. Matt Ryan,

Chad Henne, Joe Flacco? All quality candidates for the need, right? Who knows? You may end up coming

home with paper plates.

Posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 10:48 pm.
Categories: Opinion.
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