Just a recap to remind you of why we have had two decades of futility

[Riggo-toni]

As the 98 season came to a close, Trent Green chose to follow his QB coach Mike Martz to the Rams. Gus Bang your head Frerotte left. In desparation, Casserly traded a 1st, 2nd and a 3rd for Brad Johnson. The first was used to draft Culpepper. Johnson left in 2 years. In 2000, we wasted a 6th on some guy named Husak. In 2001, a 4th for Sage Rosenfels. 2002, a first for Ramsey. 2004, a 3rd for a washed up Brunell ( when Kurt Warner and Drew Brees were both UFAs). 2005, a 1st, 3rd, 4th for Jason Campbell (we picked Carlos Rogers instead of Aaron Rodgers earlier in the 1st round). Then it was a 2nd and a 5th for a washed up McGnat.  Then it was 3 firsts and a second for RG3 (one of those firsts ended up being the second overall pick). A fourth for Cousins, who left for the Vikes. And a third and Kendall Fuller for Smith, though we did get a third rd comp pick for letting Cousins go and Fuller came back after winning a SB.... And finally, a first for Haskins.

So in 20 years, we have wasted 7 first rounders, 3 seconds, 4 thirds, 3 fourths, as well as late round picks for busts like Brennan, Hamdan, Wuerffel.

We are essentially forfeiting a first rounder every 3 years, not to mention all the other wasted picks.

[LetThePointsSoar]

Ouch. 

 

I mean, we all knew it.  But hearing it back.... Ouch. 

[Kurd Cudins]

[Captain Wiggles]

All the more reason just to roll with UDFA like Heinicke and Allen next year. Look to sign a FA QB to a reasonable contract mayhaps. 

 

Unlikely I know. 😔

[Ball Security]

Forgot the third for Smith.

[Riggo-toni]

6 minutes ago, Ball Security said:

Forgot the third for Smith.

Thanks. Then again, we got a 3rd round comp pick for Cousins, so essentially it was like trading down.

1 hour ago, Riggo-toni said:

 

 

[joeken24]

If we did a deep dive on the league, we'd probably see similar stats. Finding a franchise QB (depending how you define one) is IMO extremely difficult. That QB needs to be durable or you lose that significant maturation process. He's got to get along with the media and the fans and of course he's got to ball out early and consistently. Not many teams have a franchise QB and they haven't had one for many years. Only a few teams have been so lucky. And to be honest, some of that do don't have a championship. So the grass is not always greener on the other side. Nevertheless, this organization has definitely struggled.

[SkinsFTW]

3 hours ago, joeken24 said:

If we did a deep dive on the league, we'd probably see similar stats. 

 

Already been done.

 

Cleveland is the only one that's close.

Oh, and they had just restarted as a new franchise. 

[Est.1974]

Yep that’s ugly. 

[method man]

I believe, outside Campbell, Brunell, Rosenfels and the late round guys, the rest of those were all Snyder driven. 

[Koolblue13]

This is the point that I've been trying to hammer out. Just in the last 10 years 4 1rsts, 3 2nds, 3 3rds and a 4rth for the best of the bunch. 

 

You can't become a great team when you keep throwing away your draft capital.

[Est.1974]

It’s double edged that.

 

Firstly, the squandering of picks on nothingness.

 

Secondly, seeing the list of people we could have had instead, at a fraction on the cost.

 

Got to wonder what move is ahead of us in 2021..

[Warhead36]

The problem is we keep going for these middling prospects like Campbell, Ramsey, or Haskins. Or we spend resources on retread veterans on their last legs like McNabb, Brunell, and Smith.

 

We need to take more home run swings on legitimate prospects. The one time we did we got RG3. Yeah it didn't work out in the long run, but 2012 was special. Now imagine having something like that for a decade. That's what it feels to be a Packers/Chiefs/Steelers/Ravens etc. fan.

[NYSkins21]

10 hours ago, joeken24 said:

If we did a deep dive on the league, we'd probably see similar stats. Finding a franchise QB (depending how you define one) is IMO extremely difficult. That QB needs to be durable or you lose that significant maturation process. He's got to get along with the media and the fans and of course he's got to ball out early and consistently. Not many teams have a franchise QB and they haven't had one for many years. Only a few teams have been so lucky. And to be honest, some of that do don't have a championship. So the grass is not always greener on the other side. Nevertheless, this organization has definitely struggled.

Bingo. And not to mention. We did have some moderate success with Brad Johnson and Mark Brunell and one year of RGIII.

[KDawg]

I don’t view third rounders or below as a significant enough attempt to warrant putting in the conversation.

 

I think our biggest issue with first rounders has been we reach. It’s never a guy that is a top end talent or a guy that at least seems to be a guy who can be decent. It’s always a high ceiling low floor dude. Ramsey, Campbell and Haskins come to mind. We reach for our quarterbacks. Trade up or overdraft for the sake of saying we addressed the position. 
 

We need to draft a guy we believe in. I don’t care what round. They did this with Cousins despite the trade for RG3.

 

In fact, it feels like he’s the only QB we’ve ever drafted based on steady eddy mentality with upside and not taken a swing for the fences or drafting an overrated prospect because “quarterback”.

 

Griffin fits that mold but there were certainly questions on him as well. 

[joeken24]

On 12/29/2020 at 3:25 AM, method man said:

I believe, outside Campbell, Brunell, Rosenfels and the late round guys, the rest of those were all Snyder driven. 

I suppose if we were able to go back post Snyder (and the internet was up with forums like this), we'd be talking about the QBs that sucked during the Cooke days. Obviously, not as much as Haskins.  But the fact is, WFT has not drafted a franchise QB since 1937. All of our historical QBs were picked up from other teams. This is why I'm inclined to go FA for a QB and pick one up in the later rounds. Most of the elite QBs today were drafted outside the 1st round. We'll see. 

[DiscoBob]

While some may just say its hindsight... at the time of virtually every one of these actions I felt like it was the wrong decision...

 

I don't remember EVERY one, but I definitively didn't like:

 

- Ramsey pick

- Campbell pick

- McNugget trade

- RG3 trade (I was ok with pick after the trade was done...)

- Smith trade

- Haskins pick

 

Most of the trades seemed like ones that no competent franchise would make.

 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

On 12/28/2020 at 5:16 PM, Riggo-toni said:

2007, a 1st, 3rd, 4th for Jason Campbell

 

*That was 2005, just for the record...

[NoVaSkins21]

The majority of those busts and bad trades were due to horrible GMs like Ceratto, Allen, and of course Snyder.  When you have a shrewd GM, you hit on most of the personnel decisions that you make instead of missing.  Here's hoping they keep Kyle Smith in the building.

[NoCalMike]

The Alex Smith trade was the one I was most okay with because at the time it seemed like Smith was going to be a placeholder at QB for 3 of the 5 years of the new contract, after which he would either be forced to re-negotiate or be cut as whoever was drafted would take over. It was basically a desperation movie to try and replace someone around the caliber of Cousins as to keep the franchise a float instead of go backwards and at 6-3 to start the season it seemed at the time it was paying off...... Of course this is the NFL so a lot of things don't go as planned. 

 

I think people also forget that the franchise in amidst a decade of mediocrity already prior to Snyder buying the team.  The end of the Norv Turner era was when he finaaaaaaaaaally had dug the team out of the gutter and was just starting to possibly get a team built, and then Snyder immediately started putting his finger prints and demands on every roster move and personnel decision which led to the next 20 years of being a laughingstock of a franchise.