Benefits of buying a used QB 🚗

Of the first 12 players picked in this year’s draft, six were quarterbacks.

Three of them have been starting since the season opened.

None have thrown a touchdown pass so far this season.

On the other hand, Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield stand at the helm of three of the nine NFL teams that are 2-0.

There’s a lesson in here. One that NFL teams should pay attention to: There are other ways to find a quarterback than to spend a high pick, cross your fingers and spend two years hoping he becomes as successful as you need him to be.

I’ll explain more when we Go Deep. We’ve got a few things to cover before we get there, however:

• Aaron Judge drove in four runs in the first two innings, Victor Robles got thrown out trying to steal home with the bases loaded and the Mariners lost 11-2 loss to the Yankees. Meanwhile in San Diego, Astros 2B Jose Altuve was ejected for removing his shoe and sock in an effort to prove a ball hit his foot in a game where his replacement scored the game-winning run in the 10th. Seattle is five games back of Houston in the AL West and three games out of the final wild-card spot.

• If you enjoy hearing about the various ways in which NFL owners are vainglorious and insecure little snits, you’ll enjoy Don Van Natta’s story about Bob Kraft’s attempt to woo Hall of Fame voters. Apparently, the Pats PR chief has taken to sending books to Hall of Fame voters and complaining about the induction of referee Art McNally in an attempt to get his boss in.

By now you know all about the speed option that Washington coach Jedd Fisch called on fourth-and-goal with the Apple Cup on the line.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the play Washington ran for all the reasons that have been cited this week:

1. It was called “into the boundary” in coach-speak, meaning Washington ran toward the short side of the field.

2. The Huskies are not an option team.

3. If they were going to run the option, Will Rogers is not the quarterback best-equipped to do so.

Jedd Fisch certainly knew all of those things. In fact, they’re part of the reason he called the play. He was calling a play he believed would catch Washington State unprepared.

Spoiler alert: The Cougs were NOT unprepared.

Now, the fact that Washington’s coach felt he needed to trick the Cougs to gain a yard isn’t a promising sign as the Huskies embark upon conference play …

However …

I have actually found myself enjoying Fisch’s somewhat cavalier response to the second-guessing that has continued this week.

I kinda like that his posture has been, “Yeah, I called that, and you know what? It should have worked.”

It’s what you’d expect from an evil and manipulative pro-wrestling manager. A heel turn in the parlance of that “sport” and I absolutely dug it.

It’s not going to stop me from getting these jokes off, though:

Over the past 20 years, NFL teams have shown an increased willingness to choose quarterbacks early in the first round.

Some people will tell you this is because there is more overlap today between the college and pro game.

Others will point to the level of training that quarterbacks begin receiving back in high school. The guys playing the position are simply better when they enter the NFL than they used to be.

Or maybe it’s the rookie salary scale that was instituted in 2011, which has cut down on the cost of those early picks.

But the trend is very clear cut. Not only are more quarterbacks are being picked in the first round, but the largest rate of increase is among the first 10 picks of the first round.

It’s fascinating to try and parse exactly what’s going on here.

In general, teams have become more likely to draft quarterbacks in the first round.

However, when you look within the round itself, this is driven by the fact that more quarterbacks are getting picked in the top 10.

Is this because quarterbacks have become better vis-a-vis the prospects at other positions? I don’t think that’s the case when you consider top-five picks like Zach Wilson and Trey Lance, who’ve already been given up by the teams that picked them.

I think it’s more likely teams are reaching in the upper realm of the draft.

This year when fully half of the first 10 picks were spent on quarterbacks. Six of the first 12 if you want to expand the range to include Bo Nix, who was chosen by the Broncos with the 12th overall pick and if nothing else has delivered the bluntest explanation of an interception that I’ve ever heard from a quarterback after his team’s loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday:

So far the results are … underwhelming.

Of those six quarterbacks chosen in the first round this year, three are currently starting. None has thrown a touchdown pass. Their teams are a combined 1-5, the only victory coming from Chicago which won its season-opener against Tennessee in large part because the Bears defense and their special teams each scored a touchdown.

Now I’m not trying to pass judgment over the viability of this year’s class of rookie quarterbacks. Half the quarterbacks chosen in the first round have yet to attempt a regular-season pass.

However, I am going to wonder whether using an early first-round pick on a quarterback gives a team the best chance at finding a long-term answer at the position.

I say that for two reasons:

1. The fact that more quarterbacks are getting picked earlier, means there’s more teams taking this exact approach, which means there’s more competition. Do you really think you’re better than all those other teams at predicting who’s going to make the jump? Or are you just following their lead, buying your ticket in the QB lottery and hoping you win?

2. There is a more affordable and less time-consuming option: recycling.

Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield were all drafted and developed with the hope they’d be a franchise quarterback. That’s especially true of Darnold and Mayfield, who were top-five picks. Smith was a second-round choice in the 2013 draft, which was considered lacking in quarterback talent. Still, he started in Week 1 as a rookie for the Jets, filling in for Mark Sanchez.

It didn’t work out for any of them.

In fact, each is currently playing for his fourth team.

Each is at the helm of a team that’s 2-0. Now, I’m not telling you that any of these guys is the long-term answer for their teams though I’m getting real close in the case of Smith and even Mayfield.

I am telling you that this is a way to find a quarterback that is significantly less costly AND less time consuming than using a top-10 pick on a quarterback and spending two years hoping like hell that he’s good.

The Seahawks have notably steered clear of this approach.

They’ve drafted exactly two quarterbacks in the past 14 years: Russell Wilson (3rd round, 2012) and Alex McGough (7th round, 2018).

Personally, I thought that was a mistake, and the Seahawks should have been looking to draft a potential successor to Russell Wilson.

Perhaps the Seahawks were zigging, though, while everyone else zagged. That as the rest of the league increasingly turned to the draft a brand-new quarterback, the Seahawks were checking the open-box specials. No, they weren’t perfect, but they weren’t as expensive either.

The payoff, however, has been huge. At least so far this year.

See, it pays to recycle!

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