Here, we only talk about quarterbacks, that’s all.
With the 2017 NFL Draft more than two weeks ago, we’ll analyze the results of the draft, taking a look at the QB class, who went where and why.
Prior to the draft, we predicted 8-10 quarterbacks would be selected, and we were pretty spot on. A total of 10 quarterbacks were drafted, including Mr. Irrelevant with the final pick overall.
Of course the biggest shock came early in the draft, when the Chicago Bears moved up from the third pick to the second pick to select Mitch Trubisky. Mind you, this comes just weeks after signing Mike Glennon away from Tampa Bay to the tune of $45 million over three seasons.
The move sent shockwaves throughout the NFL universe as almost nobody expected something like this to happen, and according to reports, apparently head coach John Fox didn’t even know either.
And if that wasn’t enough, the next big move saw Kansas City move up 17 spots, from 27 to 10, to pick Texas Tech gunslinger Patrick Mahomes. The fact that the Chiefs drafted a QB isn’t a shocker at all, we called that, what was the shocker, was the aggressive move up to get one.
Alex Smith is a winner, period. In fact, he’s got one of the winningest records in the league since 2011, right up there with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, however, when it comes to the playoffs, he tends to fall off sharply, especially with the Chiefs. He sports a playoff record of just 1-3 with Kansas City, including losses of one and two points (2013 and 2015).
Houston also moved up to get their man, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson. This wasn’t an unexpected move at all, and Houston made a good move to get their franchise QB.
The Browns we thought, played it smart, add key part to their team in round 1, then landed their man in round two with DeShone Kizer being picked up. That was a solid move by Cleveland. There’s no pressure on Kizer to start this season at all.
The next two quarterbacks off the board, were Davis Webb (which we correctly predicted) to the NY Giants, and in a bit of a shocker, Iowa’s C.J. Beathard to the 49ers. As with Kansas City, the fact that the 49ers drafted a QB wasn’t shocking, it was that they moved back into the third round to get him. It’s an interesting move, especially when you consider all the Kirk Cousins rumors this offseason.
The Steelers added Joshua Dobbs from Tennessee in Round 4, which was also a solid pickup. Assuming Ben Roethlisberger does in fact retire after this season, the Steelers immediate future could include a smooth transition to Landry Jones and later Dobbs.
In Round 5, Buffalo took a quarterback, however it wasn’t the one we had hoped for in Brad Kaaya, but rather it was Nathan Peterman from Pittsburgh. Peterman was expected to go as high as the second round, so a 5th round selection for the Bills was an excellent pickup.
One round later, Kaaya went to the Lions, in a move that in all honesty, doesn’t make any sense at all. You’ve got Matthew Stafford already, why draft a quarterback at all when you’ve got some capable backups available in free agency. But anyway, Kaaya has a lot of upside and could fit in nicely into a backup role for Stafford for now.
The final quarterback to go was Mr. Irrelevant, Ole Miss’s Chad Kelly to Denver, which marked two straight seasons the Broncos drafted a QB. Kelly was a highly touted passer who just a couple of years ago, was being mentioned as a high 1st round pick, but injuries and off the field issues dropped him to pick 253.
Overall, the 2017 Draft class is solid. The best move, without question, had to be Cleveland waiting until the 2nd round to land Kizer. The strangest move was Chicago’s pick of Trubisky. The boldest move was Kansas City moving up 17 spots for the gunslinger Mahomes, and our favorite move was without question, Davis Webb to the Giants, mostly because we were dead on with the pick.
Our prediction stated:
“Davis Webb….goes to the NY Giants at 55. Eli is 36, and at some point, the Giants are going to need to start building for the future. You add Beckham Jr. and Shepard with a young QB like Webb, and you have a solid foundation for the next 6-8 years in New York.”
So needless to say, we were very happy with the pick and in general, the 2017 QB Draft Class.
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