The Ones Who Leave Too Early

I remember not really knowing who Jamarcus Russell was; I knew of the guy, but didn't know much about his abilities and his rocket, laser arm. His name blew up after he beat up on potential No. 1 draft pick Brady Quinn and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Now I knew that this would make me angry because to me it was like here is a guy even after having the tutelage of, now Florida State Head Coach, Jimbo Fisher, he still had a very up and down career at LSU.

If these NFL teams are paying their scouts and player evaluation analysts great money, then why would they at all advise taking a guy who was really not even worthy of being called a one hit wonder. Don't get me wrong, I do like Jamarcus Russell and I do think he has the tools to be a very dominant QB and to be successful, but he needs the best coaching and more time.

In that 2007 NFL Draft, I felt that the two best players were Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson. But you know scouts, they like to knock players who are essentially perfect, which is what they are doing to Ndamukong Suh, and they take the less experienced and the more risky pick.

I don't mean to take a shot at the Oakland Raiders (more like Al Davis) but really, who takes Darius Heyward-Bey over Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin? If you were looking for speed, Maclin ran a 4.4, and if you were looking for the big play maker, I would say that Crabtree's 42 TD's in two years is big enough play making for me. But Heyward-Bey is a guy who was an ACC honorable mention (keep in mind the ACC isn't exactly the place to go for top wide receivers ever since Andre Johnson and Anquan Boldin left).

Another QB who just kills me to even mention is a guy named Kyle Boller, the California Bears quarterback that was taken 19th overall by the Baltimore Ravens. In fact, prior to his senior year, Boller hadn't completed more than 50 percent of his passes and in his senior year, only completed 53 percent of his passes. Now the former first round pick has spent the majority of his tenure in the NFL on the bench and now has a home backing up in St. Louis.

If you asked me why is the quarterback position so hard to evaluate, I would have to say because we fall in love more with their abilities and their flashiness more than we do with their ability to win and do the small things. While it's nice to see a QB escape the pocket and run for his life then throw a bomb down field to end the game with a ESPN classic, it's not enough for me to make you the franchise quarterback.

How about I take a guy who makes all the right throws all game long and when there's a blitz called, he checks the ball down and let's his players make the plays, because that's what you've got to do when you get into the NFL.

I like a guy like Matt Ryan, Sam Bradford, and Drew Brees. I could care less how tall you are, how well you can take hits at the next level, how strong your arm is, or how fast you are. I want a winner; I want a guy who is a great student of the game and a guy who cares more about getting the win rather than throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns.

If we stopped making such a big deal about where a guy played, how fast his 40 yard dash time is, and how good his vertical leap is, and started watching what these guys did in a game situation, then the NFL would reap the benefits of less draft busts and giving the guys who care more about the game than the amount of money going in their bank account, a chance to succeed.

Let's get more guys like Tom Brady, Zach Thomas, and Terrell Davis to become stars in the NFL rather than taking that flashy wide receiver who is scared to run over the middle but love to catch that fade for a TD so he can show off his end zone dance for Sportscenter.