Posted by Henry Potter on May 26, 2009, 9:10 am, in reply to "Re: just redrafted Joey Harrington heavy"
Don't be a media parrot and start bagging on Stafford cuz of past QB problems that the Lions have had when they've drafted QBs high. Just cause the Lions had success drafting Barry high doesn't mean that they should've drafted Knowshon Moreno this year. You're better than that.
First off, Harrington was a very solid college QB. He'd have gone top 10 easily. One of Harrington's strengths coming outta college was his leadership and command of the huddle. Harrington had the misfortune of going to a team that didn't want him and it showed. Andre Ware had a solid college career as well. He was coming into a run-and-shoot system similar to the one he had in college. But he signed late and was never able to catch up. When the offensive system switched, he was screwed. Chuck Long again had a decent college career and did fairly welll until crapping out.
Stafford has all the tools. Stafford was projected to be a top overall pick in the NFL AS A FRESHMAN COMING INTO COLLEGE. I'm willing to bet I've seen more Stafford games than you have and he definitely can be a player in this league. Sanchez isn't even close, as Mark hasn't played nearly as college games so he has less experience and less physical attributes. Sanchez doesn't suck, but he's closer to a guy that "manages the game" than a gamebreaker. Sanchez will be either Trent Dilfer (at worst) or Chad Pennington (at best). You can draft a guy like that in the latter rounds.
None of this means that Stafford will be successful (it sure didn't with Harrington, Ware, Long, etc.) but this current regime has a plan in place for him. He's not gonna be rushed into starting, they're working to surround him with experience and/or budding talent, and Linehan's offenses usually tend to be diverse enough to protect QBs to a certain extent. Had I been the GM, I'd have taken Jason Smith, but I have no problems with Stafford. If given an opportunity to learn and surrounded by guys that can at least do their jobs, he will be fine.
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