Made by the Draft, Broken by the System: The Growing Generation of Lost QBs

NFL teams are paying kings’ ransoms for young quarterbacks, and why not? In today’s NFL, a good young signal-caller can secure the future of a team—and a general manager—for a decade.

The Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles gave up breathtaking draft-pick value for the rights to draft Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, respectively. Yet there was more discussion about whether Ezekiel Elliott was worth drafting No. 4 overall than whether Goff was worth two first-, second- and third-round picks.

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It’s understood: If Goff becomes a Pro Bowl quarterback, he’s worth all that and more.

But what if he doesn’t? This is the second time in seven drafts the Rams have taken a quarterback No. 1 overall. In between, they traded out of a No. 2 overall pick so a different team could, yes, draft a quarterback. If Goff fails, the Rams will have wasted a decade riding the quarterback merry-go-round.

They aren’t the only marks at the carnie; the entire league is caught up in an ever-quickening cycle of drafting, starting and discarding rookie passers.

The result: a lost generation of young NFL veterans who’ve shown some ability to play, all languishing on the bottom of depth charts. Jimmy Garoppolo, Mike Glennon, Zach Mettenberger, Tom Savage and even Geno Smith are all players who had starter potential before the draft, were talked about as potential starters last spring and now can’t get an opportunity.

“It’s just asinine, to be honest with you,” Ted Sundquist told Bleacher Report. Sundquist, former general manager of the Denver Broncos, has been watching teams give up far too early on promising quarterback talent over and over again.

“All these guys are not that long in the tooth in the NFL, and all of us—including the teams, the media, those of us who used to be in the game—were talking about them the exact same way we’re now talking about Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch,”Sundquist said. “We hear it every single year. You can go all the way down to Connor Cook; my bet is three or four of those guys never pan out.”

“Everything now is on a fast track,” Phil Savage agreed. Savage, former general manager of the Cleveland Browns and current executive director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, knows how little time decision-makers get to build a team. “The patience of the fans, the media, the ownership is so limited compared to 10, 15, 20 or, good night, 30 years ago when you wouldn’t even dream of putting a rookie quarterback on the field.” 

“It’s all about perception,” Savage explained. Betting the farm on a top rookie quarterback, and hitting it big, cements an executive’s legacy as an evaluator. “There’s a perception you’re getting a franchise quarterback—with the emphasis on you’re getting him. He’s your pick, he’s your choice for your organization, and I think there’s some pride and ego involved in that,” Savage said. “You’re going to get more credit if you draft one of these franchise quarterbacks.”

Rams executives might have seen pushing all their chips onto Goff as their only option.

“They’re in a do-or-die, yet no-lose …

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