If not Luck...then who?

[Diehard_Dolfan]

I just thought about this after reading an article on the Dolphins.  Let's say we don't end up with the #1 draft pick...now what?

Let's say we get the #5 pick and Luck and Landry are gone... do we take a Robert Griffen III or a Russel Wilson?

What other options are out there?

[tubba marxxx]

You trade up..

It's an interesting situation this year with the bottom of the barrel teams.


Teams with one or fewer wins:

Seattle (could be in play for Luck, Tavaris Jackson could be benched, and they gave Whitehurst starter money)

Jacksonville (just drafted Blane Gabbert, would be pretty silly to draft Luck as well)

Arizona (Kevin Kolb = big $$, not taking Luck)

Denver (Fans want Tebow, wildcard for Luck)

Philly (Michael Vick, enough said)

KC (Do you give up on Matt Cassel after one iffy year?)

Carolina (Cam Newton)

St. Louis  (Sam Bradford)

Minnesota (Christian Ponder?)

Indy (This could be the biggest threat.  If Peyton Manning is truely done, they should absolutely draft Luck and have him be his successor, a la Aaron Rodgers)


The point of my rant is that right now the worst teams in the NFL (except Miami) at least have a clue as to what they're going to do at the QB situation.  It might be easier than people think to end up with Andrew Luck

[MikeO]

No team will trade away Luck. NONE! When you grade out higher than Elway and Manning no team will trade that pick. And if you WANT to convince a team to trade that pick, plan on trading away all of this years entire draft and the first 2 rounds of next years draft. And that probably still won't work. Indy, Minny, SF, Seattle, Arizona, Jac, KC, Denver...none will trade that pick. The Rams are the ONE interesting team, since they have Bradford. But honestly I think they would take Luck and find a way to move Bradford. But they are the one team that could hold a bidding war for that pick.

In my opinion its a 2 team race for Luck. Indy with Painter vs Miami with Henne/Moore. Both teams are god awful on offense. The thing going for Miami is Indy plays Jax twice and could win a game or two there. Aside from Denver at home I don't see Miami beating anyone.

IF not Luck, Barkley I like a bit. Obviously not on Luck's level but he looks like a future legit NFL QB.

[Diehard_Dolfan]

IF not Luck, Barkley I like a bit. Obviously not on Luck's level but he looks like a future legit NFL QB.

Yeah I forgot to include Barkley...

[Tenshot13]

We should be able to get Luck, Jones or Barkley....Nick Foles is out there too, but he's a tier below the other three IMO.

[tubba marxxx]

No team will trade away Luck. NONE! When you grade out higher than Elway and Manning no team will trade that pick. And if you WANT to convince a team to trade that pick, plan on trading away all of this years entire draft and the first 2 rounds of next years draft. And that probably still won't work. Indy, Minny, SF, Seattle, Arizona, Jac, KC, Denver...none will trade that pick. The Rams are the ONE interesting team, since they have Bradford. But honestly I think they would take Luck and find a way to move Bradford. But they are the one team that could hold a bidding war for that pick.

In my opinion its a 2 team race for Luck. Indy with Painter vs Miami with Henne/Moore. Both teams are god awful on offense. The thing going for Miami is Indy plays Jax twice and could win a game or two there. Aside from Denver at home I don't see Miami beating anyone.

IF not Luck, Barkley I like a bit. Obviously not on Luck's level but he looks like a future legit NFL QB.

You honestly think ALL those teams you listed would want Luck?..REALLY think about that..and you can't "move" Bradford..not with that contract.

[Spider-Dan]

STL will certainly not keep Luck.  They will engineer a Herschel Walker/Ricky Williams-type deal and get an entire team's draft.

You don't trade away a #1 overall QB (who won Rookie of the Year!) just so you can draft another QB.  That's just plain idiotic.  You say "he's the next Manning" as if it was always known that Manning would pan out in the NFL... if that's the case, why the hell was anyone talking about Ryan Leaf?  Why was there even any discussion over who the Colts would pick?

The draftniks THINK Luck will be good.  Bradford already is good.

[MikeO]

You honestly think ALL those teams you listed would want Luck?..REALLY think about that..and you can't "move" Bradford..not with that contract.

lol,. yes

[MikeO]

You don't trade away a #1 overall QB (who won Rookie of the Year!) just so you can draft another QB.  That's just plain idiotic.  You say "he's the next Manning" as if it was always known that Manning would pan out in the NFL... if that's the case, why the hell was anyone talking about Ryan Leaf?  Why was there even any discussion over who the Colts would pick?

never any discussion over who the Colts would pick. It was a pre-draft ploy in contract talks with Manning. Polian was always taking Manning

[Spider-Dan]

never any discussion over who the Colts would pick. It was a pre-draft ploy in contract talks with Manning. Polian was always taking Manning

I suppose Polian also convinced all the talking heads at the various sports media outlets to sell the same ploy?

There was plenty of debate (coming out of places other than the Colts' front office) over Manning vs. Leaf.  Manning was the choker with the pedigree; Leaf was the physical specimen with raw talent.  Any attempt to say that "Indy was always taking Manning" is pure, unadulterated hindsight.

[dolfan13]

you pay the right personnel folks in your organization to make the right calls with respect to player evaluation. that's what they get paid to do well.

it's funny how some organizations seem to understand how to pick the right qb (the singular most important position on the field). there are some guys in the profession of nfl talent evaluation that know how to identify qb's. for these very few folks, it isn't a "crapshoot" or pure "luck".

it's obvious the regime that parcells brought in does not have a good sense of evaluating nfl talent on the offensive side of the ball. the biggest decision ross will have this coming offseason will be to get the right gm in place (god help us if this remains ireland), that can make the right call on the remaining qb's in the draft if we don't end up with the #1 pick.

[Jim Gray]

While I disagree with MikeO that "no team will trade away Luck", I don't think he's too far off.  With the exception of St. Louis, Carolina, Arizona and maybe KC,  I think most of these teams would draft Luck for themselves.  That doesn't mean they would pass him over for another player.  If a team is in a position to draft Luck, and doesn't want him, I have no doubt they will trade that pick.  True or not, Luck is viewed by many as one of the special players that only come around once in a decade.

So even the 2nd worse record does Miami no good when it comes to getting Luck.  The way I see it, the only way Miami gets Luck is if they have the number 1 pick in the draft.  I think it's unlikely they will try and trade up.  There is such a lack of talent on the team, giving away a bunch of picks just doesn't make sense.

I'm not promoting this idea, just tossing it out for discussion.........

What if we do get the number 1 pick in the draft.  Provided Henne continues to show some improvement, how upset would you be if Miami pulled off a trade similar to the Ricky Williams deal and collected a boatload of picks?  For those who think the team only has a few decent players, wouldn't this make more sense?  By himself, Luck isn't going to take Miami to the Super Bowl; but a bunch of picks could be just what we need to rebuild this team (provided we have a GM/Coach that does a better job at evaluating talent).

[Sunstroke]

Teams with one or fewer wins:

Seattle (could be in play for Luck, Tavaris Jackson could be benched, and they gave Whitehurst starter money)

Jacksonville (just drafted Blane Gabbert, would be pretty silly to draft Luck as well)

Arizona (Kevin Kolb = big $$, not taking Luck)

Denver (Fans want Tebow, wildcard for Luck)

Philly (Michael Vick, enough said)

KC (Do you give up on Matt Cassel after one iffy year?)

Carolina (Cam Newton)

St. Louis  (Sam Bradford)

Minnesota (Christian Ponder?)

Indy (This could be the biggest threat.  If Peyton Manning is truely done, they should absolutely draft Luck and have him be his successor, a la Aaron Rodgers)

Seattle paying Charlie Whitehurst "starter money" being a possible reason for them passing on Luck...might just be the single funniest thing I've read in a long time.

KC potentially passing on Luck to keep rolling with Matt Cassel is a fairly close second...

The only two teams on this list that could even possibly consider passing on Andrew Luck would be Carolina and St. Louis, due to Cam Newton and Sam Bradford, but if St. Louis continues to regress from last season, even they might be intrigued by Luck.

Philly? Aside from having no chance of ending the season with the worst record in football, even they would have to look at bringing in Luck as Vick's heir-apparent.

[dolfan13]

you don't trade away a talent like luck if you can get him.

colts were in shambles, minute they draft manning, they are on their way to being a contender.

the hardest, and most important, position to fill is qb. this isn't giving up a running back for a boatload of picks. its potentially passing on a once in a generation qb. you'd have at least 10 years to get the rest of the roster right.

the qb position can mask so many weaknesses in your roster. you can have a bunch of jag's on your roster with a stud qb and still be a contender.

[Spider-Dan]

When Eli Manning came out, the talk at the time was that he was potentially better than Peyton (particularly since this was during the era when Peyton was still considered incapable of winning a big game).  Give me a break with this guaranteed stuff.

And if Miami doesn't get the #1 pick, they should root for St. Louis or Carolina to; at least then, a trade is on the table.  Jim, I don't understand what you mean when you say that it "doesn't make sense" to trade away a bunch of picks for Luck; any team near the top of the draft is going to have a lot of holes, since that's what gets you to the top of the draft (with the possible special exception of Indy).