With the Hiring of Munchak Will Titans Select a QB?
(Image taken from Bleacher report)
If there is something I’ve learned about following the N.F.L.Football and the N.F.L. draft,it is this…
When a team hires a new coach….drafting a quarterback is almost always step number two in the rebuilding process.
On the surface that seems to make a lot of sense. Coaches don’t get fired if their team is winning, and teams win when they have good quarterbacks, but still it almost always holds true, even if the new QB added is not a suprestar quarterback.
There are obvious examples like when the Steve Spagnulo took over for the St. Louis Rams and he had the first pick in the N.F.L. Draft. That is always a great time to take a QB because you get a chance to start with an elite talented player. There are 1,000,000 examples of a new coach coming in and taking a QB high in the draft in their first season (Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Sam Bradford, Eli Manning, Mark Sanchez, just to name one of a myriad of times this happened).
Why does this happen? Well, first a new coach gets to decide what kind of offensive system he wants to run and in order to do that he has to find a player he can fit his system, that’s much easier when you can pick a person of your choosing, who is a Rookie and hasn’t learned anything yet, and mold them in the coaches’ image.
Secondly: finding a new young QB builds in two or three years of good will. Before Flacco and Ryan and then Sanchez success of the past few years rarely did rookie QB ever succeed in the N.F.L.. Coaches got a pass for the first few years because people said “well, you can’t expect to win with a Rookie QB”.
But does this always hold true?
Close to almost always, but sometimes they find a QB in other ways.
Take for example Pete Carrol who was hired last year…shortly after he was hired the Seahawks swung a trade acquire Charlie Whitehurst as insurance for Matt Hasselbeck. This was a new coach finding a young signal caller, eve though he had a successful one on the roster.
Also, last year, the Shanahan started out his Redskins coaching career by swiging a deal for Donovan Mcnabb. Withan aging win-now team and very few draft picks the Redskins still found a way to get a new quarterback.
Are there exceptions to the rule? Sure. Mike Tomlin had no interest in finding a new QB, but this was a team that was coming off a recent Superbowl Victory with a big-time Quarterback.
A true test of this measure will be when the Cowboys get a new coach…does the new coach find some young QB to groom even though he has Tony Romo (or does Stephen Mcgee count as the young QB to groom?)
This much is for sure. The Titans have a new coach now. This coach who has been with this organization for a long time, and has seen success with Jeff Fisher is already leaning towards gutting his staff that he’s familiar with according to profootballtalk.com. This new coach is not in a win now situation, and a new young QB with their high pick is probably coming…the only question is which one will it be?
Will it be the untapped potential of Cam Newton?
Will it be the Huge arm of Ryan Mallett?
Will it be the athletic ability and leadership of Jake Locker?
Will it be the prototypically built Blaine Gabbert?
I’ll let you guys decide for now.