Franchised: Quarterbacks Might be Hot Ticket in 2012 NFL Draft
By Bo Martin
The 2012 draft is gearing up to be an exciting one. After 2 days of free agency teams are starting to emerge as leaders for specific players and other teams are filling their needs. Teams like the Cowboys, Rams, and Buccaneers are setting themselves up to a best player available draft strategy while teams like Miami, Denver, Tennessee, and Arizona seem to be sitting pretty in hopes of landing coveted free agent Peyton Manning. One thing is for sure, teams are sticking to their plans and the league seems to be undergoing a small makeover.
When assembling an NFL team you need to ensure you have one thing… a Quarterback. Now this draft isn’t teeming with franchise quarterbacks but that wont deter teams from taking the risk. While there are coveted free agents not every team in need is going to land a quarterback in free agency and that may cause a flurry of QB’s taken in the first round even if they don’t necessarily have a first round grade.
We already know now, since the Redskins have made their trade, the first two picks will be Andrew Luck and RGIII. We also know that Cleveland isn’t interested in courting Peyton Manning or Matt Flynn. Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton and Chad Henne have been signed to contracts with teams where they are likely to be backups. So the market has cleared a bit and it appears likely Peyton is going to select an AFC team.
This leaves us with the following teams looking for their next franchise quarterback: Arizona, Seattle, Miami, and Cleveland. It appears likely that Peyton will land in either Denver or Tennessee and Seattle seems to be the front-runner for Matt Flynn. Cleveland picks 4th overall and Miami picks 8th and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that QB could be both of those picks.
The thought here is that Cleveland will choose Ryan Tannehill at 4th overall surpassing elite talent to get a QB and Miami would be tempted to move for Brandon Weeden, a prospect that many think will be ready to play immediately. While I’m not saying that this is guaranteed to happen, it’s something to take a keen notice of, because if it does happen, this draft is going to bust wide open.