Quote:I do think Matt Ryan needs elite WRs to be a great QB, but I think that spending multiple first round picks on WRs is a waste as well.  Most of the examples you listed were during the non-salary era and the other was one of the best QBs of all time.  I believe building your team through the trenches.  When you build your team to be dependent on  passing game and ignore other areas, you won't have a great team.  A great WR can be taken out of the game due to weather or double teams or just a bad QB.  The only HOF wrs in the superbowl lately are Moss, Harrison and Wayne.

What difference does it make whether its pre salary cap vs salary cap when it comes to accumulating talent to win a title and building from the trenches v. Skill players? There are still myriad examples of teams building with early emphasis on skill players in the salary cap era. In the six drafts leading up to their Super Bowl run of the 2000s, the Steelers picked three skill position players (Burgess, Roethlisberger, Polamalu, Miller) to two first round linemen (Hampton, Simmons). After their tainted win in Super Bowl XL, the Steelers used first round picks on non linemen with Holmes, Mendenhall and Timmons and went to the Super Bowl in 2008, winning XLIII. They quite possibly had the worst OL to ever win the Super Bowl. Since then, the Steelers have drafted linemen almost exclusively in the first round and they have struggled since. The Saints championship team featured an OL that did not have a single starter drafted in the first round. The Colts almost exclusively drafted skill position in the first round in the Manning era.


Furthermore, there have been more Hall of Fame caliberWRs in recent Super Bowls than you suggest. T.O., Larry Fitzgerald, Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, Torry Holt and others have all played in Super Bowls within the last 15 years, and all have either been inducted or will warrant serious discussion in the future.

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