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The Eleventh Doctor · 12-18-2014, 03:02 AM

Quote:Mariota is a better player/prospect than Bortles. If they lose out and have the 1 overall, they really should consider taking him.
The "let's see if Bortles develops" is the same thinking that had the Jags take Anger over Wilson
, and Williams over roethlisberger (albeit Leftwich was better than Bortles/Gabbert in year one).

You cannot be a good GM and not consider taking Mariota despite taking a QB before.. I'm sure some team would offer you a 2nd or a conditional high round pick to trade for Bortles. They took a risk with Bortles at pick 3, they can't be afraid to take a risk and draft a QB twice.

Better prospect? That's certainly arguable. Better player? Time will tell, but I think Bortles will be the better player in the end. How good of a prospect he is is irrelevant anyway, because Ryan Leaf was a fantastic prospect, and he ended up being complete and total garbage. Same goes with MANY MANY prospects. Mariota isn't an all world prospect either. This isn't Andrew Luck we're talking about.

Dumb statement. No, that's not why we passed on Russel Wilson for a punter. Wilson was a third round pick, and one that the Jags would never have intended taking. He's only on your radar in hindsight, and ANYBODY could be a great GM with hindsight.

Aside from the interceptions, I'd say Bortles has done better given what he has to work with. Leftwich had Fred Taylor, Kyle Brady, Jimmy Smith. Fred played all 16 games in Leftwich's first year, and managed to rush for 1500 yards. If we had Fred Taylor, Kyle Brady, and Jimmy Smith.. Not to mention Tony Brackens, and a young Brad Meester. (But certainly not rookie)

Yet, only three times in history has a team picked QB's in the Top 5 two years in a row. If it took this to be a good GM, more GM's would do it. The whole "They don't have the stones to do it" argument doesn't work, because finding a QB is more important now than ever. And one of those times doesn't count, because the Redskins never signed the player because he chose to play in the AFL. You're ALWAYS taking a risk with players. You're taking a freaking Risk by taking Mariota too. And if you draft Mariota, trade Bortles, and Bortles goes on to have a successful career while Mariota flops, then Dave Caldwell would replace Gene Smith as the poster boy for the fan's ire. Writing off Bortles at this point is dumb anyway, and only armchair GM's are doing it.

I was wrong about Trent Baalke.