I don't think it's the "3rd-String" being there that is the problem. The problem is that:
A. It's Landry Jones and he's proven he's not a quality NFL QB. If there was a decent QB on the roster there, I don't think the grumbling would be half as much as it is.
B. The team has lost some quality prospects to keep Jones on the roster and that's the major reason, IMO, that there is grumbling about Jones on the roster.
Originally Posted by Dwinsgames
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Only dogmatic thinking will keep him on the roster this season.
All Defense!
The other reason is that Jones is a fourth round draft pick
Obviously, to this point, the developmental QB has not been Landry Jones. You know, since he has failed to develop. But the idea the Steelers were trying was a solid one. Take a universally (and he was by most scouting services) well thought of QB prospect w/ a good arm and see if he can grow to be the heir apparent.
If that costs a couple of draft picks every other year and a prospect or two here and there, I still support the idea. Hopefully, the Steelers eventually find that QB to develop. I would certainly rather have that happen then the team wonder in the wilderness in another 20+ year search for a franchise QB.
All that being said, maybe they should hire a coach specifically charged with developing said QB prospect? I mean how the hell has Jones not only totally failed to improve a single aspect of his game, but has actually gotten worse every year? I mean what the hell does he do every day?
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I can agree with this. As long as the FO doesn't get head strong and decide to keep the developing QB at the expense of other, more legitimate prospects.
True. They can't get tied to one guy that isn't panning out. The problem is that for my entire life this team has (aside from Roethlisberger) an atrocious track record with QBs.
Malone, Brister, Odonnell, Tomczack, Grahamn, Stewart, Martin, Maddox, Dixon, Miller, and the rest of the cast of immortals that has been auditioned to be "the guy" and kinda stunk.
Bottom line, I don't trust this organization with QB choices. I don't think they have a single person on the staff who knows a good QB prospect from his elbow.
Maybe the only chance the Steelers will find the replacement of Ben after his retirement is that the steelers draft first and it falls in a year with a great QB prospect like the Colts in 2012.
The main grumbling is due to the team being stubborn to admit a mistake again. No way do the Pats keep him for more than 1 season, if that. The Steelers make too many decisions to protect their ego is all. They want to come off as the "smartest guys in the room" and dumping Jones is admitting they were wrong. I believe they will cut bait this year, but it always takes them a year or two longer than most. They were the same way with Cowher, i.e. how long did Kordell stay the starter even when everyone else knew he was terrible? Couldn't admit the mistake.
I agree that the steelers are sometimes very stubborn....I'm sure we will see a lot of Archer in the beginning of season during the suspension of Bell even if he is awful during the training camp and pre-season.
You mention the Colts...the fact they went from Manning to Luck should be illegal.
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Especially when it was so apparent that they intentionally tanked their season to get Luck.
When you rummage through the garbage bin for QBs, garbage is what you get. Other than Malone, who got injured, I don't think we used a high draft pick on a QB for 25 years until Roethlisberger. Of course, that's all on us for failing to see what we were doing wasn't working. Hopefully this time they get the memo, and when Ben's career is winding down they actually, you know, TRY to get a decent replacement.
For the next 3 or 4 years, our main need at QB is a backup who can protect a lead for a couple quarters if Ben gets a concussion, or keep us competitive for a few games if he rolls his ankle. Right now, I think we have that guy in Gradkowski. And for that kind of backup job, you are much better off signing a veteran who is proven to be OK-but-not-great. There are plenty of them available for cheap every year. This whole nonsense with Jones has been nothing but a waste of time.
Tangential point: There is no reason - NONE - to be dicking around with 4th- and 5th-round draft prospects for the backup QB role. The veteran costs you the same and doesn't use up a draft pick. There's no chance that the veteran just doesn't "get it" and turns out to be a bust. If the draft pick does turn out to be any good, he'll want a shot at a starting job, so at best you have a QB controversy; more likely he'll simply sign with another team and you're left with nothing.
THE ONLY reason why we ought to be drafting QBs is because we think there's a chance he might take over for the current starter in the next 2-3 years. So I wouldn't even begin to think about that until it's clear Ben is going to retire.
See you Space Cowboy ...
I don't think it's that easy either. How many really GOOD young QBs are there now? Luck and then whom? I certainly don't think Wilson is all that. And the Colts tanked an entire season to get Luck. In fact, how many really GOOD QBs are in the NFL, period?
To underscore my point, look at this "top QBs under 25" list from 2013 - frankly, it's depressing. Most of them are either completely mediocre or just downright suck. There's ONE QB on there that even comes close to being a "franchise" QB and that's Luck. The fact that Dalton and Kaepernick are on that list at all should tell you all you need to know.
To take an example from our own division, the Bengals are pretty well loaded with top-shelf talent, but they're not winning ANYTHING with Dalton. Sucks for them that they gave away the farm to keep him around - THAT is what I'm afraid of the Steelers' FO doing more than taking fliers on low round QB prospects once Ben is gone.
The only saving grace now is the rookie pay scale - if you spend a high pick on a QB now and he (more than likely) doesn't pan out, you're not in cap hell for a decade afterwards anymore.
Unless we luck out like GB did with Rodgers or Indy did with Luck, we're probably facing some very lean years at the position once Ben hangs them up. And I completely agree with Mojouw as far as the FO's track record at evaluating QB talent is concerned, and that won't help matters either.
You're right, a lot of it does depend on luck. How many first-round QBs turn out to be mediocre or worse - most of them, actually. Then again, the only way to worsen your odds is to pick even lower.
I'm under no illusion that replacing Ben will be as easy as going out a few years from now and using one pick in the middle of the first round. We'd be extremely lucky for that to work. But I still don't know if it's an "evaluating talent" problem, or the fact that where we've historically picked QBs, there's not much talent to evaluate. Are any of the same people in the organization still doing the evaluating? I don't even know.
Odds are we'll probably need a couple of tries with high picks to get a good QB. But the one way to fuck up for sure is to always wait until the third or fourth round and take a longshot on some dark-horse project guy. How well did that work for cornerbacks? Imagine how well it'll do with QBs. Point is, whether we were good or bad at evaluating talent, our draft gameplan in the past gave us almost zero chance of success. And all these low picks on QBs now are just as stupid, because 1) we don't need them, and 2) If they were worth the pick, we lose them. I'm afraid we've got no choice on this one but to deal with the problem when it arrives, and hope we learned our lesson.
See you Space Cowboy ...
Still would be kind of cool to have someone in the developmental pipeline.
How much better would we all feel if some one like Garappolo or oh crap...nevermind.
Looking over some draft histories...it is a horror show once you get past the top 3 Qbs in almost every class.
I think the most realistic option at this point is cloning.
Right now in the top 8 QB(Rodgers,Brady,Ben,Peyton,Brees,Rivers,Romo and Luck),only Luck was drafted after the 2005 season.
Part of that will be because of Haley's obsession with making little fast guys work out.
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We already have a Justin Bieber clone, a Howdy Doody clone, a Bert clone, a Walmart employee clone. What more do you want?
Our future Ben replacement is not on our team.
I'll leave it at that.
And Josh Freeman....
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-josh-freeman/
Alex Kozora @Alex_Kozora 1m1 minute ago
Back-to-back picks for Landry Jones. Fade in left corner picked by Kevin Fogg.
https://twitter.com/Alex_Kozora
He's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!! Who made the picks? Hopefully Jones is building some confidence for one of the young CBs...
5:41: It isn’t anything new for Landry Jones. It may as well been last year, judging by his first few throws in 11-on-11 drills. He was intercepted twice, once by Alden Darby and once by Kevin Fogg as they opened with two-point conversion attempts.
http://dkonpittsburghsports.com/2015...ws-highlights/
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Just cut Jones and put him out of his misery already. We can't do any worse than him at this point...lol
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