2019 NFL Draft Review
It was another year where quarterbacks took the focus as it seems to happen every time a new crop of young stars came into the league.
The QB position continues to gain in importance in the NFL and with that importance comes a constant search for the next great pivot.
Finding that next great pivot is tough though as there are plenty of potential great QBs out there and finding one who can actually make it in the NFL has proven to be near impossible.
There are only a handful of great quarterbacks in the league and a bunch who show flashes but fall short of extending their runs.
Even more, quarterbacks look like they have all of the tools but when it comes down to the speed of the game at the top level they can’t handle it and fall off.
In the constant quest to find that quarterback who can make a difference in the league teams tend to make some questionable decisions.
This year the draft showed that as teams made some pretty bold moves that had everyone talking about quarterbacks despite the depth of talent elsewhere.
The first move came with the first pick in the draft as the Arizona Cardinals had found a QB only a year before in Josh Rosen with the 10th pick in the draft.
He was supposed to be the future of the team but with the top pick in the draft, the Cardinals had a chance to take someone who had a lot more potential.
Kyler Murray was coming off of a Heisman Trophy season and seemed like the continuation of the evolution of the position with speed and athletic ability to go along with an arm.
Not only that but the Cardinals had just hired Kliff Kingsbury who is considered one of the godfather’s of the spread offence and Murray fits perfectly into that type of offence.
The Cardinals took the young QB and a day later traded Rosen to Miami changing two teams and shaping their 2019 season before it even began.
It wasn’t entirely shocking though as the rumours were swirling before the draft hat Murray was headed to Arizona and with their new coach it made too much sense.
Murray seems like a good pick as he does likely fit the offence but he only started one season at Oklahoma and is a smaller quarterback.
Whether or not he takes over the league like some think he can is up for debate but he will be the guy from the start.
It wasn’t a major shock for Murray to be taken first overall but that didn’t leave the draft without a shocking result.
With the sixth pick in the draft, the New York Giants took Daniel Jones, a quarterback from Duke who will become the heir to Eli Manning.
Manning and the Giants have had a complicated relationship and the move is understandable as Manning only has a limited amount of time left in the league.
The fact is though that this was a strange pick when the Giants just lost their top receiver and had holes everywhere else.
Not only was it strange to pick Jones ahead of other needs but there was also a clear favourite to go that early in the draft, Dwayne Haskins.
Haskins seemed closer to a sure thing than a sometimes inconsistent Jones and even if they really did want Jones they could have likely taken him in round two.
It seemed like a major reach for a position that is not necessarily a need and with more potential great QBs available next year they could have even waited a year to get their guy.
It was a questionable decision made by a franchise that has not been able to recapture the magic that made them one of the best teams in the league.
Jones is not going to start right away as the franchise has already stated that they could be looking at a “Rodgers Situation” referring to when the Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers and held him on the bench behind Brett Favre for three years.
Jones could turn out to be a great quarterback or at least a good enough quarterback to help the Giants but with the chance to find a difference maker right now the Giants failed.
The draft was dominated by quarterback stories but the real difference is going to be made by the amount of defensive talent in this draft.
Everyone will be watching Murray and Jones as well as Haskins, who went to Washington in the first round, to see how well they will do the defensive line talent will be making life difficult for other quarterbacks.
That will be the legacy of this draft as Ed Oliver, Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams, Josh Allen, Rashan Gary, Clelin Ferrell and Dexter Lawrence were all taken in the first round and all could be impactful players in 2019.
If they can make that impact this year’s draft will not be talked about for the quarterbacks take but rather the amount of defensive talent that came out of the draft.
The Sport Addiction 