Niners contacted Clausen?

I love how you say we all think Alex Smith is the 2nd coming of Jesus...well, it's not that we are riding or licking his nuts...

I just want you to go back and compare stats from Matt Ryan and Alex Smith.

Alex Smith SFO 11 81.5 225 372 60.5
Matt Ryan ATL 14 80.9 263 451 58.3

[ Edited by blacksailsmd on Apr 7, 2010 at 09:10:52 ]

[img=]

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by bigfan:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by montana2rice:

Originally posted by Draftology:
he is the last player id want in this draft

why?? have you seen him play? do you know anything about him other than the b.s. comments we've been hearing during the past 3 months??

claussen is a STUD!! i'm a sc fan and i hate giving credit to a damer but i have to on this one. he will be a top qb in the league in the next few years.

I've seen him play and my cousin goes to Notre Dame. There is a reason Notre Dame fans hate him and are glad to see him leave. He has no killer instinct, he doesn't put his team on his back to win games, he is not a leader, and before this season he was considered a major disappointment production wise. He is a one hit wonder with personality issues. I agree the physical tools are there but the physical tools were there for Ryan Leaf too.

There is no facepalm pic that would acurately display my feelings towards your post. Clausen personally won several games for ND last year in the 4th quarter. Anyone who watched ND games last year knows this. You can even poll the Clausen haters on this board and they would tell you that he is a winner in the 4th quarter. If ND had a solid D, Clausen would have been in a BCS game last year.

I dont care if you want him on the team or not, but please make sure you know what you are talking about before you give your opinion as fact.

I've seen Clausen play in about 10 games and my cousin knows him and Golden Tate personally. On Clausen's deep balls, he chucks it up and puts waaaay too much air under it, he went to Notre Dame over USC because he didn't want to have to compete with Mark Sanchez, all Notre Dame fans obviously don't feel the way about him that you do because he got punched in the face at a bar, and in a poll by ESPN only 59% of the state of Indiana thinks he's better than Bradford. Shouldn't there be some home town bias. I was expecting around 88%. Bradford has had 2 major shoulder injuries, plays in the spread offense, has really only started for one year, and has had an elite line and receivers. So Bradford has a ton of questions yet he is the consensus best quarterback. The only analyst that puts Clausen ahead of him is Mel Kiper. If Clausen doesn't have character issues like you say, then how on Earth is he behind Bradford who has about as many questions about him as any #1 overall pick ever?

Getting punched by 1 person in 3 years does very little to support your argument that ND fans are happy to see him leave. Again the majority of fans would rather have him back. Go frequent some ND message boards and get back to me.

And what does his stock vs Sam Bradford's have to do with whether or not we should take him ? You are trying to change the argument now, avoiding your points that have been countered.

Does he put a little to much air under his deep balls, yes but that is correctable and a lot of that was his trust in his receivers (mainly Tate and Floyd) ability to go up and snag the ball at it's highest point which they had no problem doing. It's normal for a QB coming out of college to have some things that need worked on or tweaked and areas where they can stand to improve.

It seems the media are the ones questioning his character but not all in the media are. Again, the media. Mike Golic refuted the point as he was around the team a lot due to his sons playing on the team, Tony Dungy believes him to be a fiery competitor and a leader. There are plenty of others who have said a lot of media personalities has over-exaggerated his lack of leadership and character issues. And one more time every single teammate on the Irish roster voted him team captain, that speaks volumes about how his teammates felt.

You've seen 10 games, I've seen all 27 games he has played in. Maybe you need to go back and watch the film again instead of listening to your cousin who obviously doesn't seem to be very aware of Fighting Irish football.

I'm bringing up the comparisons with Bradford because Bradford has sooooooo many question marks yet almost everyone considers Bradford to be the number one quarterback, ahead of Clausen. I admit the punch argument isn't a very strong one but he still got hit one more time by his one fans than any other star quarterback I know of. And my cousin isn't the only Notre Dame fan I know that is happy he's gone. The fact that he has had good production, comes from a major program, has been a three year starter, and runs a pro-style offense makes him a good prospect. But even with those things going for him everyone considers Bradford to be better and it doesn't seem to be close. Also not a single one of his comebacks came against a ranked opponent. And why would the media make up the character issues? Doesn't Clausen seem like the golden boy that they would find any excuse to praise? I know the media just wants stories but the number one high school quarterback from so-cal becoming the starter at Football-U his freshman year and becoming a star seems like a pretty good story. And before this season he wasn't even mentioned as one of the top quarterbacks in the next NFL draft. He had one great year like Bradford, but yet Bradford is the consensus #1 pick.

Bradford does not have as many questions as you are making out and has 2 good seasons under his belt not one.

The mediots run with anything that is fed to them, likely someone or some team looking to drop a prospects stock for it's own gain. None of it matters because we will unlikely ever get the truth of the matter but all signs point to it being a fabrication when listening to any one of Clausen's teammates talk about him.

And while none of those comebacks were vs ranked opponents, go look at the other games and how well he performed. If not for a porous defense, Clausen would have led ND to more W's.

- vs Michigan...Down by 11, two 4th quarter Clausen led drives to take the lead for and the Irish and the defense surrenders the game winning score with 10 seconds left.

- vs USC...1 bad pass from Clausen on the final play of the game but he led the team down there for an attempted 3rd score in the 4th quarter, a quarter in which they came in down by 20. And it's hard to win games when you surrender 500+ yards to your opposition.

- vs Pitt....had the OL not drawn a 15 yard penalty, Clausen wouldn't have been in a 3rd and 16 situation late in the 4th when the controversial fumble occurred. Regardless of that he led his team down for another 4th quarter score when down by 16 then Tate returned a punt for a TD. Again Clausen leading his team in the 4th quarter to try and comeback and again put in that situation by a defense that couldn't stop the opposition.

- vs Standford....Notre Dame couldn't stop the run all day long but nonetheless Clausen with another 4th quarter score to give his team and 8 point lead and the D thanks him by surrendering 2 TD's after that, the 2nd leaving under a minute on the clock.

Obviously his teammates aren't going to say he's a bad leader or throw him under the bus. Bradford is riddled with questions. I was wrong about only one year starting, but he still is coming from the spread offense, he had 2 major shoulder injuries, he doesn't have an elite arm, he had elite talent around him, he has an unusual throwing motion, and (like Clausen) he is a junior coming out and not many juniors have faired well in the NFL. You make some good points about Clausen and now I like him a little more than I did before, but I still don't buy him as a mid first round pick, especially for the 49ers.

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by bigfan:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by montana2rice:

Originally posted by Draftology:
he is the last player id want in this draft

why?? have you seen him play? do you know anything about him other than the b.s. comments we've been hearing during the past 3 months??

claussen is a STUD!! i'm a sc fan and i hate giving credit to a damer but i have to on this one. he will be a top qb in the league in the next few years.

I've seen him play and my cousin goes to Notre Dame. There is a reason Notre Dame fans hate him and are glad to see him leave. He has no killer instinct, he doesn't put his team on his back to win games, he is not a leader, and before this season he was considered a major disappointment production wise. He is a one hit wonder with personality issues. I agree the physical tools are there but the physical tools were there for Ryan Leaf too.

There is no facepalm pic that would acurately display my feelings towards your post. Clausen personally won several games for ND last year in the 4th quarter. Anyone who watched ND games last year knows this. You can even poll the Clausen haters on this board and they would tell you that he is a winner in the 4th quarter. If ND had a solid D, Clausen would have been in a BCS game last year.

I dont care if you want him on the team or not, but please make sure you know what you are talking about before you give your opinion as fact.

I've seen Clausen play in about 10 games and my cousin knows him and Golden Tate personally. On Clausen's deep balls, he chucks it up and puts waaaay too much air under it, he went to Notre Dame over USC because he didn't want to have to compete with Mark Sanchez, all Notre Dame fans obviously don't feel the way about him that you do because he got punched in the face at a bar, and in a poll by ESPN only 59% of the state of Indiana thinks he's better than Bradford. Shouldn't there be some home town bias. I was expecting around 88%. Bradford has had 2 major shoulder injuries, plays in the spread offense, has really only started for one year, and has had an elite line and receivers. So Bradford has a ton of questions yet he is the consensus best quarterback. The only analyst that puts Clausen ahead of him is Mel Kiper. If Clausen doesn't have character issues like you say, then how on Earth is he behind Bradford who has about as many questions about him as any #1 overall pick ever?

Getting punched by 1 person in 3 years does very little to support your argument that ND fans are happy to see him leave. Again the majority of fans would rather have him back. Go frequent some ND message boards and get back to me.

And what does his stock vs Sam Bradford's have to do with whether or not we should take him ? You are trying to change the argument now, avoiding your points that have been countered.

Does he put a little to much air under his deep balls, yes but that is correctable and a lot of that was his trust in his receivers (mainly Tate and Floyd) ability to go up and snag the ball at it's highest point which they had no problem doing. It's normal for a QB coming out of college to have some things that need worked on or tweaked and areas where they can stand to improve.

It seems the media are the ones questioning his character but not all in the media are. Again, the media. Mike Golic refuted the point as he was around the team a lot due to his sons playing on the team, Tony Dungy believes him to be a fiery competitor and a leader. There are plenty of others who have said a lot of media personalities has over-exaggerated his lack of leadership and character issues. And one more time every single teammate on the Irish roster voted him team captain, that speaks volumes about how his teammates felt.

You've seen 10 games, I've seen all 27 games he has played in. Maybe you need to go back and watch the film again instead of listening to your cousin who obviously doesn't seem to be very aware of Fighting Irish football.

I'm bringing up the comparisons with Bradford because Bradford has sooooooo many question marks yet almost everyone considers Bradford to be the number one quarterback, ahead of Clausen. I admit the punch argument isn't a very strong one but he still got hit one more time by his one fans than any other star quarterback I know of. And my cousin isn't the only Notre Dame fan I know that is happy he's gone. The fact that he has had good production, comes from a major program, has been a three year starter, and runs a pro-style offense makes him a good prospect. But even with those things going for him everyone considers Bradford to be better and it doesn't seem to be close. Also not a single one of his comebacks came against a ranked opponent. And why would the media make up the character issues? Doesn't Clausen seem like the golden boy that they would find any excuse to praise? I know the media just wants stories but the number one high school quarterback from so-cal becoming the starter at Football-U his freshman year and becoming a star seems like a pretty good story. And before this season he wasn't even mentioned as one of the top quarterbacks in the next NFL draft. He had one great year like Bradford, but yet Bradford is the consensus #1 pick.

Bradford does not have as many questions as you are making out and has 2 good seasons under his belt not one.

The mediots run with anything that is fed to them, likely someone or some team looking to drop a prospects stock for it's own gain. None of it matters because we will unlikely ever get the truth of the matter but all signs point to it being a fabrication when listening to any one of Clausen's teammates talk about him.

And while none of those comebacks were vs ranked opponents, go look at the other games and how well he performed. If not for a porous defense, Clausen would have led ND to more W's.

- vs Michigan...Down by 11, two 4th quarter Clausen led drives to take the lead for and the Irish and the defense surrenders the game winning score with 10 seconds left.

- vs USC...1 bad pass from Clausen on the final play of the game but he led the team down there for an attempted 3rd score in the 4th quarter, a quarter in which they came in down by 20. And it's hard to win games when you surrender 500+ yards to your opposition.

- vs Pitt....had the OL not drawn a 15 yard penalty, Clausen wouldn't have been in a 3rd and 16 situation late in the 4th when the controversial fumble occurred. Regardless of that he led his team down for another 4th quarter score when down by 16 then Tate returned a punt for a TD. Again Clausen leading his team in the 4th quarter to try and comeback and again put in that situation by a defense that couldn't stop the opposition.

- vs Standford....Notre Dame couldn't stop the run all day long but nonetheless Clausen with another 4th quarter score to give his team and 8 point lead and the D thanks him by surrendering 2 TD's after that, the 2nd leaving under a minute on the clock.

Obviously his teammates aren't going to say he's a bad leader or throw him under the bus. Bradford is riddled with questions. I was wrong about only one year starting, but he still is coming from the spread offense, he had 2 major shoulder injuries, he doesn't have an elite arm, he had elite talent around him, he has an unusual throwing motion, and (like Clausen) he is a junior coming out and not many juniors have faired well in the NFL. You make some good points about Clausen and now I like him a little more than I did before, but I still don't buy him as a mid first round pick, especially for the 49ers.

Yes but when every single teammate votes you for team captain that goes a long long way in showing what they think of you as a leader and how they feel about your character on and in the locker room.

And so what that Bradford doesn't have an elite arm, it's not the end all be all in the NFL and his arm is definitely good enough to make all the required throws, that's what matters. Same with Clausen and all his attributes, he has a good enough arm to make all throws and a great deal of starting experience in a pro style offense, he has good mechanics and footwork and has shown good accuracy.

Clausen is widely regarded as a top 15 prospect in this class and is considered to be a better prospect than Bradford by Mel Kiper FWIW. You may not be sold on him but many many others agree where he fits in this draft class and that goes against your perception of him, however you have attempted to knock him on grounds that are simply untrue or unproven.

As a Notre Dame fan if we take him great if we don't no sweat off my back but it could be a costly mistake because Smith still has much to prove and we don't have his hefty contract anymore. There is no guarantees that we will be in a position to grab a franchise QB in next years draft class and could be forced to pay a hefty price to move up for one should need be or be able to acquire one via trade or FA. With 2 1st round picks in this class if Clausen is there at 13 and we don't have any favorable trade options we should strongly consider taking him, should Smith pan out we could be sitting with another Brees/Rivers situation and could deal one or the other while his stock is still hot.

Originally posted by bigfan:
[img=]

Did you already pre-order one of those ?

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by bigfan:
[img=]

Did you already pre-order one of those ?

Nate Davis is number 7.

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by bigfan:

Originally posted by Draftology:

Originally posted by montana2rice:

Originally posted by Draftology:
he is the last player id want in this draft

why?? have you seen him play? do you know anything about him other than the b.s. comments we've been hearing during the past 3 months??

claussen is a STUD!! i'm a sc fan and i hate giving credit to a damer but i have to on this one. he will be a top qb in the league in the next few years.

I've seen him play and my cousin goes to Notre Dame. There is a reason Notre Dame fans hate him and are glad to see him leave. He has no killer instinct, he doesn't put his team on his back to win games, he is not a leader, and before this season he was considered a major disappointment production wise. He is a one hit wonder with personality issues. I agree the physical tools are there but the physical tools were there for Ryan Leaf too.

There is no facepalm pic that would acurately display my feelings towards your post. Clausen personally won several games for ND last year in the 4th quarter. Anyone who watched ND games last year knows this. You can even poll the Clausen haters on this board and they would tell you that he is a winner in the 4th quarter. If ND had a solid D, Clausen would have been in a BCS game last year.

I dont care if you want him on the team or not, but please make sure you know what you are talking about before you give your opinion as fact.

I've seen Clausen play in about 10 games and my cousin knows him and Golden Tate personally. On Clausen's deep balls, he chucks it up and puts waaaay too much air under it, he went to Notre Dame over USC because he didn't want to have to compete with Mark Sanchez, all Notre Dame fans obviously don't feel the way about him that you do because he got punched in the face at a bar, and in a poll by ESPN only 59% of the state of Indiana thinks he's better than Bradford. Shouldn't there be some home town bias. I was expecting around 88%. Bradford has had 2 major shoulder injuries, plays in the spread offense, has really only started for one year, and has had an elite line and receivers. So Bradford has a ton of questions yet he is the consensus best quarterback. The only analyst that puts Clausen ahead of him is Mel Kiper. If Clausen doesn't have character issues like you say, then how on Earth is he behind Bradford who has about as many questions about him as any #1 overall pick ever?

Getting punched by 1 person in 3 years does very little to support your argument that ND fans are happy to see him leave. Again the majority of fans would rather have him back. Go frequent some ND message boards and get back to me.

And what does his stock vs Sam Bradford's have to do with whether or not we should take him ? You are trying to change the argument now, avoiding your points that have been countered.

Does he put a little to much air under his deep balls, yes but that is correctable and a lot of that was his trust in his receivers (mainly Tate and Floyd) ability to go up and snag the ball at it's highest point which they had no problem doing. It's normal for a QB coming out of college to have some things that need worked on or tweaked and areas where they can stand to improve.

It seems the media are the ones questioning his character but not all in the media are. Again, the media. Mike Golic refuted the point as he was around the team a lot due to his sons playing on the team, Tony Dungy believes him to be a fiery competitor and a leader. There are plenty of others who have said a lot of media personalities has over-exaggerated his lack of leadership and character issues. And one more time every single teammate on the Irish roster voted him team captain, that speaks volumes about how his teammates felt.

You've seen 10 games, I've seen all 27 games he has played in. Maybe you need to go back and watch the film again instead of listening to your cousin who obviously doesn't seem to be very aware of Fighting Irish football.

I'm bringing up the comparisons with Bradford because Bradford has sooooooo many question marks yet almost everyone considers Bradford to be the number one quarterback, ahead of Clausen. I admit the punch argument isn't a very strong one but he still got hit one more time by his one fans than any other star quarterback I know of. And my cousin isn't the only Notre Dame fan I know that is happy he's gone. The fact that he has had good production, comes from a major program, has been a three year starter, and runs a pro-style offense makes him a good prospect. But even with those things going for him everyone considers Bradford to be better and it doesn't seem to be close. Also not a single one of his comebacks came against a ranked opponent. And why would the media make up the character issues? Doesn't Clausen seem like the golden boy that they would find any excuse to praise? I know the media just wants stories but the number one high school quarterback from so-cal becoming the starter at Football-U his freshman year and becoming a star seems like a pretty good story. And before this season he wasn't even mentioned as one of the top quarterbacks in the next NFL draft. He had one great year like Bradford, but yet Bradford is the consensus #1 pick.

Bradford does not have as many questions as you are making out and has 2 good seasons under his belt not one.

The mediots run with anything that is fed to them, likely someone or some team looking to drop a prospects stock for it's own gain. None of it matters because we will unlikely ever get the truth of the matter but all signs point to it being a fabrication when listening to any one of Clausen's teammates talk about him.

And while none of those comebacks were vs ranked opponents, go look at the other games and how well he performed. If not for a porous defense, Clausen would have led ND to more W's.

- vs Michigan...Down by 11, two 4th quarter Clausen led drives to take the lead for and the Irish and the defense surrenders the game winning score with 10 seconds left.

- vs USC...1 bad pass from Clausen on the final play of the game but he led the team down there for an attempted 3rd score in the 4th quarter, a quarter in which they came in down by 20. And it's hard to win games when you surrender 500+ yards to your opposition.

- vs Pitt....had the OL not drawn a 15 yard penalty, Clausen wouldn't have been in a 3rd and 16 situation late in the 4th when the controversial fumble occurred. Regardless of that he led his team down for another 4th quarter score when down by 16 then Tate returned a punt for a TD. Again Clausen leading his team in the 4th quarter to try and comeback and again put in that situation by a defense that couldn't stop the opposition.

- vs Standford....Notre Dame couldn't stop the run all day long but nonetheless Clausen with another 4th quarter score to give his team and 8 point lead and the D thanks him by surrendering 2 TD's after that, the 2nd leaving under a minute on the clock.

Obviously his teammates aren't going to say he's a bad leader or throw him under the bus. Bradford is riddled with questions. I was wrong about only one year starting, but he still is coming from the spread offense, he had 2 major shoulder injuries, he doesn't have an elite arm, he had elite talent around him, he has an unusual throwing motion, and (like Clausen) he is a junior coming out and not many juniors have faired well in the NFL. You make some good points about Clausen and now I like him a little more than I did before, but I still don't buy him as a mid first round pick, especially for the 49ers.

Yes but when every single teammate votes you for team captain that goes a long long way in showing what they think of you as a leader and how they feel about your character on and in the locker room.

And so what that Bradford doesn't have an elite arm, it's not the end all be all in the NFL and his arm is definitely good enough to make all the required throws, that's what matters. Same with Clausen and all his attributes, he has a good enough arm to make all throws and a great deal of starting experience in a pro style offense, he has good mechanics and footwork and has shown good accuracy.

Clausen is widely regarded as a top 15 prospect in this class and is considered to be a better prospect than Bradford by Mel Kiper FWIW. You may not be sold on him but many many others agree where he fits in this draft class and that goes against your perception of him, however you have attempted to knock him on grounds that are simply untrue or unproven.

As a Notre Dame fan if we take him great if we don't no sweat off my back but it could be a costly mistake because Smith still has much to prove and we don't have his hefty contract anymore. There is no guarantees that we will be in a position to grab a franchise QB in next years draft class and could be forced to pay a hefty price to move up for one should need be or be able to acquire one via trade or FA. With 2 1st round picks in this class if Clausen is there at 13 and we don't have any favorable trade options we should strongly consider taking him, should Smith pan out we could be sitting with another Brees/Rivers situation and could deal one or the other while his stock is still hot.

First of all, I agree that arm strength is an over rated quality of a quarterback, but it was listed with several other knocks on Bradford. Second of all, the only thing that I have said that is unproven is the lack of leadership, but I don't think you proved it either. If the three year starter at quarterback isn't elected a team captain, it is a MAJOR problem. Nothing that I've said about Clausen is flat out untrue. Kiper is the only analyst I've heard say he's better than Bradford, and multiple times I've stated the tons of problems that are irrefutable about Bradford. Yet he is almost unanimously considered a better prospect than Clausen. You keep ignoring that. Clausen had a very bad freshman year, a decent sophomore year, and a great junior year. Yes there has been improvement, but it would be tough not to improve on that freshman year. There are several analysts, including Mel Kiper's counterpart Todd McShay, that consider him a second round pick, but will be over valued because of this overall weak quarterback class. I have no idea how you could possibly want us to pick a quarter back though. People say stop making excuses for Smith, but they are legitimate excuses.
Year 1: Terrible first year (like Clausen at Notre Dame)
Year 2: Much improvement, but still not good enough (also like Clausen)-new coordinator
Year 3: Off to a 2-1 start and hurts his shoulder. Out pretty much entire year.-new coordinator
Year 4: Smith and Hill lose job to JTO who is familiar with Martz's offense and sucks it up and Smith hurts shoulder again.-new coordinator
Year 5: Sing gives job to Hill who pretty much won Sing his job the year before. Sing puts in Smith against Texans, and Smith shows he is muuuuuuch improved, but still quite not there.- SAME COORDINATOR
Year 6: Smith enters the year as the unquestioned starter in the same system for the first time, coming off his best year.

Yet you want to start over with Clausen when the Cardinals are temporarily weak and both the Rams and the Seachickens are unstable at best, when we could use our two mid first round picks to improve on an already very good team.

[ Edited by Draftology on Apr 7, 2010 at 16:20:48 ]

you know who else puts a lot of air under his deep throws? his name is phillip rivers

Originally posted by valrod33:

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by bigfan:
[img=]

Did you already pre-order one of those ?

Nate Davis is number 7.

Who's Nate Davis ?

Originally posted by Draftology:
First of all, I agree that arm strength is an over rated quality of a quarterback, but it was listed with several other knocks on Bradford.

If you agreed then why bring it up in the first place ?

Originally posted by Draftology:
Second of all, the only thing that I have said that is unproven is the lack of leadership, but I don't think you proved it either. If the three year starter at quarterback isn't elected a team captain, it is a MAJOR problem. Nothing that I've said about Clausen is flat out untrue.

You said he has no killer instinct and he doesn't put his team on his back, which was disproved, and if you watched 10 games (any of the comebacks or the Michigan/USC/Pitt or Stanford games from this year) you would have seen that.

Originally posted by Draftology:
Kiper is the only analyst I've heard say he's better than Bradford, and multiple times I've stated the tons of problems that are irrefutable about Bradford. Yet he is almost unanimously considered a better prospect than Clausen. You keep ignoring that.

I never said Clausen was a better prospect nor did I knock Bradford. You are the one who brought Bradford and a comparison between the two into the discussion not I.

Originally posted by Draftology:
Clausen had a very bad freshman year, a decent sophomore year, and a great junior year. Yes there has been improvement, but it would be tough not to improve on that freshman year. There are several analysts, including Mel Kiper's counterpart Todd McShay, that consider him a second round pick, but will be over valued because of this overall weak quarterback class. I have no idea how you could possibly want us to pick a quarter back though. People say stop making excuses for Smith, but they are legitimate excuses.
Year 1: Terrible first year (like Clausen at Notre Dame)
Year 2: Much improvement, but still not good enough (also like Clausen)-new coordinator
Year 3: Off to a 2-1 start and hurts his shoulder. Out pretty much entire year.-new coordinator
Year 4: Smith and Hill lose job to JTO who is familiar with Martz's offense and sucks it up and Smith hurts shoulder again.-new coordinator
Year 5: Sing gives job to Hill who pretty much won Sing his job the year before. Sing puts in Smith against Texans, and Smith shows he is muuuuuuch improved, but still quite not there.- SAME COORDINATOR
Year 6: Smith enters the year as the unquestioned starter in the same system for the first time, coming off his best year.

Yet you want to start over with Clausen when the Cardinals are temporarily weak and both the Rams and the Seachickens are unstable at best, when we could use our two mid first round picks to improve on an already very good team.

Clausen had very little talent his freshman year and nearly got killed behind his OL but kept getting up and coming back for more. The line improved over his next 2 years however he still had to run for his life or use his quick release to avoid being sacked. Yes it would be tough not to improve on that freshman year, but it's also a huge knock on one's confidence in most cases. He overcame a lot of adversity while at Notre Dame, again that speaks volumes about his character.

And I never said to start over per se or to draft him, I said to strongly consider it should the opportunity arise and weigh it versus any possible trade offers and who exactly is available at our pick. Taking Clausen wouldn't change that Smith would still be the starter this year while Clausen sits and learns for the time being. Should Smith faulter then you are presented with 2-3 options, play Clausen or play one of other 2 possible QB's on the roster (Davis or Carr). It's possible we keep 4 QB's which is not unheard of in the NFL or cut one and let Clausen compete with the other to be the backup.

Originally posted by gilwankel:
you know who else puts a lot of air under his deep throws? his name is phillip rivers

Gee, for what Clausen is portrayed as by the media, it rings eerily similar to Rivers character. And while it doesn't translate to success in the NFL, FWIW Clausen's junior stats are better than Phillip Rivers junior year stats.

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Draftology:
First of all, I agree that arm strength is an over rated quality of a quarterback, but it was listed with several other knocks on Bradford.

If you agreed then why bring it up in the first place ?

Originally posted by Draftology:
Second of all, the only thing that I have said that is unproven is the lack of leadership, but I don't think you proved it either. If the three year starter at quarterback isn't elected a team captain, it is a MAJOR problem. Nothing that I've said about Clausen is flat out untrue.

You said he has no killer instinct and he doesn't put his team on his back, which was disproved, and if you watched 10 games (any of the comebacks or the Michigan/USC/Pitt or Stanford games from this year) you would have seen that.

Originally posted by Draftology:
Kiper is the only analyst I've heard say he's better than Bradford, and multiple times I've stated the tons of problems that are irrefutable about Bradford. Yet he is almost unanimously considered a better prospect than Clausen. You keep ignoring that.

I never said Clausen was a better prospect nor did I knock Bradford. You are the one who brought Bradford and a comparison between the two into the discussion not I.

Originally posted by Draftology:
Clausen had a very bad freshman year, a decent sophomore year, and a great junior year. Yes there has been improvement, but it would be tough not to improve on that freshman year. There are several analysts, including Mel Kiper's counterpart Todd McShay, that consider him a second round pick, but will be over valued because of this overall weak quarterback class. I have no idea how you could possibly want us to pick a quarter back though. People say stop making excuses for Smith, but they are legitimate excuses.
Year 1: Terrible first year (like Clausen at Notre Dame)
Year 2: Much improvement, but still not good enough (also like Clausen)-new coordinator
Year 3: Off to a 2-1 start and hurts his shoulder. Out pretty much entire year.-new coordinator
Year 4: Smith and Hill lose job to JTO who is familiar with Martz's offense and sucks it up and Smith hurts shoulder again.-new coordinator
Year 5: Sing gives job to Hill who pretty much won Sing his job the year before. Sing puts in Smith against Texans, and Smith shows he is muuuuuuch improved, but still quite not there.- SAME COORDINATOR
Year 6: Smith enters the year as the unquestioned starter in the same system for the first time, coming off his best year.

Yet you want to start over with Clausen when the Cardinals are temporarily weak and both the Rams and the Seachickens are unstable at best, when we could use our two mid first round picks to improve on an already very good team.

Clausen had very little talent his freshman year and nearly got killed behind his OL but kept getting up and coming back for more. The line improved over his next 2 years however he still had to run for his life or use his quick release to avoid being sacked. Yes it would be tough not to improve on that freshman year, but it's also a huge knock on one's confidence in most cases. He overcame a lot of adversity while at Notre Dame, again that speaks volumes about his character.

And I never said to start over per se or to draft him, I said to strongly consider it should the opportunity arise and weigh it versus any possible trade offers and who exactly is available at our pick. Taking Clausen wouldn't change that Smith would still be the starter this year while Clausen sits and learns for the time being. Should Smith faulter then you are presented with 2-3 options, play Clausen or play one of other 2 possible QB's on the roster (Davis or Carr). It's possible we keep 4 QB's which is not unheard of in the NFL or cut one and let Clausen compete with the other to be the backup.

You still aren't picking up on the reason I brought up Bradford's flaws. He has a ton of question marks. So many that in most years, like last year, he wouldn't be the top rated quarterback, but yet almost everyone says he is clearly better than Clausen. And since Clausen does have have a good arm, comes from a pro-style offense, has been a three year starter, and hasn't had the best o-line yet still produced, there must be a major problem, which must be off the field because according to you, he is a great prospect based on his play. The comebacks/killer instincts I am still not bought on. He did it against crappy defenses that he had already been picking apart. And yes, if we picked him, we would be starting over. There would be at least one year where his on the field play would hurt us. It happens to almost every young quarterback, and we are clearly not good enough yet to overcome poor play at quarterback.

If Clausen slides to #13, not only will the Vikings be ringing our phones, but also the Eagles who have been stockpiling draft picks and traded McNabb.

My favorite trade would give the Eagles our 13th pick for their 24th and 36th (the Redskins 2nd rd) and to make the trade points closer to equal, we throw in our 4th.
#17 Kyle Wilson CB
#24 Anthony Davis / Charles Brown OT
#36 Jerry Hughes OLB

Originally posted by pelos21:
I'm a Clausen supporter so I'm ok with this.

so u like little boys huh? FK Clausen!

Originally posted by mebemused:
If Clausen slides to #13, not only will the Vikings be ringing our phones, but also the Eagles who have been stockpiling draft picks and traded McNabb.

My favorite trade would give the Eagles our 13th pick for their 24th and 36th (the Redskins 2nd rd) and to make the trade points closer to equal, we throw in our 4th.
#17 Kyle Wilson CB
#24 Anthony Davis / Charles Brown OT
#36 Jerry Hughes OLB

The Eagles have Kolb.