Originally posted by Draftology:
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.
Had Bradford declared last year no one would have been talking about his shoulder injuries that occurred this year and he would have been a top 10 selection nonetheless. They might have talked about how he would fare without the OU OL or how well he would transition from a spread offense but someone would have taken him, be it Detroit, Seattle, the NY Jets, Denver via trade up or even us. Again you are making out like he has a thousand and one questions about his abilities which is not true and he is considered one of the top 4 or 5 players in this class. He has just about the same amount of questions like every top 10 QB coming out does. Stafford and Sanchez had a lot of questions about them but both looked like they could possibly be the faces of their respective franchises for 10-15 years in just there rookie years.
While most have Bradford rated above Clausen, those same people have Clausen as a top 10 or 15 pick in this class. I think the reason for the difference is people see Bradford with greater upside than Clausen more than anything. Some of those defenses Clausen led comebacks against (whether the Irish won or lost) were ranked better than you probably realize. Pittsburgh and BC were both top 25 defenses in the nation.
As far as starting over, if Alex proves to not be this guy then that is exactly what we would be doing next year, however if you take Clausen should he be there and Smith fails this year then you have a guy who can learn the offense and probably play a little this year so that next year he would already have a year as a pro under his belt and a good feel for the speed of the game and the offensive system we have in place. If Smith succeeds then you could possibly deal Clausen next offseason to someone who is looking for a possible franchise QB.
