Debate To Draft A QB This Year Never Stops

Of the many things that go on during these combines is the debate among the scouts and coaches of who really worked out well or who did poorly. What I have also learned since I moved out of the front office and into the media, those debates happen as well.

No position is debated more than that of the quarterback. It is the one position that can bring you the ultimate glory or put your organization in a tail spin for years. It was interesting this afternoon here in Indianapolis listen to Johnny Manziel talk about what an honor it would to be selected by the Houston Texans because he is from Texas.

At the other end of the hall, Texans new head coach, Bill O’Brien was taking questions on what he might do with the first overall selection. The team he is taking over struggled at the position the entire season and now they must consider if they are to make that journey again.

Manziel is getting all kinds of attention here at the combine this week and is even expected to meet with the Cowboys Friday night as he will likely make the rounds to just about every NFL team at some point.

Whether you like Johnny Manziel or any of the other quarterbacks in this draft, the debate will always be when do you turn in that card? I was listening to The Break from Wednesday and the crew was having a discussion on whether the Cowboys should take a quarterback at 16 if one of the top ones should fall that far.

I thought there were some very interesting points from both Nick Eatman and Derek Eagleton on when they would pull the trigger there. Eatman felt like that this club needed to focus on a player that could help their fortunes now, while Eagleton raised the points of Tony Romo's age and current health, which is also a fair point.

I tend to side with Eagleton on this discussion to go ahead and make that move now. This team does need a quarterback for the future and if you are going to most likely take one in the draft regardless, why not make it one of the best ones you have on your board? Where this makes the most sense to me is because you have Romo in place but also Kyle Orton as a bridge just in case that something does happen to Romo. There will be no pressure to have to play that rookie right now. He can sit, learn and develop on the scout team much like Romo did early in his career until Parcells felt like he was ready to play and he proved he was.

From my experiences of sitting in NFL draft rooms, quarterbacks tend to be put on the board higher than teams are more willing to take them and I think that's a mistake. I have been on teams with outstanding quarterback play and others where it was so bad, we had no opportunity to even compete. As a franchise you have to always be aware of your quarterbacking situation. You never want to be caught in a situation where that position holds your team hostage.

In studying this draft, there are several talented quarterbacks at the top of the draft and several that would be nice fits in the middle of it as well.  But if this club is sitting in the middle of the board with a small number of players to really choose from, if one of those top four quarterbacks are graded well enough, I would encourage Jerry Jones and his staff to have that discussion because at some point you are going to have to make that journey.