To QB or not to QB … That was always going to be the question for teams like QB-needy – well, more like QB-desperate – Cleveland, San Francisco and Chicago with early picks at the 2017 draft. In particular, were those teams going to see enough from the top QB prospects at last’s week combine in Indianapolis to consider using a top three pick at the upcoming draft. Again, this is smoke and mirror’s time of the year, but the sense one gets in the wake of the combine is no. Several of this year’s top QBs – think DeShaun Watson and Mitchell Trubisky in particular – had strong enough combines, but the sense around the league is that while there is some potential out there, none of these guys is really ready to step and start right away. As a result, the sense is that teams like the Browns, 49ers and Bears are leaning toward taking the best player available with their first pick, get a young QB with a later pick, try and find a veteran QB in either free agency or a trade, and, if necessary, go after a top QB prospect in the 2018 draft which looks like it will be stronger at the position. If it was up to those teams, the veteran they’d like to add is New England’s Jimmy Garoppolo, but it appears right now the thinking is that the Patriots asking price is too high. As such, the vet QBs that are currently being associated with the likes of the Browns, Bears and 49ers, are second-tier veterans like Mike Glennon of Tampa Bay, Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor, soon to be ex-49er Colin Kaepernick, and the Bears’ Brian Hoyer. Stay tuned!
