The Case For Prioritizing The Trenches Over QB
Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
The idea of a franchise quarterback is tantalizing. Having a stalwart at the league’s most important position to guide your franchise for 10 to 15 years seems to be the NFL dream.
Finding a future Hall Of Famer tends to be the most common topic of fan conversations and sports talk segments in cities that lack a quarterback. In Minnesota, a city that hasn’t seen a true franchise quarterback since Fran Tarkenton, it seems to be something more than that. It’s the Holy Grail. It’s the lost City of Atlantis. It’s the sort of thing that you have heard is real, but you barely believe it because of how long you’ve been unsuccessfully searching.
After Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Minnesota Vikings front office traded with the Houston Texans to acquire a second first-round pick, the writing seemed to be on the wall. This group was taking their shot at finding Atlantis. Whether it’s Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, or perhaps someone higher up the board, The Purple are finally gonna take a big shot at slaying their white whale.
But here’s where it gets tough.
Even the most highly skilled scouting professionals on the planet are about as good as a random roll of the dice when it comes to selecting quarterbacks in the draft. To date no one has developed any methodology that can properly predict success in the NFL. Teams are stuck going on their personal evaluation of game tape and interviews to make their best guess while pretending they know what they’re talking about. Sure, it would be great to have a Burrow or Mahomes, but trading a bunch of picks you are just as likely to end up with Zach Wilson or a Trey Lance.
A quick gander at the best teams in the league will show you that perhaps there is another way. Yes, a Hall of Famer in your quarterback room is a surefire path to contention, but there are several perennial contenders that are built in a very specific different way. Look to the trenches.
While Kansas City, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Buffalo rely on their All-World signal callers, the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Detroit Lions have all invested heavily in their big men.
Kyle Shanahan is happy to pay nothing to the last pick in the draft while constantly adding picks and free agents to his defensive and offensive line. Howie Roseman is seemingly obsessed with bolstering his trenches. The Lions passed on flashy offensive talent multiple times to put Penei Sewell on their o line and Aidan Hutchinson on the defensive line. Maybe Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts are truly elite quarterbacks. Maybe Jared Goff is having a career revival. But maybe it’s just easier to be the quarterback of a team that’s built properly in the trenches?
So while everybody mocks which quarterback the Vikings are going to spend all their assets to go up and grab, maybe serious consideration should be given to the opposite approach. Take a DE like Jared Verse at 11 and C/G Jackson Powers Johnson at 23 and chart a new path.
The true opportunity of the NFL draft is finding talent that outperforms their contract. In a salary cap league, a team can quickly change its fortunes by hitting a first-round home run. Look at the Dallas Cowboys. They have had one of the best defensive players in the league the last few years playing on a rookie deal. It is one of the only reasons they were competing at the level they were while they paid out their ridiculous offensive contracts.
If somehow the Vikings knocked it out of the park at 11 and 23 and then rolled into next off-season with $125 million in cap room, the world would be their oyster. That’s the sort of team that you could set a second- or third- or whatever-round pick that you believe in behind and see if they can grow and succeed.
Maybe the Vikings should stop worrying about Atlantis and find a different map. Who knows they might wind up in the most beautiful city they’ve ever been to.
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