Once a team has a player that solidifies a position such as QB, that team can then build out its team elsewhere quickly by spending picks on other parts of the roster, or selling their pick to a team desperate to get a specific player because the need isn’t so great.

Teams that have done well with this over the year are pretty much the gold standards of how to run a franchise, in SOME respects. No one is perfect at everything, not even the Pats.

These are the top 5 teams in not squandering picks on QBs in my book:

1- Indianaplis: Since getting Peyton in 1998 in round 1, they have drafted only one QB- Jim Sorgi in 2004 in the 6th round. In 10 seasons they have spent 2 picks on QBs, and thats thanks to Peyton’s durability but also good drafting of the o-line and skill postitions which can be expanded due to more picks being available.

2- Titans: After getting Steve McNair in 1995 in round 1, they have ONLY drafted Vince Young in 2006, 1st round. No one else has been drafted at QB for that team since. This means that they do a good job bringing in UDFA and FA QBs to fill in behind their drafted starters.

3- Eagles: After getting McNabb in 1999 in Round 1, they have since drafted AJ Feely Round 5 2001, Andrew Hall Round 6 2004, Kevin Kold Round 2 2007. So far the Eagles have yielded one decent backup (AJ), one guy they think will take over in 3 seasons (Kolb) and Hall has bounced around the pros as a backup. Not bad, especially since only Kolb really cost them anything pick wise (I consider anything past Round 5 to be gravy picks and if you get a backup or starter out of it, its like finding $50 bucks on the ground outside your door).

4- Jacguar’s: Since joining the league in 1995 the Jaguars have been pretty consistent on picking their QBs. Rob Johnson was the first guy they drafted in Round 4 of 1995. Jonathan Quinn Round 3 1998, David Garrad Round 4 2002, Byron Leftwich Round 1 2003. Overall, they’ve done well over the past 3 years of drafting. They used Rob to rob Wilson blind, Quinn was a decent backup, Garrad ain’t shabby, and Leftwich could have been good if he hadn’t taken some of the abuse he did early on in this career.

5- Panther’s: Since 1995 when they joined league along with the Jaguar’s they have been consistent as well in drafting QBs. Kerry Collins Round 1 1995, Jerry Colquitt Round 6 1995, Chris Weinke Round 4 2001, Randy Fasani Round 5 2002, Stefan LeFors Round 4 2005. Kerry was very decent #1 QB, Colquitt and LeFors have become ok backups around the league. Weinke is still hanging around, but I think its because they would be sued for Agism if they cut him. And I have no clue what happened to Fasani. Delhomme didn’t cost them a cent since he was a FA that they brought over from the Saint’s several years ago. Not bad work.

Now, what does this all mean? Well, if your a team like the Bills who have spent in the past 10 years a pile of picks to get QBs, whether trading for them or drafting them, then you can see where this has hurt us. In some cases it was Management burning picks and cash stupidly (The whole Johnson/Flutie mistake) to the team yanking its guys around (Losman/Trent current issue).

This is not a debate about who is better QB for this team now, they say Trent, and Trent it will be. Gotta admit when they drafted Losman my first thought was “Who the hell is JP Losman?” and things haven’t made much sense since. Anyhow, the thing here is this, we have squandered a number of high picks on questionable decisions, while the above 5 teams, some of whom have spent a number of picks on QBs were taking late round flyers on guys because they could afford to let the kid develop since they have/had established starters who could go a full season. Oh well, this rambled off topic somewhat, but I was bored today :-P.