There was a point when it seemed this year’s draft was going to be the perfect one for teams looking for a quarterback.
Marcus Mariota and Brett Hundley decided to return to college, though, and teams found that Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel were not the sure things that you want to find when spending a high first-round pick on a player to build your team around. The Vikings are one of the teams looking for a franchise quarterback, leaving General Manager Rick Spielman and the rest of the brass to figure out if there’s a quarterback worth taking with the eighth pick or if they’re better served filling another hole while addressing quarterback later in the draft.
Peter King of TheMMQB.com quoted an NFL coach as saying that the quarterback decisions are “tortuous” this year, something Spielman agreed with while saying that there’s more pressure to make the right call this year than in the past.
“That’s a big reason why we made it a high priority to sign Matt Cassel back. Every one of these quarterbacks ... nothing is a sure thing. There’s no Andrew Luck, no Peyton Manning,” Spielman said. “It is such a mixed bag with each player—every one of them has positives, every one of them has negatives. And if that’s the way you end up feelings, why don’t you just wait till later in the draft, and take someone with the first pick you’re sure will help you right now? I agree with that coach, whoever it is. It is torturous this year.”
Spielman said that if the Vikings do take a quarterback this year, they’d like him to sit and learn in 2014 before ascending to the starting job. That’s a tough thing to do when you use a top 10 pick on a player, which may push the Vikings and others toward different positions come May 8.