A bust in Canton or just a bust? NFL teams really never know

Jeff Roberson/AP - Is drafting the quarterback of the future a tricky task? Four quarterbacks were chosen in the first round of the 2010 draft, but Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton has been a standout as a second-rounder.

By Amy Shipley,
WashPost
Published: December 20

The trip from Philadelphia to Pullman, Wash., requires two plane changes and more than 12 hours of travel time. John Wooten, the former vice president of player personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles, made the cross-country trip in 1997 to see Ryan Leaf take part in a scheduled workout at Washington State University. Back then, scouts were debating whether Leaf or another top-rated college quarterback, Peyton Manning, should be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. When some three dozen travel-fatigued scouts arrived at the campus, Leaf let them know he had changed his mind; he didn’t feel like practicing that day after all, Wooten recalled. Physically, Leaf had everything. But his indifference on the doorstep of the draft influenced Wooten more than Leaf’s perfect grades for arm strength and accuracy. Projecting success among quarterbacks in the NFL, Wooten said, “is as difficult as it seems.” But, he added, such incidents “are the kinds of things that you draw on.” Intangible, hard-to-quantify attributes provide, perhaps, the biggest distinction between quarterbacks destined for busts in Canton, Ohio, and those who end up as busts. The rise of the accuracy-challenged Tim Tebow for the Denver Broncos this season perfectly illustrates the imperfect science of projecting quarterback success in the NFL."

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