Sorry if this is a bit long

Sorry if this is a little long…

Is college success a meter for success at the pro level in a way yes, but being an elite college player doesn’t mean it will transfer over into the pros. I’ll make no bones about that, but a player does have to be successful in the college to be successful in the pros. To me, this means more than stats. A team’s success reflects on a Quaterback’s success and vice-versa. Good QBs find a way to win. Look at the likes of Manning, Brees, and Brady. They are consistent winners. Looking at those 3 and including the likes of Warner, Roethlisberger, and McNabb it can be seen that all of those QBs were successful at the college level and that transferred over to team success.

People can make excuses for Clausen all day long and many may be valid, but does it matter? Whatever success Clausen had did not transfer into team success. If Clausen does not have good line play, D, receivers, or running game here will the excuses continue? “But people make the same excuses for Garrard.” Sure they do, but why draft a QB in the first when he’s not going to transform your team. Why draft another Garrard, especially in the 1st round. Quite simply, put into a good team, Clausen may play good. But Clausen will not make a team good. Should the Vikings nab Clausen and bench him for Favre’s final season I’m sure the “I told you so”s will come if he has later success, but the Vikings are an all around good team. The Jaguars, at least not yet, are not.

We have concerns at O-line, D-line, LB, S, WR, and QB. Clausen would be in a similar situation as he was at Notre Dame, but he couldn’t win there. What makes you think he’ll win here? If Clausen was a game changer then he’d being going #1 to the Rams, but he’s not. He’ll make all the throws and he’ll win games, but he needs a supporting cast. Right now we don’t have a supporting cast and we’ll need that #10 pick or whatever we can turn it into to create a supporting cast for him, Garrard, or a future QB. The time is not right for Clausen and I feel comfortable that Gene would pass on him should he be there at #10. If he is there, they was he can help us the most is if the phone starts ringing.