Jake Locker being selected by the Titans and Christian Ponder by the Vikings likely helped Henne's chances even more.
Everything is lining up for Henne, he either responds or hes going to get replaced. I've made excuses for him, heck everyone has made excuses for him but this year he has to show that he can play consistently in this league or we need to spend a very high draft pick on a Qb in next years draft.
We'll see, after the FA thread it really struck me how the decks are cleared for a Veteran to come in and win the job, Tom Brandstater is not beating Henne out let alone a Marc Bulger. And a part of me thinks they roll the dice on Vince Young, call it "fuzzy logic" just thinking about some factors, like maybe Irish knows people who coached Young in HS and at Texas.
The Dolphins have no choice but to sign two more Qb's. Hopefully they bring in someone who had the ability to take the job from Henne. Chaos or not it would be stupid if they did not cause some of that havoc by going after a top Qb, and a top Rb and maybe two of them as well. If Sparano concentrates on being ABLE to run the ball, it will serve Henne, or whomever is starting a lot more than anything
I'm not sure Sparano puts either of those guys into the starting lineup as a rookie w/o the benefit of a full offseason. I'm not sure the Titans and Vikings plan on making them starters either, even though neither team has fall back option on the level of Henne IMO.
If it's Young it would never happen. Young's huge weakness is learning a playbook. There is no way he's going to come in here and beat out Henne with a short time to learn the playbook. It's well known the Titans dumbed down their offense for Young.
Well, the fact these quarterbacks were taken that high, before FA as a measure to ensure talent is on the roster and that Kerry Collins has just retired, one at least of those will likely be starting very early. And frankly after looking at Ponder as much as I did, I'd be very comfortable with Ponder playing early. Personally, I think he has a bright future in that system.
I agree in the sense that taking a QB that early forces the team to play the guy, or explain why they spent such a high pick on a guy who couldn't play and most teams choose option 1. I didn't see much of Locker in college, but I've been an FSU fan since the Peter Tom Willis days and I'm not impressed with Ponder as an NFL prospect. I'm not saying he cant play, but I don't see him as the type of player who's going to be a difference maker, especially if he's forced to play early on, behind an average at best Vikes OL, so I respectfully disagree there.
This is why I have Henne or bust under my sig ATM. He better take advantage now or he will never get another chance to be a starting qb its put up or shut up time. 4 years for Sparano, Hennes 3rd year. No time between this CBA drama and kick off for the first game. They had better get a vet in house ready and healthy just in case Henne does not cut it within the first 4 games. By that time I believe any hungry vet would be familiar enough to step in the system and show us if he can cut the musturd. Love that word rookier lol.
They are going to have to bring in 1 or 2 new QBs regardless. Henne is going to have to beat those guys out if he wants to be the starter.
You really think one of them could have beaten him in camp? I especially doubt Locker would have. That was a serious question btw.
I don't see how this could be considered a good thing, whether you're for or against Henne as the starting QB. If you give a guy a stacked deck so that he can get into the tourney regardless of merit, don't be surprised if he starts losing when he doesn't have a stacked deck anymore. What would have been nice would be Chad Henne making an actual turnaround and actually winning his job in camp and preseason against actual competition. This, on the other hand, is like a father beaming with pride over his son winning a wrestling match by forfeit.
He's done quite a bit at Washington in Sarkisian's offense mentally speaking. I think he needs work on his tools though.
I don't know if Ponder would outright beat Henne coming out of this truncated offseason, but I think he certainly would have pushed him if it were a regular offseason. Ponder has his issues, but I think he'll be a good pro player and the system he's in should highlight what he's good at; making quick decisions and being a pretty accurate passer. He can be a little skittish within the pocket, but he did improve in this area in every year he was at FSU. He came out of a single wing IIRC from High School. The thing for me is that he showed improvement in this area.
Cool. Hey, I'm just as likely to be wrong as you are to be right. One of will be right, or close enough anyways. But until then.......Celebrity death Match?
When I see Locker, I just see a guy who has what you want but he hasn't put it together in a coherent package. Body type, athletic ability, arm strength is there, but he has yet to turn into a QB. Shades of Vick's early days. Talent but the cohesion isn't there yet.
No doubt Ponder is talented. I didn't like him much from what I saw being an ACC fan but I didn't watch him consistently. His biggest advantage IMO is Adrian Peterson.
I think Christian Ponder will play early for the Vikings and I wouldn't be surprised if he really does very well, especially if they bring Sidney Rice back which is real questionable at this stage. Jake Locker will sit a while behind Matt Hasselbeck. That's a good thing. I think if they headed into this year thinking that Locker starts the whole year, they're in the driver's seat on the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. But, I think he'll sit. They'll win more games with Hasselbeck. Blaine Gabbert will sit as well in Jacksonville, but they'll probably trot him out halfway through the year to get some experience, maybe during a Garrard injury. Wouldn't surprise me if Garrard has the best year he's ever had, lol. They do get along really well, so that's a good thing. Hard to say what in the hell will happen with Cam Newton but I'm guessing he's going to play early and a lot. I don't think he'll accumulate good passing stats but with the running stats he'll probably have an OK rookie year, win some games. Andy Dalton is going to play a lot in Cincinnati and that should be a nice little disaster. They could be in the driver's seat for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. I actually think Mike Brown will relent on his anti-trade stance on Carson Palmer. People point to Brown's track record in these situations and that's a point well taken but at the same time Corey Dillon, Carl Pickens and Chad OchoCinco are not Carson Palmer. Palmer's threat is CREDIBLE, unlike theirs. Carson isn't going around on the radio circuit pleading with other teams to please take him away from Cincinnati, like OchoCinco was. Carson sells his house. That's a different kind of tactic. It's one that says, "I'm 30+ years old, have been through injury problems, I have over $70 million of net worth and a history of sound financial decision-making, and I'm currently retired. But I'll un-retire if you trade me." Mike Brown is a damn fool if he doesn't think Carson Palmer is serious or if he thinks he can break him. So then what you come down to is an acknowledgment from Palmer's standpoint that the decision is already made, the damage already done, now what? Do I let pride and pride alone cost this team a 1st or 2nd round pick or whatever it is the Seahawks end up offering for Carson in trade? Mike Brown has not been the wisest of owners but I think there may be a better chance than not that after getting Andy Dalton where they wanted to take him, he'll relent and not pull a Ford/Sanders. Cris Collinsworth thinks so as well. I think Colin Kaepernick will sit behind Alex Smith in Jim Harbaugh's first year, as Harbaugh tries to teach everyone that the better player always plays. And if doing that gives them a shot at Andrew Luck, Harbaugh will shed no tears. I think in the end the Broncos will go to war with Kyle Orton at the helm. They won't get the offers for him in trade that they want. And again, if that gets them a shot at Andrew Luck, no crying from John Fox. And just for schnitzengiggle, I wouldn't be surprised at all if at some point this season Colt McCoy is just not getting the job done in Cleveland, and they turn to Seneca Wallace, and he performs really well.
Collinsworth was almost adamant that Carson will play elsewhere... I don't see Brown holding on to the point of stupidity either..wouldn't that be interesting..I think we'd have to give up a first to get him?
I think the key to that one is, Carson may not want to play for us any more than he wants to play for Cincinnati. I think the Seahawks and Bengals are currently engaging in something of a staring contest over Carson Palmer. This could be why Hasselbeck and some people around the team look convinced that Matt's not going back to Seattle. I'm not paying a 1st rounder for Carson and I'm only giving a 2nd rounder up if he genuinely wants to play for us.
Is the prevailing opinion that those were the two guys we wanted? I mean . . . obviously we might have been interested in Cam Newton. But, I mean, were these the guys that we were realistically locked in on . . . and when they were gone we went with Plan B which was to build the team around Henne as much as we could? That's been my opinion. And I can understand why some people will have a bad taste in their mouth about having to resort to a Plan B. But I'm actually ok with it for now because I'm not sure that Locker or Ponder will wind up being franchise guys.
1). Locker 2). Ponder 3). Puncey 4). Carimi Thats what we were told was the order of preference. Obviously the first two went before we could pick either so as far as validating the first two there's no way to say 100%, but I'd tend to believe it.
Del Rio is an even lamer duck than Sparano, perhaps even more then Lewis. I doubt he had anything to do with the selection of Gabbert. Jack's on a very tight leash and playing a rookie qb smells of a pink slip for him.
