Remember that Brees was average his first couple years and only broke out the last year of his contract w/SD. And remember that he would've been playing for Wannstedt, who simply wasn't gonna bench Fiedler for ANYONE. So, scratch those two years of development because Brees would have languished on the bench and not advanced at all; he would have left in free agency, an unknown quantity. And who know if he would have caught on anywhere after that. No, Wanny would have ruined that career, along with the many he ruined in his tenure here.
100%. Same goes for Graham. Sparano would have buried him on the bench bc he couldn't block DEs like a Fasano type.
You are actually saying that not taking an excellent TE (not a need in the offense we had that time) over a poor guard (a position of need) is worse than not taking a first ballot HOF QB (a position we desperately needed) over a an even worse CB (a position we didn't need at all)?
