Elite Quarterbacks

In this country there are probably millions of boys that dream of being a Super Bowl winning Quarterback in the NFL. Thousands of these boys end up being high school Quarterbacks every year and hundreds go on to play QB in college. Of these players in college a select few are drafted or signed by NFL teams every year. Only 32 a year start for a team in the NFL, and only a handful are elite that can carry or lead a team to a Super Bowl Championship.

In today's pass happy NFL you almost certainly need a top notch, if not elite, QB to win the Super Bowl. Out of all of these players who aspire to be elite Quarterbacks in the NFL the odds of finding one for your team are slim to none. If you are running an NFL franchise what would you be willing to give up to have a chance to get one of these elite players?

The reason I ask this question is Andrew Luck is entering the NFL draft and he may be the most highly touted prospect at the position since Peyton Manning. He's a once in a generation type of talent. Luck will almost certainly be drafted with the number one pick that the Indianapolis Colts currently own and if I'm an NFL owner or General Manager I would offer a lot to have a chance to select him.

These Quarterbacks only come along about once in a generation and while there are no guarantees, he's about as close as you can get to being a sure fire top end player. I would make an offer of an entire draft like the Saints did to get Ricky Williams. I would offer my top 3 picks in this draft and next year's draft. The NFL is a Quarterback driven league and that is the first piece you have to have when trying to build a Super Bowl winning team. Within reason I would offer about anything I could to get the first pick. It's a given that the Colts are going to draft him, but if I'm any other team that doesn't have what they consider the guy to lead them to the Super Bowl, then I'm going to try to make the Colts an offer they can't refuse to get Luck. They may just accept what they consider a king's ransom because they may think they could build a team quickly with a ton of draft picks and keep Manning in Indy.

Take a look at the last 8 Super Bowl winners and their starters at Quarterback. It goes Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady with Brady and Big Ben each winning it twice. All of these players are considered elite or close to being elite. The NFL is becoming even more of a passing league and this trend is going to continue. While giving all of those picks up may set your team back some, if you don't have a great QB you almost have no chance of winning the Super Bowl.

With free agency you can make up some ground on those missing draft choices. Also as long as Luck stays healthy he should play for at least a decade which will give you plenty of time to build the team around him. NFL teams should be on the phone right now doing everything they can to pry that pick away from the Indianapolis Colts. You can hang on to those picks and try to build the rest of your team, but what if you never find the guy at QB? Look at the Jets, they had maybe the most talented team in the NFL, but they could never get over the hump. If they had a QB comparable to any of these past Super Bowl Champs they likely would have won two in a row. This should be all the proof you need to know if you don't have the guy at Quarterback you have very little chance to win it all.