[DC 86]

When the whole team package is excellent, that team is not so dependent on any one position. For example, the late great Bill Walsh had the 49ers offense moving well not just with Montana or Young, but also at times with Matt Cavanaugh, Jeff Kemp, and Steve Bono playing QB.

Unfortunately this is not really true which is why quarterbacks are routinely overdrafted as teams desperately search for a capable player for that crucial position.

Steve Bono never played for Bill Walsh, joined the team after Walsh retired.
Jeff Kemp only played one season for the 49ers, as a backup to Joe Montana. Kemp started six games and the team's record was 3-2-1 under him (the team was 6-2 in games started by Montana that year).
Matt Cavanaugh was a career backup who started a grand total of two games in his 49ers career. He completed 61 passes over the course of his three year stint in SF.

I doubt that even Bill Walsh (one of the most brilliant offensive minds in football history) would have won a Super Bowl with Bono/Kemp/Cavanaugh (or DeBerg for that matter) as his starting quarterback.

The reality is that an elite quarterback is generally essential to winning a championship. The last 25 Super Bowls have been won by the following starting quarterbacks: Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Brett Favre, John Elway, Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Tom Brady, Brad Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson.

Aikman, Young, Favre, Elway, and Warner are in the Hall of Fame. Brady, Roethlisberger, the Mannings, Brees and Rodgers will almost certainly join them. The exceptions are Dilfer, Johnson, Flacco and Wilson who played with defenses that are considered historically good, among the most dominant units of all time (and Dilfer and Johnson were still Pro Bowlers albeit journeymen, while the book is not closed on Flacco and Wilson who are highly respected if not projected for the HoF.)

On the merits none of the quarterbacks in this year's draft class grade as first rounders but we will surely see at least three (and possibly five) drafted on the first day, perhaps as high as second overall! On the surface it doesn't make sense but the correlation between elite quarterback play and playoff success is so high that reaching is also understandable.

[DC 86]

When the whole team package is excellent, that team is not so dependent on any one position. For example, the late great Bill Walsh had the 49ers offense moving well not just with Montana or Young, but also at times with Matt Cavanaugh, Jeff Kemp, and Steve Bono playing QB.

Unfortunately this is not really true which is why quarterbacks are routinely overdrafted as teams desperately search for a capable player for that crucial position.

Steve Bono never played for Bill Walsh, joined the team after Walsh retired.
Jeff Kemp only played one season for the 49ers, as a backup to Joe Montana. Kemp started six games and the team's record was 3-2-1 under him (the team was 6-2 in games started by Montana that year).
Matt Cavanaugh was a career backup who started a grand total of two games in his 49ers career. He completed 61 passes over the course of his three year stint in SF.

I doubt that even Bill Walsh (one of the most brilliant offensive minds in football history) would have won a Super Bowl with Bono/Kemp/Cavanaugh (or DeBerg for that matter) as his starting quarterback.

The reality is that an elite quarterback is generally essential to winning a championship. The last 25 Super Bowls have been won by the following starting quarterbacks: Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Brett Favre, John Elway, Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Tom Brady, Brad Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson.

Aikman, Young, Favre, Elway, and Warner are in the Hall of Fame. Brady, Roethlisberger, the Mannings, Brees and Rodgers will almost certainly join them. The exceptions are Dilfer, Johnson, Flacco and Wilson who played with defenses that are considered historically good, among the most dominant units of all time (and Dilfer and Johnson were still Pro Bowlers albeit journeymen, while the book is not closed on Flacco and Wilson who are highly respected if not projected for the HoF.)

On the merits none of the quarterbacks in this year's draft class grade as first rounders but we will surely see at least three (and possibly five) drafted on the first day, perhaps as high as second overall! On the surface it doesn't make sense but the correlation between elite quarterback play and playoff success is so high that reaching is also understandable.