John Clayton recently had some interesting things to say about QBs. Personally, I don't think this is Clayton's best article. In fact, I am kind of surprised he wrote it. It doesn't sound like him.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3375024
But I understand his basic point: You can't ignore the QB and just focus on the run game.
However, I disagree with the notion that a team "has" to have a franchise QB on their roster. Teams can improve quickly in the modern era, but we shouldn't get carried away with that idea. Good GMs build their team with patience. Burning draft picks just to say you have a franchise QB doesn't make sense. He seems to be suggesting that many teams needed to draft QBs in the 2008 NFL draft. For example, he criticizes the Dolphins. But wait...the Fins drafted a QB in the second round. Does he think they needed to draft Henne in the first round? I don't know why teams would draft QBs in the first round of this draft (which didn't have much talent at QB). Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco don't look like superstars to me.
His read of top ten rushing teams is also selective. He picks several teams that were exceptions to the rule (e.g., the Raiders).
Anyway, not his best work.
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Clayton also errs here in that he seems to suggest that drafting tackles is about bolstering the running game. In fact, a good tackle helps a team's passing attack as much as it's running game.
Do you think an intern wrote this article?
Seriously, this sounds very different from the J. Clayton I know and love.
And your point about tackles is dead on. DTs will tear through a weak middle of the line and take out QBs. Hell, that is half the reason good DTs are so valuable.
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