Let's say Jimmy Clausen stayed in school last year and came out in this draft..

[boo7382]

If he came out this year, he would probably still have baby hands, and he would probably still be staring down receivers.

[Panthro]

Clausen would have taken all the scrutiny off of Locker

[jtm]

Drew Brees = 6 foot

Jimmy Clausen = 6 foot 3

I hear you but Brees doesn't have passes knocked down often. He has learned how to throw between the holes and can move around to create throwing lanes. Hopefully Clausen can learn this technique as well. If not, he doesn't stand a chance. This to me is his biggest issue. Players in the NFL keep getting bigger and taller.

[panthers55]

The point being made was is Clausen had stayed in college, so we wouldn't know of his performance this year in the pros. He would have put up another season similar to his last college year (probably, although with a new HC) and if he did he would easily be the consensus 'best QB'.

This scenario completely removes his performance in the NFL out the equation and goes back to evaluating him on his college prowess.

Again the comment was made that scouts and the front office would rate him the third best not the first best. So I don't know where your evaluation is coming from.

But you really can't go back and do the "what if" game. What if he got hurt in week one and didn't return. What if like Locker he had a bad senior season compared to his junior season.

What we do know is that all the hype about being NFl ready was false and some of the concerns about not getting along with players which is why he dropped appear to be true.

Knowing what I know now I wouldn't have drafted him in any round.

[Carolina Husker]

Moot point. Jimmy would never had made it out of South Bend alive.

[teeray]

Didn't The Golden Calf of Bristol get drafted before Jimmy last year?? Why is it all of the sudden he would be a top 5 pick if he waited a year??

[TheRealDeal]

I hear you but Brees doesn't have passes knocked down often. He has learned how to throw between the holes and can move around to create throwing lanes. Hopefully Clausen can learn this technique as well. If not, he doesn't stand a chance. This to me is his biggest issue. Players in the NFL keep getting bigger and taller.

Pretty sure Brees leads the league since he's been in it.

[jasonluckydog]

Didn't The Golden Calf of Bristol get drafted before Jimmy last year?? Why is it all of the sudden he would be a top 5 pick if he waited a year??

This years QB class is bad if Jimmy put up 09 numbers again, he would be the top QB in this draft.

[mav1234]

You mean if he'd done it two years in a row? I do not think Jimmy would have been rated the top QB if he just had 2009 this year and his 2008 stats in 2009. If he'd done the same in 2010 as in 2009, he might have gone higher.

Someone in the Panthers FO says they have Jimmy behind 2 QBs in this draft.

[TheRealDeal]

You mean if he'd done it two years in a row? I do not think Jimmy would have been rated the top QB if he just had 2009 this year and his 2008 stats in 2009. If he'd done the same in 2010 as in 2009, he might have gone higher.

Someone in the Panthers FO says they have Jimmy behind 2 QBs in this draft.

But again, that's after watching him play this year. They tried to trade up to get him last year and everyone else this year is pretty bad. They might have taken him #1.

I would have kicked something.

[teeray]

This years QB class is bad if Jimmy put up 09 numbers again, he would be the top QB in this draft.

The Golden Calf of Bristol was picked before him. Just because Mal Kiper was pimping Gary Wichard's client doesn't mean he was that highly thought of around the league.

There is a reason he fell to us. I still thought is was a good pick on our part from a value stand point. but I am willing to bet that after the evaluation process Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton would have been drafted before Jimmy Clausen if he was in this year's class.

Again, and I can't say this enough, The Golden Calf of Bristol was taken WAY higher than Jimmy Clausen and that wasn't a reach, The Golden Calf of Bristol will be a better QB than Clausen. If Fox doesn't fug him up.

But we can't prove any of this so it is what it is :)

[TheRealDeal]

The Golden Calf of Bristol was for sure a reach.

[mav1234]

But again, that's after watching him play this year. They tried to trade up to get him last year and everyone else this year is pretty bad. They might have taken him #1.

I would have kicked something.

They tried to trade up, yes, but they refused to give away future picks for him (or at least a future first) which is why the trades failed. So while they liked him, they didn't like him enough to invest this year's first in him.

If you'd just advanced his stats forward a year, I think that his flaws would still have been present that caused him to drop last year and I don't think the Panthers would have had him rated at #1 overall. Kiper would have, though. ;)

It's true that their evaluation is obviously based on last year, but I don't think it solely is or there is no way they could have the level of confidence in him they claim to. I think as a prospect coming out of college he looked good, but there was a reason he slid so far last year. This year, I don't think he'd slide anywhere near as far, but I still don't see him at the top. Of course, I also don't see Gabbert or Newton as #1 either.

[TheRealDeal]

I guess it comes down to that if he stayed in school, we wouldn't have been so bad this year to even have the #1 pick.