When Wolf was in charge between 1991 and 2001, a span of 11 seasons, the Packers drafted seven quarterbacks. Over the past 11 seasons for Chicago from 2006 to 2016, they have drafted three quarterbacks. It’s little wonder they’ve had so little success. Before anybody argues that they had Jay Cutler for a large chunk of that time, Wolf had a counter for that too.
“In acquiring extra arms—among them Ty Detmer (1992 ninth round), Mark Brunell (’93 fifth round), Matt Hasselbeck (’98 sixth round) and Aaron Brooks (’99 fourth round), all of whom became starters for other teams—Wolf says he was bringing in players to challenge Favre.”
This is another lesson Wolf’s disciples have learned well. His replacement, Ted Thompson, drafted Aaron Rodgers in 2005. One would think that’s enough. Instead he’s brought in five more quarterbacks since then. That includes a second round pick in Brian Brohm in 2008. Thompson, like Wolf, wants his stars playing but he doesn’t want them comfortable.
Reggie McKenzie landed Derek Carr with the Oakland Raiders in 2014. Two years later he spent a fourth round pick on Connor Cook out of Michigan State. Carr responded with the best season of his career and got the Raiders to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
The point of it all being this. These draft experts can all say that there is no great quarterback in this 2017 NFL draft. It’s a weak class. Blah, blah, blah. The bottom line is they don’t know anything. Not for certain. They can do all the homework in the world but at the end of the day the Chicago Bears won’t know if they’ve gotten their guy until they draft him. The only way they’ll know for sure is to keep doing that until they find him.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
