Brandon Weeden and the Age controversy

[Shawn]

So Brandon Weeden has been looking good this offseason as far as NFL scouting goes, but the age factor (he'll be 29 this coming season) keeps coming up for debate, and dragging him down. It isn't known yet where exactly he'll be drafted, but its pretty safe to say his age has at least knocked his draft status down at least to an extent. So do you think people are making too big of a deal about this age situation? I mean, his body hasn't taken a beating like other Quarterbacks his age would've taken by now, so isn't it possible he could play at an older age than most other QBs???? Is it unrealistic to think he can't have an 8 to 10 year NFL career???? With as bad as some NFL QB situations have gotten, is it possible that this guy could end up being a big steal in the draft??? Age wise he's been compared to Chris Weinke, who started out older, but didn't work out in the NFL, is Weinke a fair comparison for Weeden???? Overall what are your thoughts on Weeden overall, and also in relation to the controversy over his age???

[NJKV]

Yes and no. If I was an NFL GM, and thank God I am not, I think I would want him to be able start sometime this season if I were to draft. So I would have to be sure he could pick up my offense in the offseason and be ready to go at some point in the season. For me it doesn't make sense for a team like the Broncos to draft him because Peyton could play a while longer and I don't want him to be 32 or 33 for his first season starting because then you would just be drafting another QB anyways to eventually take over his spot. I think he can be good but he has to be on a fast track to get there.

[melish1631]

I think this may be sort of like Kaepernick in SF ...He could get drafted by a team that has an established QB and sit for a few years! That wouldn't matter as much but being he is 28 and this does happen the way I wrote it, he would be 30ish before he gets a chance!
On the other hand, best case scenario, he gets taken by Cleveland, KC, Arizona or Miami where the QB is on the hot eat or will be replaced within a year...then he should be rostered and could have value withing the next season or 2

[Shawn]

Any new thoughts on Weeden, now that we know he'll be starting in CLE next year??? (sorry, Colt McCoy fans)

Check this video out, Weeden destroys some clay Pigeons too!!! Nice accuracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fji2EeqkcZs

[meineymoe]

Roger Staubach was 27 when he joined the Dallas Cowboys - you may have heard of the Hall of Fame, Super Bowl champion quarterback. And yeah, his NFL career was only 11 seasons long -- but how many of your dynasty fantasy football leagues will even last that long?

If Weedon is the starter in Cleveland, he's worth considering late first/early second in your rookie draft.

-oo-

[NJKV]

I think CLE was one of the best and only spots for him. He can start immediately and make an impact right away.

[skip]

I am much happier with Weeden than the Tannehill project.

[lake3711]

I like Weeden. Our league has salary cap and contracts and the max you can sign a rookie is 6 yrs. So in our case you can't undervalue him due to age because he should last all 6 years.

But in any event he is a good player who has talent. I think he is an excellent 2nd round pick. Even when you figure in the age in standard dynasty, the guy should be productive early in his career and if he is successful, he'll be valuable regardless of age.

[tomfin2000]

My argument is that the NFL landscape changes so quickly that it's kind of pointless to worry about where a player will be three to five years from now. Think about some of the QBs that have been fantasy studs during the past decade: Jeff Garcia, Dante Culpepper, Donovan McNabb...how long of a shelf life did these guys have? Only a few years, but man...if you had one of them at the right time, you probably won (or came close to winning) a league championship. What about a guy like Trent Green? For a couple of years in KC, he was throwing for 4,000 yards a season. Matt Hasselback won me a championship back in '05 or '06.

The point I'm trying to make is that the Mannings, Farves, and Bradies don't come along very often. There's a reason why these guys will be first ballot hall of famers. They're the exception, not the rule. If Weeden makes it to a couple of Pro Bowls, you've done pretty well for a second or third round rookie pick.

[MR ROURKE]

I'm more scared that the opposing coaches said that Weeden couldn't handle pressure and had happy feet in the pocket then his age.

Kurt Warner was 27 when he joined the Rams and he had an ok career. If you got it... you got it. Not sure Weeden has IT, but he's worth a shot. People are takling about him like he's 34 yrs old.

[TheOracle]

Assuming you're in a 12 team league, a QB has to be roughly a top 16 QB to have any value whatsoever. After that, meh. Do you really care about whether you start Tavaris Jackson or Mark Sanchez during Brady's bye week?

The problem with Weeden is he's not a Top 16 QB right now, and at age 29, there's not a whole hell of a lot he can improve upon to become a useful fantasy commodity. For the Browns it's fine, because he'll be a competent NFL QB for maybe five years, but the odds of him being a starter for a contending fantasy team at any point in his career are almost zero. Guys like Randle, Quick, Sanu, Hillman, etc. don't have to ascend to the same heights to be useful for fantasy, which is why they're more popular 2nd round picks.

[NJKV]

Assuming you're in a 12 team league, a QB has to be roughly a top 16 QB to have any value whatsoever. After that, meh. Do you really care about whether you start Tavaris Jackson or Mark Sanchez during Brady's bye week?

The problem with Weeden is he's not a Top 16 QB right now, and at age 29, there's not a whole hell of a lot he can improve upon to become a useful fantasy commodity. For the Browns it's fine, because he'll be a competent NFL QB for maybe five years, but the odds of him being a starter for a contending fantasy team at any point in his career are almost zero. Guys like Randle, Quick, Sanu, Hillman, etc. don't have to ascend to the same heights to be useful for fantasy, which is why they're more popular 2nd round picks.

Using the Warner example, I would say Warner was quite effective as a fantasy asset until he retired.

[TheOracle]

Assuming you're in a 12 team league, a QB has to be roughly a top 16 QB to have any value whatsoever. After that, meh. Do you really care about whether you start Tavaris Jackson or Mark Sanchez during Brady's bye week?

The problem with Weeden is he's not a Top 16 QB right now, and at age 29, there's not a whole hell of a lot he can improve upon to become a useful fantasy commodity. For the Browns it's fine, because he'll be a competent NFL QB for maybe five years, but the odds of him being a starter for a contending fantasy team at any point in his career are almost zero. Guys like Randle, Quick, Sanu, Hillman, etc. don't have to ascend to the same heights to be useful for fantasy, which is why they're more popular 2nd round picks.

Using the Warner example, I would say Warner was quite effective as a fantasy asset until he retired.

That's a great point! All Brandon Weeden has to do is follow Kurt Warner's career path and you have yourself a valuable player!
Two things- when you draft based on the exception to the rule, rather than the rule itself, you're asking for problems. (So what this runningback is small and slow? Didn't stop Emmitt Smith!) Second, Kurt Warner took over an offense with a great line, a Hall of Fame runningback who just happened to be the best receiving back of all time, a sure-fire HoF WR in Torry Holt, a perennial Pro-Bowl talent in Isaac Bruce, and starter quality slot guys in Az-Hakim and Ricky Proehl.

So to recap, all that needs to happen for Weeden to be useful is to follow Kurt Warner's career path, only instead of with the help of multiple HOFers and ProBowlers, he has Trent Richardson, a league average line, and Little and Massaquoi. Forgive me if I pass.

[Shawn]

Assuming you're in a 12 team league, a QB has to be roughly a top 16 QB to have any value whatsoever. After that, meh. Do you really care about whether you start Tavaris Jackson or Mark Sanchez during Brady's bye week?

The problem with Weeden is he's not a Top 16 QB right now, and at age 29, there's not a whole hell of a lot he can improve upon to become a useful fantasy commodity. For the Browns it's fine, because he'll be a competent NFL QB for maybe five years, but the odds of him being a starter for a contending fantasy team at any point in his career are almost zero. Guys like Randle, Quick, Sanu, Hillman, etc. don't have to ascend to the same heights to be useful for fantasy, which is why they're more popular 2nd round picks.

Using the Warner example, I would say Warner was quite effective as a fantasy asset until he retired.

That's a great point! All Brandon Weeden has to do is follow Kurt Warner's career path and you have yourself a valuable player!
Two things- when you draft based on the exception to the rule, rather than the rule itself, you're asking for problems. (So what this runningback is small and slow? Didn't stop Emmitt Smith!) Second, Kurt Warner took over an offense with a great line, a Hall of Fame runningback who just happened to be the best receiving back of all time, a sure-fire HoF WR in Torry Holt, a perennial Pro-Bowl talent in Isaac Bruce, and starter quality slot guys in Az-Hakim and Ricky Proehl.

So to recap, all that needs to happen for Weeden to be useful is to follow Kurt Warner's career path, only instead of with the help of multiple HOFers and ProBowlers, he has Trent Richardson, a league average line, and Little and Massaquoi. Forgive me if I pass.

Kurt Warner is certainly a high end expectation, but I'd say Weeden is getting pretty undervalued in rookie drafts I've seen, and I think someone made a good point earlier that the NFL landscape changes so quickly that the age of someone like Weeden or anyone else isn't necessarily that big of a deal, I mean Weeden could still potentially play 10 years in the NFL anyway.

[TheOracle]

What's the highest draft pick you would trade for Kevin Kolb? Because Kolb is better than Weeden right now and he's a year younger.