@the-gipper said:

Fair enough.    ........one decent guy and a bunch of drek?

Yeah the Star + drek class of 2018 or WHAT WERE THEY THINKING! 

32 starters + 32 backups right now = a lot of pent up demand which also drives up salaries, a simple economics supply and demand thing.

The opposite side of that coin would be when you have a lot of "Bret Favre types" that just don't leave.

Do 3 to 6 rather mediocre but in demand quarterbacks equal a bunch of can't miss franchise quarterbacks? I guess we will wait and see. Best Quarterback class in 35 years or a big bust, see you in 2 to 5 years to have a feel on that one. 

1949  Frank Tripuka,  Bobby Thomason, Stan Heath, John Rauch

(remember of course that the number of teams picking was much fewer pre merger...so 4 is a lot for that time.  Several pre merger years did see 3 QBs taken, but I am not listing those here)

1983 Elway, Marino, Kelly, Blackledge, O'Brien, Eaton

1987  Testaverde,  Kelly Stouffer, Jim Harbaugh, Chris Miller

1999  Couch, McNabb, Akili, Culpepper, McCown

2003 Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman

2004  Eli,   Rivers,  Ben R.,  JP Losman

2011  Cam Newton,  Locker, Gabbert, Ponder

2012  Luck,  Griffin, Tannehill, Weeden

As you can see....just because there are a lot of QBs considered to be first round worthy.....does NOT mean that you will have a lot of quality NFL QBs coming out of that class. 

@mjp28 said:

A couple of other things the 1930s, 40s, 50s fewer teams and players fewer HOF candidates and most of them were quarterbacks. But maybe things haven't really changed that much the franchise  quarterbacks are still the most important single positions in sports.

In the great quarterback class of 1983 those three HOF guys of course came to the top but after the R1 picks a lot of players were taken before the next quarterback was taken none really notable. 

Still a better system than the stingy MLB HOF.

I don't know why the league having fewer teams and fewer players would have anything to do with HOF worthiness. Whether you play in a 16 team league or a 32 team league, if you're good, you're good.   A draft class in this day and age can have several HOF worthy QBs. The three guys from the 2004 class proved that...and 1983.

I mean....the great debate is whether or not this year's QB class.....which could conceivably have 6 QBs taken in the first round....could be as good as 2004 or even 1983.

What do you all think?

@the-gipper said:

On a related note somewhat, the following are the Drafts that have produced at least 2 HOF QBs:

1937  Sammy Baugh and Clarence Ace Parker

1944  Otto Graham and Bob Waterfield

1948 Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle

1949 Norm Van Brocklin and George Blanda

1957 Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgenson

1983  Elway, Kelly Marino

and that is it so far.

as far as beyond 1983...any draft producing more than one potential HOFer....I see only one probable:

2004 with Eli/BR/Rivers

and one big maybe...if these guys can do quite a bit more with their careers:

2008  Ryan and Flacco

A couple of other things the 1930s, 40s, 50s fewer teams and players fewer HOF candidates and most of them were quarterbacks. But maybe things haven't really changed that much the franchise  quarterbacks are still the most important single positions in sports.

In the great quarterback class of 1983 those three HOF guys of course came to the top but after the R1 picks a lot of players were taken before the next quarterback was taken none really notable. 

Still a better system than the stingy MLB HOF.

1978.   Drafted HOF Ozzie Newsome...and borderline HOF Clay Matthews

Honorable Mentions:

1957 with the draft of Jim Brown in round one.......and 1964 with Paul Warfield.   57/64/78 are the only years in which the Browns 1st round pick made HOF

.....errr....actually, that is incorrect.  The Brown drafted Dough Atkins in 1953.....but he was like traded after two years to the Bears..where he went on to an HOF career

Now...the bad news:

The "Dishonorable Mention" Years.....and unfortuneatly there have been more of those...mostly recently:

1954   Bobby Garrett and John "Jack" Bauer.    Garrett QB taken #1 overall.....had all of 30 career pass attempts.   Bauer, an OG  #12 pick that year.....played in all of 2 games in his career....for the Giants.

1973   Steve Holden and Pete Adams.   Holden had all of 62 career receptions in the 4 years he hung around the NFL.   Adams was also an OG who played in only 25 games.    I think injuries likely got to him

2012..    Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden.  TR only played 3 years, with his rookie season being fairly decent:  950 yards rushing. But he went downhill from there.   Has not played since 2014.   Weeden.....we know about him.....Has been a journeyman.  Not even sure if he is now with a team.

2014.   Justin Gilbert and John P. Manziel.  Both now out of football...at least the NFL.  Gilbert just will not play. Maybe JMZ can hook on in Canada

2015   Danny Shelton and Cam Erving.    Maybe these guys can have a semi-decent career.  Shelton more apt than Erving.  At least they are still in the league, unlike 2014.

But let's face it.....In the Browns  70 year history....at least 3 of their worst 5 drafts ever have come in the last 6 years.   I mean, yes, they have had first round busts perhaps as bad as these guys.....the Craig Powell's Mike Junkins, Clifford Charlton,  Brady Quinn etc.    But those were confined to one per year.  In these years there was so much hope with 2 first round picks....and so much ultimate disappointment.

Fair to say? 

@sd_tom said:

All we can hope is that this is one of the greatest Browns first rds in history. 

Well....here are all the Browns first round draft picks.   Determine for your own which is the best first round they have ever had:

@sissyboyfloyd said:

I predict that this year's draft will be at the top of this list in 20 years.  Can you name the 8 top players who will be in HofF on day.

No, because if history is any indication, some guy taken in the 5th round will be in there.

Examples, recent HOF inductees:

Curtis Martin, drafted in 3rd round

Cris Carter....4th round

Kevin Greene  5th round

Shannon Sharp  7th round

And Brady of course....6th round.

Other possible HOFers from the 2000s from lower rounds:

Steve Smith WR  3rd round

Jason Witten TE 3rd round

Jared Allen DL  4th round

Frank Gore RB  3rd round

Jahri Evans  4th round

Brandon Marshall 4th round.

1937  Sammy Baugh and Clarence Ace Parker

1944  Otto Graham and Bob Waterfield

1948 Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle

1949 Norm Van Brocklin and George Blanda

1957 Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgenson

1983  Elway, Kelly Marino

and that is it so far.

as far as beyond 1983...any draft producing more than one potential HOFer....I see only one probable:

2004 with Eli/BR/Rivers

and one big maybe...if these guys can do quite a bit more with their careers:

2008  Ryan and Flacco