Taking a quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick of the draft is sometimes tricky but usually not complicated. Teams with that pick have usually earned it, with subpar — or just plain horrid — quarterback play to blame.
When the Jaguars took Trevor Lawrence, their incumbent starter was Gardner Minshew. When the Bengals took Joe Burrow, they had 32-year-old Andy Dalton coming off the worst season of his career. Even the Cardinals taking Kyler Murray one year after drafting Josh Rosen 10th overall wasn’t a big reach — Rosen had the worst passer rating in the NFL as a rookie. It was the same for the Browns taking Baker Mayfield one year after drafting DeShone Kizer in the second round — Kizer also had the worst passer rating in the NFL as a rookie starter.
