What is an example of (1) an NFL player and (2) specifically a QB who was not a productive player in college, was drafted (almost) purely on upside, and developed into a good, player?
Pic not related, he developed in another professional league before the NFL took a chance on him.
Also, I wouldn't count Brady because he was decent in college, just overshadowed because of the circumstances he was in.
Bonus points if they didn't switch positions (Edelman)
Romo
Brett Favre
He wasn't drafted
Why would you draft someone no one else is gonna draft. He was immediately picked up as a udfa
Matt Cassel?
Yeah but the point is that no team really took a chance on him. I'm looking for a guy that a team invested draft capital in just because he MIGHT be good in the NFL if he gets his shit together like how the Titans bet on Jake Locker or how some team will bet on Josh Allen this upcoming draft. Doesn't even have to be a first rounder.
This is a pretty good one.
Ziggy Ansah. Literally from Africa and only played 4 years of football before the draft. There was a running back in the 80s with a similar story I can't remember his name but his nickname was the Nigerian nightmare cuz he was a truck.
A 7th round pick isn't taking a chance on someone. They get cut all the time in favor of udfas after camp.
Yes, and for that reason, a 7th rounder wouldn't be a very good example, but at least it's something.
This is a good one.
Amobi Okoye. He wasn't really all that productive outside of one year, but he was really young(19), really raw, and had a metric fuckton of upside.
Mark Brunell was high recruit known as a big fast QB with the Washington Huskies. He had a knee injury his Soph more year and got stuck in the depth chart.
That's the name I was trying to think of
That's Christian Okoye. Amobi was drafted with the 10th pick in 2007 by Houston.
Damn. Is okoye a popular African surname or something?
Yeah, it's up there. Not as high as something like Okafor though.
antonio gates, but he wasn't drafted because he didn't play college football
Never that about this, but it kind of illustrates what a meme doing this is. Only good example so far is some dude from 30 years ago
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, got drafted out of mcgill and has played pretty well in kc
cameron wake, wasn't drafted, but miami first signed cheap with little expectations
Wes Welker
Matt Hasselbeck was a 6th rounder who started 11 post season games and went to the superbowl.
kurt warner
Mark Brunell lost his starting job in college and had a pretty shitty college career but was arguably a top 10 QB in his prime during a time where Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, John Elway, Troy Aikman and Brett Favre were all playing
Which meant something because being a top 10 QB actually fucking meant something back then
Tom Brady.
...
You’re thinking of Christian Okoye aka the Nigerian nightmare
You may want to define 'not productive'. Because College Football is too damn vague when it comes to setting standards.
Look at guys like Blake Bortles, Mitch Trubiusky, and even that Josh Allen kid this year. Long on Potential, short on sexy stats, but dragged Mid-Major Football Teams at the Collegiate Level and you can't really say those teams sucked in the record books with them around.
Jake Delhomme
never mind he was undrafted
Brady had a 20-5 record and led the biggest comeback in Michigan history to that point. He wasn't an unproductive college player.
Carson Wentz
he barely played and put up average numbers on a stacked FCS team and got drafted #2 based on being 6'5", mobile, and playing in a pro style offense.