Every season teams look to the draft for franchise quarterbacks.  The teams at the top of the draft are usually devoid of a quality player at the most important position and are desparate to find one, even if they don’t merit that distinction.  Very few players at any position have been ready for the jump to the NFL, but certainly no quarterback is truly prepared on the field or off to lead a franchise and will need quality coaching to be properly developed.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers own the first pick in next week’s draft and head coach Lovie Smith said they have consensus agreement on their pick, although they aren’t quite announcing who that is going to be.  Most are still convinced that Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston will be that pick in Chicago and the consensus across the football world is that he is the most NFL-ready.  Bucs’ General Manager Jason Licht said that they are looking to compete for a championship this year.

Seriously, he said that.

So without saying his name, if everyone agrees that Winston is the most ready to play at the NFL level, he has to be the player that they have all agreed on, so that the Bucs can go from worst to first in one season!

The fact of the matter is, the most ready QB isn’t actually ready.  Peyton Manning may have been the most NFL ready QB in league history and his rookie year showed how far he was from being ready to compete in the league, let alone compete for a championship.  So, even the very best need to be developed and with each subsequent QB taken next week, a little bit more development will be needed and a QB coach and/or offensive coordinator to do the developing.  But, what kind of coach is the best for developing young quarterbacks into productive pros and ultimately championship level players?

Jon Gruden has found a great niche on TV with a short mentoring session of young quarterbacks with “Gruden’s QB Camp,” but the ironic thing is, his reputation from the Oakland Raiders and Buccaneers was that he didn’t like young quarterbacks and hadn’t developed even one over his coaching career.  His incredible knowledge can fill a pile of notebooks, but the transition to his game-day expectations can drive a big chasm between player and coach, depending on the QB’s personality.

Some coaches have never played quarterback beyond high school or not at all have proven that they can be successful developing QB’s, with Charlie Weis being the poster boy for the New England Patriots during their championship runs in the early 2000’s.  Whether he developed Tom Brady or not could be debated for hours, but credit must be given.  Weis was a long-time assistant under Bill Parcells with the Giants and Patriots without serious responsibility, but stayed on after Parcells left and proved his value with a calm demeanor and a good offensive mind.

I’m sure there are a number of current coaches with the ability to relate, teach and even mentor a young QB to reach their highest potential.  The coach I like today that seems to have that necessary blend of superior knowledge and teaching patience is Chip Kelly.

He’s not far removed from the college game and has a unique offensive system that fits the youth movement of fast-paced action all the time.  The Eagles recently acquired former Heisman winner and number one overall draft pick Sam Bradford from the Rams, but rumors keep swirling that Kelly and the Eagles are trying to maneuver their way to getting Marcus Mariota, his former recruit at Oregon.  If Kelly can swing that, he will probably have less work to do with Mariota than with Bradford, because all of Bradford’s injuries have kept him off the field enough to make him a player that is as big a question mark as any of the top prospects in the draft next Thursday night.