A lot of pundits scoffed when Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis selected punter Ray Guy in the first round of the 1973 NFL draft. Davis retorted by pointing out that Guy would upgrade the Raiders' league-worst punting average in 1972, and he also noted that if the Guy selection panned out (Guy is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame), it meant Oakland would not have to think about getting another punter for at least 10 years.
Many Philadelphia Eagles fans and critics have expressed similar disapproval of the team devoting more than $43 million in combined cash values to quarterbacks currently on their roster, but a closer look indicates executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman and the Eagles' front office have taken a similar long-term approach to their quarterback situation.
Here's a glimpse at facets of the Eagles' plan and how it can work:
Bradford can be a top-10 quarterback
This long-term plan starts with the two-year, $35 million contract deal given to Sam Bradford, 28, in March.
Bradford's 2015 season was generally seen as a disappointment, but NFL Nation reporter Phil Sheridan points out that Bradford posted superb second-half-of-the-season figures in completion percentage and third-down production.
Bradford also excelled at downfield passes during this time frame. According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, Bradford posted 15.1 yards per attempt on vertical passes (aerials traveling 11 or more yards downfield) from Weeks 9-17. That was the highest total in the league, even besting Seattle's Russell Wilson (13.4) and Carolina's Cam Newton (12.4), two quarterbacks who made league MVP cases in large part based on how they played down the stretch.
This performance level could well continue, as Eagles coach Doug Pederson has been effusive in his offseason praise for Bradford: "I look at what Sam's done, and he's taken this thing and run with it. It's unbelievable what he's done. I'm so excited about the direction he's going, and the stuff that he's doing on the field right now are the things that I expected and what I saw at the end of the season last year from Sam Bradford."
Add it all up and it means Bradford could give the Eagles top-10 quarterback production over the next couple of seasons.
Wentz has top-10 potential
With Bradford taking care of the first portion of the 10-year plan, the Eagles then put into place the latter part of the next quarterback decade by trading up to select Carson Wentz at No. 2 overall in the 2016 NFL draft.
Wentz checked off four "yes" answers in the seven Parcells Rules for drafting quarterbacks and could have racked up six "yes" answers if not for a broken wrist he suffered halfway through his 2015 season at North Dakota State. Quarterbacks who post "yes" answers in all seven Parcells Rules questions have a strong track record of success in the pros, so Wentz is nearly in elite company here.
Wentz received top-tier grades from Scouts Inc. in the pass accuracy and intangibles categories and has performed well in some of the Eagles' organized team activities, so there is every reason to believe he has the upside potential to eventually become a top-10 quarterback.
No. 3 quarterback has no learning curve
Giving Chase Daniel, who has only 77 career pass attempts, a $21 million contract may seem overly generous, but not so much when looking at it from the perspective of finding the best fit for the team.
Daniel spent the past three years working with Pederson in Kansas City and thus knows his system. This has helped Daniel post some "wow" moments during organized team activities and is why he could give this team even more quality quarterback depth.
NFL QB landscape is about to go through a dramatic change
Having a long-term quarterback plan is a good idea under any circumstance, but Roseman recently pointed out that the Eagles also took a league-wide view when deciding to pay the price to move up to draft Wentz.
Roseman noted that many of the NFL's best passers are getting long in the tooth and the numbers more than back that up.
Last season, 35 quarterbacks had enough pass attempts to be considered passer rating qualified. Sixteen of those players are now 30 years or older and 11 of those players are 33 years or older.
What makes this situation even more daunting for the league is how many upper-tier quarterbacks are in this age tier of 30-35+: Tom Brady (38), Drew Brees (37), Carson Palmer (36), Tony Romo (36), Eli Manning (35), Philip Rivers (34), Ben Roethlisberger (34), Jay Cutler (33), Ryan Fitzpatrick (33), Aaron Rodgers (32), Alex Smith (32), Matt Ryan (31), and Joe Flacco (31). It can be argued how many of this group rate among the top 10 at the quarterback position, but to say they are in upper half of the league's field generals is almost a given.
Bottom line
If the Bill James adage that players in any sport really start to hit the age wall when they turn 35 is correct, it means nearly half of NFL teams are going to either have to replace their quarterback or deal with an aging quarterback issue in a mere five years.
This almost certainly won't be the case for the Eagles. Roseman's 10-year plan helped the team stockpile top-flight quarterback talent at exactly the right moment and could give Philadelphia a huge edge over the rest of the league in the next decade.