Would have been great if Mallett had been a World Beater HOF QB.
Instead we spent a 3rd rounder on a backup QB for 2 years that we were paying on a rookie contract average $500k-600k per year.
Other options would have been to re-sign Hoyer, who cost the Browns 2 years $2mm. Or take a shot on someone (Tebow?) from outside the system.
My rough math says by drafting Mallett, we saved about $400k each year in salary for two years on the QB2 roster spot, over a veteran journeyman coming from the outside.
Add in the fact that because Mallett was good enough to have the confidence of the staff, we didn't carry a QB3 on the roster at all for those two years. Which is worth at least another half a million in cap space, and a roster spot.
So the return on that 3rd rounder is (1) roughly $1MM in salary saved against the next best alternative (2) a reclaimed roster spot for two years, plus (3) terminating value of a 6th round pick.
Easy to wish it had been more, but that pick worked pretty hard for us.
Compare it with the return we got for drafting Brandon Tate or Taylor Price, both in the 3rd. Or if we'd picked a QB later in the draft that completely washed out.