I want to wish Ryan best of luck, he'll get a chance to be a starter and could develop into a player worthy of a 3rd-round pick. That never happened here, and for that I am actually very thankful.
Mallett was insurance that, thankfully, we never needed. At the end of each year, I never get upset that I wasted my money on car insurance but didn't wreck my car that year, and I never get sad that we didn't get to see our backup QB play significant minutes.
The only way his stock could have rose is if Brady couldn't play. A guy like Cassel cost us a 7th but got us most of a 2nd in exchange (along with Vrabel). So that's obviously a much better deal, other than the whole Brady missing a season thing...
Was he worth a 3rd-round pick? Yes and no. Obviously his contributions on the stat sheet are absent. At the same time, we could have drafted Andrew Luck and he would have contributed exactly as much as Mallett did the past few seasons. And if we're lucky, Jimmy will contribute just as much as Mallett has in the next few seasons, and I won't complain one bit if that happens.
And you can obviously find great players in the 3rd (as well as the 6th, and UDFA), there's no guarantee a 3rd-round pick turns into anything substantial. From 2008 to 2012 (5 years, ignoring the past two drafts because it's too early to make a call), we have used 3rds on Jake Bequette, Taylor Price, Brandon Tate, Tyrone McKenzie, Shawn Crable, and Kevin O'Connell. The only solid players we drafted in the same round was Stevan Ridley. So I'm not sure what the expectations are anymore for a 3rd-rounder in NE, but I can't expect them to be that high.
There's also nobody very obvious we should have taken around Mallett's draft slot. There's a lot of nothing in that round when you look back. Terrell Mclain led off the 3rd round that year, and there were only 2 Pro Bowlers drafted in the 3rd-round, both taken ahead of Mallett. There are some guys who have filled roles, but nobody head and shoulders ahead of him.
But regardless of draft position, we were ready for the unpredictable. The chances of an injury are low, but the risk is so huge, you can't just ignore it. Just ask Manning's last Colts team. A backup is always one play away, and what seems like a luxury at backup QB quickly becomes the difference between a lost season and something more. One only needs to remember the day Bledsoe went down. How many people predicted that season would end in confetti with our former 4th-string QB holding the Lombardi? And what if Mo Lewis held up and Drew stayed healthy? Do we ever hear the name Tom Brady again? Or do we talk about what a wasted roster spot he was?
We won't ever know, and I'm okay with that. Ryan was in the "break glass in case of emergency" case, and we never had that emergency, so he gathered dust.
As for those who are disappointed in Mallett, I'd only say imagine how he must have felt. Mallett knew he would probably never play a meaningful down for us and it had to be frustrating to see guys like Locker, Gabbert, and Ponder, all drafted ahead of him, be handed starting jobs and allowed to fail constantly over the years while he couldn't get one meaningful start. Heck, even other guys drafted late in his draft class like T.J. Yates and Tyrod Taylor got more PT.
But he handled it all professionally, worked hard, and learned as much as he could from the GOAT. He helped prepare the team as the scout team QB, winning several practice player of the week awards. And now he gets a chance he's earned and deserved. I wish him nothing but the best. And I'm thankful we never had to call our insurance agent to make a claim in the event of an emergency.
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