My point is that you will never get a Demarcus Ware unless you draft him. And you will never draft a Demarcus Ware if you don't take a risk on a top college DE (6'5", 260lb players don't play LB in college) and project him to OLB.
This is unquestionably true. And BB has struggled to find college players to play OLB for him. He has been incredibly picky. That's what makes Cunningham such an intruiging pick, because BB has finally taken a leap of faith, and pulled the trigger on a player at the position. Cunningham was listed 6-4 266 at Florida. He did have responsibilities to set the edge against the run. And he sometimes played standing up, instead of solely in a 3-pt stance.
Cunningham is unlikely to be the next Demarcus Ware, but I'm still hopeful that he might be the next Roman Phifer. It will take at least another year before we really know.
If you think Quinn isn't worth that risk, I don't know who is.
And this is the key, in the end.
I think we agree that Quinn is not a "ready now" 3-4 OLB based on what he does at UNC. You acknowledged that we have to project that he can drop into pass protection, that he can set the edge against the run, two of the things BB expects his OLBs to do.
But consider what Quinn is going to cost us: a top-5 pick. Based on what we're going to pay him, we need to expect a pro-bowl player and the cornerstone of our franchise for the next 10 years ideally, 6 years minimum. He's got to be pretty close to a sure thing.
Projecting a DE to OLB is the hardest thing for a 3-4 team to do, because it's a pretty inexact science. Could Quinn do it? Maybe? Are you willing to roll the dice with a pick that we could use on a game changing WR, RB, DT or OT that we KNOW would be a pro-bowler for us?
It's a judgement call; we may just have to agree to disagree. To me, we spend the pick and the salary, hoping for a guy that will make the transition. If he doesn't, come next draft, we have to do it again. That approach can work with 2nd round selections, but we're only going to have a top-5 pick once every decade. Any player we take in the top-5 will have to match or eclipse what Seymour, Mayo and McGinest have meant to the franchise. The last time we chose a player this high in the draft was Drew Bledsoe, who became the face of the franchise. I have a hard time projecting Robert Quinn as the guy that will be the new cornerstone of our defense, defensive captain and all the stuff that comes with it.
If he is a complete waste moving backwards, I still want him for the havoc he creates moving forward.
And this is where we diverge, I think. You're saying even if he doesn't project to OLB, then we should still draft him to be a pass rushing DE. To me, spending a top-5 pick on a guy that only comes onto the field on third down is just not good value.
Not to make an unflattering comparison, but my mind jumps to Jarvis Green, who played that role for us, and is what Quinn would look like if he bulked up. Quinn would presumably be more disruptive and explosive than Green, but even so... a top-5 pick to play that role?
I'm the wrong person to ask about this since I'm higher on Beal than most. But he doesn't have the physical and athletic upside that Quinn has. Beal may turn out to be a better pro than Quinn and I wouldn't mind seeing Beal taken with that later 1st or early 2nd if the Pats decide to go DE, OT, RB or CB early. Beal doesn't have the physical makeup to be the next Ware, but that is no reason to dismiss what Beal could bring to the Pats. Beal maximizes his skills and adds plus intelligence and leadership to the mix. What's not to like?
And, now we're in agreement again. Beal is a guy that is much easier to project into our defense than Quinn, because we've seen him set the edge, we've seen him drop into coverage, we've seen him take on a block and release to tackle the ball carrier, we've seen him rush the passer and force the ball loose... he's done these things in college and it's all on his game tape.
Beal is a 6-3 266# college DE that may not be as purely disruptive as Quinn, but a guy I can feel confident will transition well to OLB, a guy I'm willing to spend an early pick on and feel like it is good value.