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The thought of Connor Cook being drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos generates exactly two kinds of reactions from fans. HELL YES! and HELL NO!
Well, Pro Football Focus says you should be siding with the latter. In a recent ESPN Insider piece from Steve Palazzolo, he warns that the former Michigan State quarterback is a boom-or-bust player. Much too risky for a first round pick, even for a team like the Broncos who are desperate for a quarterback.
Desperation is dangerous motivation for draft strategy, and picking Cook at the end of the first round would be just that for the Broncos. Even with Mark Sanchez penciled in as the starter, Denver can't afford to use a first-round pick on Cook. PFF grades show that he is better suited to go later in the draft, in the third or fourth rounds. The former Michigan State signal-caller is a boom-or-bust player -- he is fearless when throwing the ball down the field and letting his receivers make plays (he led the draft class with an accuracy percentage of 59.4 percent on deep passes), but that same aggressiveness leads to risky throws into coverage. Cook also misses too many easy throws -- his accuracy percentage of 71.4 on 1- to 10-yard throws is third-worst in the draft class -- so the down-to-down consistency is a major concern. While Cook is the type of quarterback who can win games with his aggressive style, his carelessness with the football can also lose games and his inaccuracy is too much of a gamble in the first round, even for a QB-needy team like the Broncos.
Though I personally disagree with that assessment as the best possible situation for Cook would be to end up on an established stable franchise like the Broncos, but the win-now approach by John Elway may too much for a guy with as many coachable flaws as Cook has.
If the Broncos could afford to sit Cook for a few seasons, then perhaps drafting him makes more sense. The more I personally read on the topic the more I think trading up to draft a guy like Paxton Lynch doesn't sound so bad, even if I think Cook could end up being the better NFL quarterback.