It's something of a chicken/egg problem, but I don't believe that building everything else and only then adding a QB is smart.
I totally agree that it's a chicken/egg situation. However, we have gone egg, egg, egg, egg since the 2005 season with Dilfer... I'm suggesting a little chicken finally.
1) Without a decent QB, the rest of your offense will suck, and worse, you'll have a very difficult time evaluating the talent at those positions. Are the WR's unable to get open/running bad routes, or does the QB telegraph his throws/is inaccurate? Can the OL not block, or is the QB giving plays away or holding the ball too long? Do the RB's suck, or is it the lack of a passing threat that stifles the running game? We've gone through all of those debates before, not knowing what we have elsewhere because the QB sucks.
One thing we have been discussing this season is tiers of QBs. Through that discussion I've noticed that the majority of NFL fans agree there are about 4-5 QBs everyone wants. There are an additional 3-4 QBs fans would be very comfortable with week in and week out. That leaves about 20-22 NFL teams that have a shaky QB who can go through bad stretches every season. I think NFL fans make a mistake thinking in black and white terms at QB. There are roughly 20 franchises who are going to have to think in terms of shades of grey, by necessity.
2) The QB has the longest shelf life of any offensive player, being able to excel into his mid-30's. Other positions, much less so. By the time you draft everything else, and then go after your QB and take a couple of years for him to develop, the team you so carefully built is going to start falling apart due to age, free agency, etc.. Especially if you have to cycle through another shitty QB or two to find the guy that works.
But NFL fans seem to lose patience with quarterbacks if there are two bad weeks in a row, let alone the patience for a young QB to develop over the course of a few years. Look no further than Colin Kaepernick, who is getting run out of town at age 27. After four years of never catching onto reading a defense, many fans out here are ready for him to leave. Same with Cincy and Dalton, same with Cutler in Chicago. I think they are all grey area QBs. If the Browns are able to get a grey area QB because other fans are seeing in black and white, it would improve this team greatly. That would also put Johnny on the bench for longer. I believe by the end of this season it will become obvious that is where he belongs at least until he has better pocket skills.
3) The best QB prospects usually go high in the draft, and if you build a "pretty good" otherwise team first, you'll be stuck with shittier picks to get that QB.
If there is indeed a franchise QB at the top of the draft, I'm not against it. I was the first to say tank for Luck around here. I just haven't seen a sure thing since Luck to make liquidation of existing talent worth it.
4) QB is easily the highest-impact player on a team. If you don't have a good one and you have a high pick, you've got to go for the impact.
Yes, please draft for impact. As the Pro Bowl voting shows, the team seems on the right path for building a good team despite QB play. Finish the job.
5) Much easier to get a good WR in FA than a good QB. They tend to be prima donnas, and teams generally can't afford more than one stud WR, so they tend to go on the market.
It's obviously more difficult to evaluate your QB if the rest of the team sucks, but you can still learn a lot. Missing wide open pass catchers/inaccuracy is unsatisfactory no matter how good the rest of the team is. And in any case, we're no longer in that situation. Our WR corps was at least decent this year. And our running game was good for a good chunk of the season as well. Injuries are hurting us now, but at least for awhile, the rest of the team was good enough to evaluate the QB. And next year, with Mack returning, two good sophomore RB's, and our pass catchers, the offense apart from the QB should be above average.
I haven't been as bullish on our receivers as others on the site. Yeah, I know, PFF stats.... but as soon as Johnny played last week, a whole lot more Browns fans started complaining about the lack of receivers, didn't they? I think Gordon hasn't shown that he is in the kind of groove he was in last season, and everyone else has been exposed now that the season has worn on. I do think Mack is the key to pass protection and a running game, but Cameron is likely gone and the receivers are lacking in my opinion.
I don't believe there has ever been a purposeful (on the part of the franchise) attempt at a QB controversy here. Everyone (except perhaps the backup himself) wants the primary guy to succeed. It's only when he looks to be failing that people want the backup, but that's not because they want a controversy - it's because they want a competent QB.
I am still surprised my suggestion that ownership is more hands on than years past was met with criticism in another thread. The last Browns owner had a brain tumor, then he had a son who cared more about soccer. Now Haslam is here and the suggestion that he is active in marketing and sales concerns gets pot shots. Hey, choose to learn how pro sports work or don't. No sweat off my ass.