Detroit Lions: Bob Quinn has omitted Patriots playbook at quarterback

What the Detroit Lions have done

Are we saying that drafting a Michigan quarterback will get our team to a Super Bowl? Obviously not, we did try that strategy with Jake Rudock (profile via Draft Scout) and the similarities are stark. Both starting quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford and Drew Bledsoe, were going into their eighth season in the NFL, the front office was new, and the picks used on their Michigan signal-callers were nearly identical.

Brady was drafted during the 2000 draft, sixth round, pick 199, while Rudock was from the 2016 class, sixth round, pick 191. Rudock didn’t have the prototype size Tom Brady did, nor did he have as much arm talent, though. No pressure on Rudock, right?

During the 2017 draft, Bob Quinn brought in Brad Kaaya, from the University of Miami, also in the sixth round (pick 215). Quinn seemed to be running the Patriots playbook in his first couple of seasons, just like what had been done to build competition and depth behind Bledsoe and eventually Brady. However, Kaaya did not make the final roster and before ending up on the Detroit Lions practice squad had a brief stint with the Carolina Panthers.

Both the Rudock and Kaaya picks seemed to have upside (Kaaya was listed among the top seven options in 2017) and seemed to demonstrate a commitment to developing talent, just as the New England Patriots have been known to do. They didn’t use high draft picks to do it, either, making the risk pretty low and the possible payoff in a quarterback driven league still pretty high.