UPDATED: What To Expect From Pete Prisco on Draft Day

Before the 2006 NFL Draft, Pete Prisco decided Matt Leinart was going to be Tom Brady and Vince Young was going to suck. When grading the Cardinals, Pete said:

Best pick: Taking Matt Leinart in the first round was a great pick for the future of this franchise. He's the next star quarterback in this league.

and about the Titans:

Worst pick: Picking Vince Young third is risky. They will either hit a home run, or it will be three strikes and out. He's years away from playing.

Moreover, Petey attacked any team brazen enough to pass on the future Hall of Famer.

The Titans:

They blew it. They picked the wrong quarterback. Vince Young is not ready to play. Matt Leinart would be. This will bite the franchise in the butt.

The Jets:

This is the worst pick of the draft so far. How can this team, with no star quarterback, pass on Matt Leinart? It's unreal. He would have been a star in New York with Eli Manning. Ferguson is overrated. He's not the next Walter Jones.

The Raiders:

The Raiders will likely play him at safety, which might not be his best position. Does he tackle good enough? This is another team that should have taken Leinart.

The Bills:

They must think J.P. Losman is the real deal.

The Lions:

But they passed up Leinart, which is shocking. This is a good pick, but Leinart would have been better.

And finally, the Cardinals:

This is a terrific pick for this franchise. When Kurt Warner is done, they have a guy to build around. And they can be patient with him.

Now, we'll ignore the fact that VY was starting before Matt Leinart, won more games, and was named Rookie of the Year. None of that should be surprising to Longhorn fans. What is surprising (but probably shouldn't be) is that Pete is doing the exact same thing with JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn.

Prisco has placed JaMarcus Russell as his 20th (!) best prospect in the draft, and has compared Russell to both Akili Smith and Ryan Leaf. He also has compared Brady Quinn to both Tom Brady AND Peyton Manning. All because of "the experience and the desire."

Never mind that that Quinn never won a bowl game in his four years of starting, never beat USC and never won a conference championship (although that one may not have totally been his fault). Never mind that JaMarcus Russell showed steady improvement over his meager 29 starts and has fewer starts because he only played three years of college ball.

Never mind that Brady Quinn didn't pull off his "amazing" 5-1 TD-INT ratio over the last two year against SEC competition as Russell was forced to do. Never mind that over the last two years Quinn has played 6 games against Michigan, USC and a bowl opponent. Notre Dame is 1-5 in those games, four by double digits, and Quinn's TD-INT ratio during that period is less than 2-1.

This isn't to say that JaMarcus Russell is Vince Young, but Brady Quinn is equally no Matt Leinart. Experience matters, but college experience is not decisive for an NFL QB to find success. JaMarcus Russell has considerably more experience than Akili Smith at draft time and has not shown the personality defects of Ryan Leaf. The ability to throw a football through a piece of titanium counts too, and we wouldn't discount JaMarcus's ability to do that.

This weekend, Pete Prisco will likely attack whichever team drafts JaMarcus Russell before Brady Quinn because he's already made up his mind. Should Brady fall, Pete will bash any team that passes on his poster boy. You might have seen this script last year, and it's just as likely that Pete will ultimately be proven wrong.

UPDATE: In his newest "Who they should draft" column, Pete says of the Raiders situation (referring to Brady Quinn):

"They need a quarterback. He's the best quarterback. It's that simple."

Additionally, Cold, Hard Football Facts has published a record of the "pundits" success with mock drafts in the first round over the last two seasons...guess who's second to last with an average of .219. They also wrote a great comparisson of Quinn and Russell, concluding that Notre Dame sucked, JaMarcus ain't VY or Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn threw it a lot, he didn't play much competition, he lost whenever he played good teams, and he may or may not be a great pro.