With Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill coming out of the 2012 draft, we can safely call that a really good quarterback class. It's a different story in 2013, as draft evaluators that the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Bob McGinn talked to were sharply critical, one calling this class "all bad."
McGinn annually writes a strong series of articles leading up to the draft, talking to sources around the league. In the linked quarterback preview, one scout tells him "two will go in the first round, but I don't think there's a first-round (talent) in the bunch." Another: "After Geno (Smith), (Ryan) Nassib, and (Matt) Barkley, the rest are just bad." And a third, most damningly: "I think they're all bad."
These are just opinions, and keep in mind most personnel types missed badly on Russell Wilson just last season. If anyone had believed strongly in him, he'd have been drafted several rounds earlier.
As McGinn points out, most drafts produce at least one good starting quarterback. An exception is 2007, which gave us JaMarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, and Kevin Kolb (who will be starting for Buffalo, maybe; the Bills are expected to also draft one of the incoming "bad" quarterbacks).
"Man, I'm glad I don't have to draft a quarterback," one personnel guy tells McGinn. That feeling is highlighted by teams making plays in last month for Alex Smith, Matt Flynn and Carson Palmer. There are a lot of teams with poor or questionable starting quarterbacks, but no team you can look at and say, They'll be starting one of the incoming rookies in Week 1.
McGinn's articles on running backs (Eddie Lacy was the unanimous top back in the draft according to 16 polled scouts) and wide receivers (scouts split between Cordarrelle Patterson and Tavon Austin) can be seen at these links.
--Andy Richardson