Quote from: MightyGiants on May 01, 2024, 08:45:23 AMI have to confess, I was left a bit puzzled. The claim that Mara "impacted" the decision not to draft a QB at 6 wasn't actually supported by the provided quote. Either the author mischaracterized Lombardi's quote or they left out important parts of the quote.
I found another take on the quote:
"I wasn't surprised at all by that," Lombardi said on The Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan in D.C. on Monday. "Because if you listened to what John Mara said at the owners' meetings ... he said very clearly, 'I'll favor them drafting a quarterback if they're in love.' And he used the word 'love.'"
"I think they were in love with Drake Maye, but I don't think they were in love with J.J. McCarthy. And remember, John Mara, the president of the team -- he's the reason why Daniel Jones is making all that money -- he loves Daniel Jones. He drafted Daniel Jones as the sixth pick overall. Nothing would make them more happy than Daniel Jones being successful. They're almost willing it to happen. It won't, but they're hoping it will."
https://www.audacy.com/973thefansd/sports/lombardi-nygs-loyalty-to-players-causes-bad-decisions
I am not sure that you need an owner to tell a good GM that you should only be drafting a QB at 6 if you love that prospect. With a less than 50% success rate on drafted QBs, drafting one hoping they will prove to be good is a bit of a fool's errand, in my opinion