The transition for a college quarterback to the National Football League is one that has the best scouts and player personnel departments continually baffled. In 1983, college quarterback talent was perceived as the best in history. That year, John Elway was the first pick of the six signal callers selected in the first round. Dan Marino was the last of the six to be chosen.

Between those two picks were a hit by Buffalo with the choice of Jim Kelly and nondescript selections by three other teams that took quarterbacks before the Miami Dolphins tabbed Marino.

Consider this, the anointed best quarterback ever, Tom Brady, was a sixth-round choice. Joe Montana went to the 49ers in the third round and San Francisco scored another quarterback of note with the last pick in the draft a few years ago with the selection of Brock Purdy. Russell Wilson led the Seattle Seahawks to a pair of Super Bowls, winning one and losing one in his second and third years in the league, and they got him out of Wisconsin with a third round pick.

We can also note busts that were first overall selections, none more glaring than the Oakland Raiders selection of Jamarcus Russell in 2007. Now we have a situation where the Carolina Panthers packaged a bevy of draft picks to the Chicago Bears to draft Bryce Young last year. So far, Young is a colossal failure while the quarterback chosen second in that draft, C.J. Stroud, had one of the best rookie seasons ever for a signal caller and led the Houston Texans from the cellar to a playoff berth in his first professional campaign.

This year, the Chicago Bears cashed the Panthers first pick in the draft, which they got in the Young trade, to select USC Quarterback Caleb Williams. The young star out of Southern Cal has been on the radar since he was a kid playing Pop Warner. He may go on to have a brilliant NFL career, he certainly appears to have all the physical tools to excel.

But, once again, the player chosen second in the draft may be the real deal. With the second pick in the draft the Washington Commanders chose Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. While the Bears have won one game with Williams at quarterback, a victory over Tennessee that was in no way attributable to good play by Williams. The two Chicago touchdowns in their opener were scored on a blocked punt and interception. The Bears have lost their last two games, at Houston and Indianapolis the past two Sundays.

Contrast that with Daniels in Washington.

After an opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida, Daniels has engineered a pair of victories over the New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals. The Giants win came by virtue of seven field goals and a 21-18 triumph without the Redskins penetrating the endzone. But in Cincinnati on Monday night, a national audience saw a battle between a pair of former LSU quarterbacks and the kid chosen second in the draft beat the first 2020 overall pick, Joe Burrow, on his home field.

I have a theory on winning quarterbacks. While I don’t care if my linebackers are raised by wolves, I want to know my quarterback, the focal point of my organization, has had a steady upbringing with quality parents. Note that Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, John Elway and Brock Purdy all had parents that stayed married and raised their kids with an eye on character as much as throwing motion.

In 1998, two quarterbacks were selected first and second in the draft and there were a number of people who thought the one selected second would have a better pro career then the one chosen first. In fact, people who thought that are very difficult to find today, because the first player chosen that year was Peyton Manning and the second was Ryan Leaf.

Manning one of the best ever, and the Chargers got the bum deal with Leaf.

So, I tested my parental upbringing and assumed Leaf was raised in chaos.

Not so, in fact Leaf had a solid family life and parents who were there for him in all the right ways.

Well, maybe that is simply what we learn about quarterbacks, nobody has a clue.