Following the debate that was sparked about John Beck in the "comments" section of the first part of my chat with Dave Hyde, I decided to ask Dave one follow-up question about Beck.
Below is my question and his response:
Dave: I spent a day with Beck in Utah last spring and couldn't help but walk away impressed by how he carries himself and what he stands for. Nothing has happened to change that. There will be no question about his work ethic and his desire to be great.
So the heavyweight question people are asking is this: Can he be great? The answer: No one has any idea. The realistic question is whether you want him to be afforded that chance. I sure do. I'm not too wrapped up what he did as a rookie, on a 1-15 team, when he really wasn't even prepared by his limited practice work to go into a game when the season needed him.
It looks like Beck will be given every chance by Parcells, too. That's how this off-season is playing out. Maybe Parcells has no other choice. There's no slam-dunk franchise quarterback available in the draft. Josh McCown was as good a free-agent quarterback as there was, and he's good insurance policy who has proven to be a capable NFL quarterback.
I'd bet Beck will be the starting quarterback at the start of the season. From there? We'll see what happens. Ron Jaworski, who studies such things, loved Beck coming out of the draft. So did several other teams. I just hope they build an offensive line for him so he is given the maximum chance to begin to show what kind of player he is.
Dave is really one of the first members of the Florida media to acknowledge that John Beck will get every opportunity to win the starting job by this new regime. That's been my belief all along as well. That's part of the reason why I don't see the Dolphins taking Matt Ryan overall. Well, that, and the fact that Ryan isn't a "slam-dunk franchise quarterback," as Dave stated above.
Thanks to Dave Hyde, of course!
And your thoughts below...