I was talking to a writer who covers the Chicago Bears this week for his podcast and he mentioned that I had written the most "scathing" pre-draft column about Mitchell Trubisky he had seen back in April.
This made me have to look back at the column, because I didn't remember it to be very scathing. It really wasn't _ although it wasn't complimentary, either. Just before the NFL draft, I wrote that Cleveland should avoid taking Trubisky No. 1 overall and also wrote this sentence: "I believe Clemson's DeShaun Watson will ultimately be the better pro quarterback, while Trubisky will be an average NFL QB."
I still believe all of that. Trubisky isn't going to wash out of the league or anything. An "average" NFL starting quarterback can often get 6-10 decent years out of the league. But former Clemson star Watson _ drafted No. 12 in that 2017 draft by Houston, while Trubisky went No. 2 overall to the Bears _ is going to be the standout quarterback of this class. He will be considered a franchise quarterback. Ultimately, Trubisky will not be.
My reasoning on Trubisky is not based on his decent athleticism or his fantastic arm. It's based on the most important statistic _ the fact he didn't win enough in his one year as North Carolina's starter.
Remember, Trubisky ran an absolutely loaded offense in Chapel Hill _ far different from this year's UNC team. Yet in his final four games, he lost to Duke (3-6 at the time), N.C. State (5-6 at the time) and Stanford (without Christian McCaffrey, who skipped the bowl game to avoid possible injury). UNC finished 8-5 in a season in which the Tar Heels had the talent to go at least 10-3.
Trubisky too often couldn't convert on the final drive when he had a chance. Chicago fans saw an example of this in Trubisky's first NFL start, when he threw a bad interception in a 17-17 game with less than three minutes to play deep in his own territory to set up Minnesota's game-winning field goal.
Yes, now that I wrote all that, Trubisky will probably throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns against the Panthers Sunday. Maybe he will end up being Tom Brady Part II and I will eat these words. But for me, and for the long term, I sure would rather have Watson.
