I really don’t understand the fascination with Harrison over a QB. Even if you had a crystal ball and told me Harrison was going to be as good as projected and there was a 40% chance the QB hits his ceiling, im still taking the chance on the QB.
Harrison is undeniably one of the best WR prospects in the past 20 years, probably a top 3-4 WR prospect in the 35 years I’ve followed the draft closely but he’s still a WR. Even in today’s league where WR play is more important than ever, one elite WR doesn’t do much for you if your QB isn’t one of the top guys in the league.
Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Jaylen Waddle, Devonta Smith, AJ Brown, DJ Moore, all sitting at home right now because their QB’s either suck or are “decent but not elite” or (Dak) played like trash in the playoffs
Meanwhile the leader receivers (for WR) from this weekends winners are Rashee Rice, Romeo Doubs, Amon Ra St Brown, Nico Collins and Josh Reynolds. Mike Evans had under 50 yards for Tampa. St. Brown is a stud but wasn’t much of a prospect. The rest of those guys are solid but not elite players.
Does anyone actually think the Pats can consistently compete with Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, maybe Herbert (if they can find a coach), Stroud, Rodgers (maybe) with a Bo Nix caliber prospect (even if he hits his ceiling), Justin Fields or Jacoby Brissett? A semi competent D Coordinator will find a way to limit Harrison and force your mid tier QB to throw to other guys and mid tier QB almost always come up small in those situations.
Furthermore, the punt the decision to 2025 or beyond really doesn’t make sense. Even if you’re not sold on Maye/Daniels (whoever is #3) next year’s QB crop is looking thin and even if some of these guys take a step forward, you’re not likely -hopefully anyway - to be drafting top 3 again so you’re going to have to compete with other teams to move up and give up tons of capital to go get a guy like Ewers or Sanders who probably wouldn’t even be a top 5 QB in this class.
I understand that Daniels’ meteoric rise can be viewed with skepticism, and Maye didn’t have a great year. But even with those flaws, they’re great prospects compared to the average 2nd and 3rd QB’s typically available. A franchise QB is the most valuable thing you can have in all of professional sports. Any prospect can bust but QB is the one spot where if you hit a home run or even a triple you’ve catapulted your team into fairly consistent playoff contention. I really wonder if the Harrison fixation isn’t just a product of Pats fans being so starved for good WR play.