Hey, first of all I would like to introduce myself.  I'm Federico Pacheco a diehard Colts fan from San Jose, Costa Rica (Central America)... No we're not a jungle, no we're not mostly a jungle, no I'm not mad lol... That said I just want to tell you I discovered this page like a month ago and I started to visit it on a daily basis, and now I have decided to be a more integrated part of it (assuming you're acceptation). Now let's go to the main topic of this thread, my first thread lol.

When I saw, a couple of  weeks ago, a report that the Colts had a workout scheduled with Mark Sanchez, the first thing that came to my mind was the 2005 Packers. I know now someone is reporting that that workout never happened and won't happen, but we all know that the Colts could draft a QB this year, but probably not in the 1st round.

Now back to the 2005 Packers. Prior to the 2005 NFL draft, there was a big debate around the best QB, whether it was Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers. That debate wasn't reflected on draft day, as the 49ers selected Smith with the first overall pick and Rodgers, well, he slipped until the 24th pick. Who held that pick? The Green Bay Packers! We all know who played QB for the Pack back then: Ironman; Brett Favre. Even though he was 35, the cannon-armed QB hadn't missed a single game in a decade, and he was coming off a 4 088 yard, 30 touchdown season. Did Green Bay urgently need a QB? Nope. The Dolphins urgently needed a QB, so did the Bears, so did the Browns...but they all passed on this guy. And I don't blame them...here's why:

• Age: 21 years old. Pretty young. That raises questions about maturity. 
• Experience: Junior. He transfered from a junior college, took the starting place in the 5th game of his souphmore year. That means less than two years of experience.
• Height: many experts believed Rodgers wasn't tall enough at 6'2.
• Coached by Jeff Tedford: this coach introduced Joey Harrington, Akili Smith, Tret Dilfer, and Kyle Boller to the NFL.
  

All this means that they had valid reasons to pass on him, and maybe him starting that year or the next would have added his name to the Jeff Tedford list, who knows?. So, in other words, Mr. Rodgers fell to the perfect situation. He was young enough to wait a couple of years before beginning to start in the NFL (he began starting when he was 24, the age of many rookies nowadays) and he would benefit of learning from a Hall of Famer. And now, 4 years later, things seem to have happened pretty well.

So...haven't you seen it already? They have more in common than being California guys:

Mark Sanchez:

• Age: 22 years old.
  
• Experience: Junior. Passed for 63 yards in 2006, stepped in for an injured John David Booty in 2007, and gained the starting job in 2008. Less than two years of experience.
  
• Height: 6'2 plus.
  
• Coached by Pete Carroll: even though Carson Palmer is his product, we also have Matt Leinart and John David Booty has apparrently showed nothing in Minnesota.

I know it's not a happy thing to start thinking about Peyton's replacement, but it isn't as early as it seems like (he once suggested he was playing until he was 36, of which we are 3 years away :S). Probably, it wasn't a happy thing for the Packers back then either, but it's going to happen sooner or later... And if by some miracle Mark Sanchez falls to us in the 27th pick, I highly doubt we will pass on him.  Besides, he would probably be the best player available and we all now Bill Polian.

I would rather have Hakeem Nicks or a big DT, more inmediate contrubutors...but knowing that we already have a replacement for Peyton (and learning under him) would make me very happy too.

Thanks to Wikipedia and NFL.com for the stats...