Script says Haener would suck had he stayed
He made the right move. He’s better than Eason and I wish he started over Eason. I didn’t at the time, but after watching him this year, let’s just recognize that the kid is a very good QB.
Actually I expect that Haener would've struggled mightily in Pete's offense and lost the job due to interceptions. What he proved at UW was that he was not patient enough to protect the ball in an offense that rarely opened up receivers. Eason didn't have much of a chance to thrive either but mostly knew how to keep possession of the ball. Haener would've pushed and it would have cost him over and over.
I disagree in hindsight. Our DB’s were good and he threw picks in practice. His realise is too quick for him to have struggled. I also see the other point and part of the confidence comes from a well coached offense at Fresno State that gets him in a rhythm.
We didn’t develop QB’s well at all under Pete. We’ll never know, but I think he could have done better than Eason. Eason had a couple good games but most games he was very average and in others he was downright bad.
In the long run Haener would have been a better choice because Eason blew up Petersons culture/philosophy and it was a mediocre 1 year rental that resulted in 8-5 (4-5). Any QB could have probably achieved that.
Eason was only going to be worth it if he was actually a savior transcendent QB... and those don't exist... especially in the unathletic statue types.
Joe Burrow disagrees
Burrow wasn't a savior QB, he was a lightly recruited forgotten QB that sat for 3 years and then begged 4-8 Nebraska to take him (Frost turned him down; "You think he’s better than what we got?” and then LSU threw a flyer at him to casually beat out vaunted Cincy for his services.
That LSU team was stacked and had the 2nd most ever players drafted (14) in a single year. 2016 Browning wins the NC with that team, rather easily...