Montana is a perfect example of why team and scheme fit matters for draftees. It may sound absurd to say now, but there is a strong chance that Joe Montana could've been a draft bust. Fortunately for him, he went to the 49ers and Bill Walsh, whose scheme he fit perfectly. Most teams at that time would've asked Montana to be a much more vertical passer, which he would've struggled to do. Walsh's West Coast offense fit Montana's skillset like a glove. Further, Walsh felt it important to surround Montana with elite talent to maximize his offense, and was able to do with several elite players, including the greatest WR of all time.

Similarly, we all marvel at Patrick Mahomes now, but had some team drafted him with the intention of starting him immediately, he may have a similar story to Ryan Leaf. It was the Chiefs' patience in bringing him along and allowing him time to develop that turned him into the monster he is today.

This is why QBs like Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, and Joe Burrow are so valuable. Few QBs are so NFL ready and scheme diverse that you can just plug and play them anywhere. Peyton Manning would've likely succeeded anywhere, for example, because he would've so obsessively studied the game anywhere, and that was the thing that took him to the next level in the NFL.

Montana excelled in KC too. I agree it was a match made for each other with Walsh and Montana in the beginning, but make no mistake about it, Montana was/is a great QB who would have won no matter where he went. My point was, the pundits should be taken with a grain of salt, and Tequila for some!

So after over 10 years in a system that allowed him to excel and gain confidence and also saw the proliferation of that system around the league, he was able to succeed with another team? I don’t think that takes anything away from what I said. I think that if, say, the New York Jets had taken him in the 1979 draft, he may not be any more famous than Steve Dils or Dan Manucci.