Brohm likely to be No. 2 QB taken in draft; more mail

Louisville's Brian Brohm had a career-high 12 interceptions in 2007, but balanced it with a personal-best 30 touchdown passes. Gary Bogdon/SI

MAILBAG Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

With the draft 18 days away, the two questions I'm hearing everywhere are these: Who will be the second QB taken and how high will he go?

Answer: Louisville's Brian Brohm, and I think a team will have to be selecting in the 20s to get him.

There are actually three QB candidates to be chosen after likely top-five pick Matt Ryan of Boston College. Brohm is the clear favorite, followed by Michigan's Chad Henne (he has an NFL-type release right now) and Delaware's Joe Flacco (who has the biggest Howitzer in the draft). Now, the reason Brohm is inching up the charts from his high-second-round status of the postseason is because more and more teams -- like quarterback-needy Atlanta and Baltimore -- have been going to school on Brohm. They realize they were a little hasty in knocking him down from his top-five-in-the-draft level of 2007.

A year ago Brohm chose to stay in school for his senior season instead of coming out and getting picked high in the first round. And all anyone saw on Brohm's 2007 résumé were flaws. Product of the system. Robotic. Not nimble in the pocket. Still, under new coach Steve Kragthorpe, Brohm had his best all-around season, completing 65.1 percent of his passes and throwing for 30 touchdowns while the Louisville defense and running game struggled mightily. As one GM said to me at the NFL meetings last week in Florida, "I think we picked him apart too much last year." I agree. How can a guy be a round worse when he does what everyone in the NFL tells juniors -- stay in school? He not only stayed, he played well, albeit on a 6-6 team.

I think what you're going to see two Saturdays from now is a team like the Ravens, Falcons or Chiefs trade up from their perch high in the second round to try to get Brohm, assuming none of the three take Ryan earlier in the first round. The team that has the most ammunition to move up from a high-second-round perch is Atlanta, with six picks between 34 and 103. Plus, Brohm has impressed the Falcons in predraft film study; offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, in particular, is said to be a Brohm fan.

Now onto your emails...

• COMPARING THE MATURITY OF TWO YOUNG QUARTERBACKS. From Bruce Peotter, of Irvine, Calif.: Jay Cutler and Matt Leinart were drafted together (10 and 11 in 2006), but Cutler has the moral authority and credibility to call out a teammate because he is not acting like a teenager. Leinart will take much longer to gain this credibility because he has chosen to act like a teenager. His immaturity will also taint how his coaches view his commitment. If he slacks off at all in his offseason work, it will make the coaches less likely to hand him the keys of the franchise. You tell me. Based on your observation, who looks more ready to quarterback his team. Cutler or Leinart? Doesn't the off-field information impact your perception?

I agree with you about Cutler. I loved what he said about Brandon Marshall, and everyone in the Denver organization knew it needed to be said. The kid is immature, and his quarterback called him out on it. Cutler leads that team with the demeanor of an eight-year veteran. But here's the difference: Leinart, unlike Cutler, hasn't been fully handed the reins in Arizona, so he hasn't been entrusted with the prime leadership role on the team yet. Part of that is probably his fault; but Cutler never had a Kurt Warner sitting behind him, a player the coaches could always run to at the first sign of trouble with Cutler.

Now as far as Leinart's behavior, do I want my starting quarterback posing and drinking with girls who may or may not be of legal age? Of course not. But there is this presumed Leinart-is-guilty-of-something attitude in some parts of the press and public that disturbs me. Leinart is an unmarried man. He is 24. He is very eligible. And he likes the good life, as I'm sure many attractive, unattached men with millions of dollars do. Leave him alone. Let him live his life. And none of this, by the way, is going to have anything to do with whether he succeeds or fails with the Cardinals.

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