Bucs Talk: With Jeff Garcia Gone, Could Josh Johnson Possibly Be Your Man?

(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

Jeff Garcia was a big loss for the Buccaneers. Now they got plenty of other quarterbacks left on the roster but don't know who to choose from. After looking through the profiles of Brian Griese, Luke McCown, and Josh Johnson, I thought Josh had the best spot for the starting job.

No, not because he has the same exact name as me (Josh). I saw him in his preseason games and I thought he beat out Griese and McCown for the second string. Unfortunately, he was the fourth-string man. Here are my reasons of why he should be the starter for the Bucs. This is the talk. The Buccaneers talk, that is.

First of all, you have to check out Johnson's relatives: Marshawn Lynch, Robert Jordan, and JaMarcus Russell. All of them are cousins of Josh. They are all NFL players and Josh Johnson is probably the second best, behind Russell, now that Lynch is arrested.

Johnson was also a star and speedy quarterback from the college of San Diego. In his second year with the team, he had over 3,500 passing yards and an astonishing 36 touchdowns. He also had many other awards:

• Four-time All-Pioneer Football League American
• Two-time Pioner Football League Player of the Year
• Four-time I-AA All-American
• Walter Payton award

Pretty good for a small school college player. He is a very fast quarterback, though. One of the reasons he won the Walter Payton award was because of his running. He was the MVP of one game, as he had 103 rushing yards on only three attempts.

Pretty good. Not good! Great! No, a word that is so better than great that the word hasn't even been made yet.

Last year, Josh Johnson proved himself as an elite player, but not many scouts had seen him. He beat out every quarterback in these categories:

• 40-yard dash: 4.55
• Broad jump and vertical jump: N/A

But he did post the best numbers in those spots. He was drafted in the fifth round of the draft and looks to prove himself as the man.

Why should he be the starter? Why not Griese or McCown? Well, Griese is getting old and he really can't stay in the NFL forever. Luke McCown is turning 28 and really isn't that good of a starting QB.

Johnson is the best bet. Why? Have you even checked out his game logs in the preseason? In his first two games he had a 118.8 quarterback rating in his first game and a 91.7 rating in his second game, due to the fact he only passed once in those two games.

Then in the third, he didn't play at all. Then in the last one, in which he started, he had a 80.6 quarterback rating. Here were his stats: 8-of-13, 61.5 completion percentage, 85 passing yards, 6.5 average yards per play, one rush for negative one yard.

Here were his total stats in the preseason: 10-of-15, 66.7 completion percentage, 106 passing yards, 7.1 average yards per play, sacked one time for 13 yards, three carries for negative three yards.

Even though those aren't good rushing numbers, he did pretty decent in the passing. I forgot to mention his quarterback rating because it is really good: 87.1. That is actually really good for a caliber player like his.

Johnson really has the potential. He has the scrambling ability. He has a strong arm. He is also very young: 22 years old and coming into his second year. Can he possibly be a starter for the Bucs? Forget the draft, go with Johnson.

Expect it...

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