NFL Draft: Matt Ryan, Brian Brohm, Chad Henne, or Joe Flacco?

The 2008 quarterback draft class does not have a standout star, making it one of the most intriguing positions in the draft.

Many consider Matt Ryan to be head-and-shoulders above the other quarterbacks. Brian Brohm, Chad Henne, and Joe Flacco are considered to be the second-tier quarterbacks, with little to distinguish them from each other.

Ryan is touted as having all of the “intangibles” that analysts talk about in a quarterback. “Matty Ice” is an accurate passer with decent arm strength who carried his team last season.

He’s a traditional quarterback who is good at avoiding the rush. Some scouts feel that Ryan takes too many chances with the ball, as he is prone to throwing interceptions.

Brohm was long considered to be the best quarterback in this group, until he and Louisville struggled after losing Bobby Petrino. Brohm is an accurate passer that has been very productive at the college level.

However, scouts question Brohm’s arm strength and worry that he may have been a system quarterback.

Chad Henne started for four years at Michigan. He has a strong arm and showed durability by missing only three games.

However, Henne did not show any progress through his college career. His freshman numbers look very similar to the numbers he put up each of the next three seasons at Michigan.

Joe Flacco is the hot newcomer in the quarterback field. He has the size and arm strength that make scouts drool. The problem is that Flacco played at Division I-AA Delaware, making it difficult to project his production to the NFL.

With so many questions about each, the best way to pick between these four may be to use the computers.

To do so, four important factors were considered. First, the career completion percentage of each was used to illustrate accuracy. Next, the career touchdown-to-interception ratio shows how many touchdowns each quarterback throws before throwing an interception.

Third, the attempts-to-interceptions ratio shows how many passes each quarterback throws between interceptions. Fourth, the attempts-to-sack ratio shows how many times each quarterback passes between sacks.

Finally, each of the quarterbacks was ranked in each category, and those rankings were averaged to show which quarterback was statistically the best of the group.

Name	Comp. %	TD-Int Ratio	Attempts/Int.Ratio	Attempts/SackRatio	Avg. Rank
Matt Ryan	61.00	1.59	37.53	28.36	2.75
Brian Brohm	65.83	2.95	49.41	19.07	1.75
Chad Henne	59.70	2.35	37.49	15.41	3.75
Joe Flacco	63.40	2.73	62.53	19.54	1.75

All four quarterbacks are very accurate. Henne was the only quarterback below 60 percent for his career. Brian Brohm had the highest percentage, completing almost two-thirds of his passes.

Brohm also had the highest touchdown-to-interception ratio. Brohm threw about three touchdowns for each interception.

Ryan’s high interception numbers show up here, as he was a distant fourth-place finisher with a ratio of 1.6 touchdowns for each interception.

Flacco’s ratio was also high at 2.73 touchdowns for each pick.

The inferior competition Flacco played against may have contributed to his high attempt-to-interception ratio. He attempted 62.5 passes between interceptions. That’s enough attempts to fill about two games for most NFL quarterbacks.

Brohm had the second highest ratio, throwing a pick about every 50 attempts. Ryan and Henne both throw a pick about every 37.5 attempts.

The one category where Ryan did stand out was his attempts-to-sack ratio. His ability to move in the pocket and keep plays alive helped him to attempt about 28 passes between sacks.

Brohm and Flacco each got sacked about every 19 attempts.

The surprise here is that Chad Henne, who played with the best offensive talent around him of the four, had the highest attempts-to-sack ratio. Henne was sacked every 15 times he attempted a pass.

After ranking the quarterbacks on each category, the average was taken to rank the group.

Brian Brohm and Joe Flacco tied for the best average ranking with 1.75. Ryan was third with 2.75, and Henne was fourth with 3.75.

The BCS uses a combination of computer and human rankings to determine its standings. In order to factor in the same system, ESPN’s Mel Kiper and NFL.com’s Mike Mayock’s rankings were used as the two human polls. The final standings look like this:

	Avg. Rank	Kiper	Mayock	Final Ranking
Matt Ryan	2.75	1	1	1.58
Brian Brohm	1.75	3	4	2.92
Chad Henne	3.75	4	3	3.58
Joe Flacco	1.75	2	2	1.92

Matt Ryan finishes first, followed by Joe Flacco, then Brian Brohm, and Chad Henne.

The computers love Brohm, but the “experts” brought down his ranking. However, the experts made up Matt Ryan’s ranking after the computers ranked him third. Flacco and Henne were consensus picks at second and fourth respectively.

Whether you agree with the computers or the experts, four teams will end up with solid prospects at the quarterback position.