Matt Cassel: Buyer Beware (of YAC)

(Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

As you may have already heard, the Kansas City Chiefs just signed Matt Cassel to an extended six-year contract worth over 60 million dollars, with 28 million of that guaranteed.

Signing a still relatively unproven quarterback with Matt Cassel’s less than prestigious background is enough to throw up warning flags for most.  Others will argue that at least he’s proven more in the NFL than rookies like Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez.

However, I am not here to talk about big contracts for backups with one nice year (like David Garrard and Derek Anderson from 2007) or compare them to rookie quarterbacks who are given monster contracts before they even have their first practice in the NFL.

There is another large reason for concern with Matt Cassel beyond the obvious.

Matt Cassel had the third most passing yards after the catch in 2008 even though he only had the eighth most passing yards and the ninth most completions.

If you look at the top ten quarterbacks in the league for passing yards after the catch in 2008, Matt Cassel sticks out like a sore thumb.

Yards after the catch (YAC), accounted for a whopping 57.3 percent of his total passing yards.  The closest to that were Jason Campbell (52.0 percent) and Brett Favre (51.2 percent). 

Even the league’s top two quarterbacks for YAC, Drew Brees and Kurt Warner, paled in comparison to Cassel with YAC comprising 47.3 percent and 47.4 percent of their total passing yards respectively.

Now compare Cassel’s 57.3 percent YAC to that of Jay Culter, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning—they averaged 41.6 percent, 40.9 percent, and 40.7 percent respectively.

Another way of looking at how Matt Cassel was shielded by YAC is the whopping 6.5 yards gained after the catch per completion by Cassel’s receivers in 2008.  The closest quarterbacks were Philip Rivers (5.9) and Drew Brees (5.8).

Compare Cassel’s 6.5 yards after the catch per completion to that of Jay Culter, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning—they averaged 4.9, 4.8, and 4.4 yards after the catch per completion respectively.

Top ten NFL quarterbacks for yards after the catch in 2008

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