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Let's forget about the rookie quarterbacks for a minute, and focus on the young signal-callers who have at least one game of NFL experience under their sleeves.
Last season, Derek Anderson and even David Garrard had the type of season that won over the fans and coaches of their ball clubs.
But this upcoming season, three young QBs that come to mind have the potential to become "The Man" as their teams' starting quarterback...
In San Francisco, the 49ers have two questions in regards to their quarterback situation heading into next season.
One, can Alex Smith finally have a solid season in his fourth year?
Two, which guy is the better option as the starting quarterback—Smith or Shaun Hill?
Smith was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 to be the franchise quarterback, and is now heading into training camp competing for a starting spot with Shaun Hill.
| "A lot has been made of this, but this is a natural part of this game. It's a competitive sport. Shaun and I have had to compete all our lives to get to this point. I would say the abnormal thing is (when) you're given something. ... We're both pretty sure. We're self-confident that we're going to go out there and get it done."--Alex Smith |
In the three games Hill played last season, he threw five touchdowns, had an undefeated record and had a QB rating of 101.3.
As for Smith, he threw only two touchdowns in seven games before a season-ending injury.
Smith has only had one decent season while Norv Turner was the offensive coordinator.
Though Smith is entering his fourth season and looks to be the starting QB, this could be Smith's last chance if he doesn't prove he's ready to take a step forward.
Mike Martz will be the new offensive coordinator in San Francisco this season, and hopefully he can help mold Smith into the quarterback everyone has expected him to be.
In Arizona, the quarterback situation is a little different. Two questions heading into training camp are:
Is Matt Leinart ready to mature and become the quarterback of the future for the Cards?
Is Kurt Warner the better option than Leinart at quarterback?
The Matt Leinart off-the-field situation might have been a little overblown, but he does need to mature in a sense heading into the 2008 season. The man was in the backyard of his own house for crying out loud.
If Leinart gets off to another poor start, then we will probably see the two-headed quarterback situation we saw last season. Leinart and Kurt Warner split playing time until Leinart suffered a season-ending collarbone injury.
Warner turned out to be pretty good last season, throwing 27 TDs and 3,417 passing yards. Leinart might be the Cardinals' QB of the future—but Leinart will still be competing with Warner for a starting spot in training camp, according to head coach Ken Whisenhunt.
The resolution to the QB situation in Cleveland seems to a no brainer. But with that said, this question will still be asked by some.
Now that Brady Quinn has spent a season as an understudy to Derek Anderson, is he ready to be the Browns starting quarterback?
Local Browns fan would love to see Quinn become the starting QB--but seriously, the answer to this question is pretty much a no brainer.
Though Brady Quinn maybe the most popular athlete on the Browns' roster, he only saw action in one game last season.
Derek Anderson had a breakout year last season, throwing 29 TDs, 3,787 passing yards and a trip to the Pro Bowl.
Brady is the QB of the future, but sitting behind Anderson will pay off in the future. Anderson signed a new three-year, $24 million contract with the Browns.
So really the only way Quinn becomes the starting QB, is if Anderson gets hurt or just begins to play poorly.
God forbid the first one happens, and the way he played last season, it's really hard to picture him playing bad.
No matter these interesting quarterback situations play out, it will be a fun thing to watch in 2008.
Michael Whittenberg is a senior writer for BleacherReport.com.
Information from ESPN and the Associated Press were used in this column.
Comments (15) Add a comment »
from 4 days ago
Good Article but you should have included one of these guys:
Jamarcus Russell
Tavarias Jackson
Aaron Rodgers
In regards to Derek Anderson
"the way he played last season, it's really hard to picture him playing bad."
-he will; not only will he hit the classic second year learning curve for quarterbacks, but now that teams have a season of gamefilm to dissect I think they'll be able to take advantage of his often poor decision making. Anderson threw 19 picks and only completed 56% of his passes. Moreover during the final four games of the season he declined significantly; 65/111 (58%) 725yds and 5 tds to 6 ints. This all coming against dubious defenses such as SF, NYJ, CIN, and BUF (although this game was such shitty weather i'll give him a pass)
from 4 days ago
Nice numbers to backup your argument on DA. I could have mentioned the Rodgers/Packers and Jackson/Vikings QB situation, but I wanted to leave the rookies out of this one.
Rodgers could lose his spot to Brian Brohm, but I don't think he will this year anyway.
And I think Jackson will be a good starter. If not, they have Gus Frerotte before John David Booty.
These were really the three QB situations that interested me the most.
from 3 days ago
I think it would benifit Brady Quinn if he sat on the bench one more year. Cleveland is looking to have a breakout year (not a guarantee either) and Romeo doesn't want to sabatage it by getting Quinn ready for the future. Romeo's future is now. Besides, you really can't justify sitting Anderson the way he played.
Something in me says that Alex Smith will have a bounce back year. I don't think SF should give upon him yet. Competition is good though, and it should push Smith to perform.
In my opinion, the more you don't make a commitment to Leinart, the more you mess with his confidence. He needs a complete year under center to make a good judgement.
from 3 days ago
Good article, I thinnk you could have added a litte more names but its good, to bad I already used my pick of the day!
from 3 days ago
I'm definitely not a Smith apologist as the Niners would have drafted Braylon Edwards #1 in '05, but you need to mention that Martz is Smith's fourth offensive coordinator in as many years in the league. Nobody could succeed with that lack of cohesiveness. Smith was the unanimous pick as the best guy in the recent mini-camp, and barring injury, I would expect him to be the opening-day starter as the better talent than Hill. He is also still only 23 years old, hardly the age to call someone an outright bust YET.
from 3 days ago
I should have mentioned would have drafted Edwards in '05 if I ruled the world
from 3 days ago
Good article, Michael.
I've been following the Leinart/Warner competition, since I'm a Cardinal season ticket holder.
Up until last season, it was very hard to gauge both our RB and QB play, because the offensive line had been so awful.
But in Leinart's 2nd season as a starter (last season), and with an improved offensive line, he looked awful. The worst part is that Arizona was stocked at WR with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Unfortunately for us though, Leinart doesn't have the arm strength to throw downfield or thread the needle, and defenses picked up on that and challenged his rag arm. It's not that Leinart doesn't know where to throw... It's that he realizes all too well that he doesn't have to strength nor accuracy to throw the ball into tight NFL coverages.
The result was 129 passing yards per game and a 60.9 passer rating (both worst in the NFL). He completed only about 50% of his passes and his YPA was an anemic 5.8. He averaged only 0.4 TD per game (no TD's to Fitzgerald), and threw twice as many INT's as TD's. For comparison, I looked up Ryan Leaf's 2nd season numbers, and they were almost identical to Leinart's, except Leaf's were actually a little better.
And Leinart is fragile. He's suffered two season-ending injuries in his last 5 sacks.
I don't really care about Leinart's off-field issues. His on-the-field play, though, is cause for concern. And extra playing time isn't going to fix Leinart's weak throwing arm. That's an incurable condition. He simply doesn't have an NFL arm.... He was a nice college QB on a team that had overwhelming supporting talent at WR, RB, and on the oline.
What I'd like to see is the Cardinals stick with Kurt Warner who, finally equipped with a decent (but not great) offensive line, had an amazing resurgence last season. 27 TD's in only 11 starts, and 21 TD's in his last 8 games. His passer rating was 89.8, which placed him in the top 10 in the NFL.
Should we go with the guy putting up Pro Bowl caliber numbers?.... or go with the guy putting up Ryan Leaf numbers?.... For any other club, this would be a no-brainer. You play to win today. But unfortunately, my team is the Arizona Cardinals whose focus is on slick marketing and glossing over losing seasons, rather than playing the best players and trying to win super bowls.
from 2 days ago
I recall reading that Wiz already announced Leinart as the starter for this year.
Not exactly the brightest decision, at this stage.
For that matter, didn't think it all that bright him platooning Leinart and Warner last year.
Two positions on the team are "have to have the head right" positions..qb, and FG kicker.
When either one starts to think too much about possibly being benched, they tighten up, and start to press, which always has disasterous results.
Not that Leinart would have done better, but why in the hell would he leave Leinart in until the team got in the red zone?
If you have no confidence in the red zone, and you have full confidence in the other qb..the answer is obvious. Thinking Matt is getting snaps, then yanking him is going to help his confidence is silly. It's almost a recipe for failure.
So, in announcing, already, that Matt is the starter...what's Wiz going to do if Matt struggles first game? or through second game? Going to let him play through it, or yank him again?
Best to announce the nod goes to the player with the best preseason, and take it from there, IMO.
from 3 days ago
Good article but what about Jay Cutler, Jason Cambell, or the Cheifs quarterback situation?
from 3 days ago
I think that Cutler and Campbell don't have to worry about losing their starting roles.
Especially Cutler, the guy is a flat out stud to me.
from 2 days ago
Cutler? Didn't they think Brian Griese wasn't going to have problems? Or Jake Plummer?
Cutler's biggest problem, is his coach....who, ironically, is now on the short leash, after last season's collaspe.....actually, they never got out of the starting blocks right.
Biggest problem with Denver, is they have no backup to speak of.
And being Denver, with a QB one step from injury, it's not a question if he goes down....it's a question of who it's against. If you play in the wild west, injury is the number one thing that will kill a team.
from 2 days ago
I agree.
from 2 days ago
Great article, but I would have put in the QB battle between Brodie Croyle and......um....oh yea Tyler Thigpen...who? Never mind, great article.
from 2 days ago
While it's true Smith is on the bubble, those numbers aren't exactly correct.
Smith had actually won 3 of the previous 4 games (first two of the year, last game of previous year against Denver) before he got crunched in the second play of the game against Seattle.
That is what pretty much ended his year.
Nolan stupidly put him back in, and left him back in, even while it was obvious to the whole world he couldn't much lift his arm, much less throw.
Julian Petersen, with Seattle, mentioned "What was he doing in there? Every time he threw you could hear him wince"
When that was repeated to Nolan, Nolan's reply was "Petersen's not a doctor".
I lost a ton of respect for Nolan for that bush league handling of Smith.
He was actually bouncing balls off the turf, 5 feet in front of receivers, which he's never done..most missed balls sailed..yet Nolan still left him in, then backtracked with his comments, indicating Smith's problems weren't because of injury.
That comment is what made Smith go public, which he damn well should have.
That said, while competition is good for all positions, I believe a healthy Smith easily beats out Hill.
from 1 day ago
Mike...these are only 3 of the names, but I see your point
Quinn is at a disadvantage because he will not be given the opportunity to beat out Anderson - at least not this season
Leinart needs to win the job from Warner, or he will be considered a bust. This is his 3rd year already
Smith may benefit from having Mike Martz as a coach. The question still remains if he is a #1 overall talent to begin with.
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