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Getty Images 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...

Young Guns: Three QB Situations To Watch in the 2008 NFL Season

by Michael Whittenberg (Senior Writer)

17

1,610 reads

Opinion

May 07, 2008


Getty Images

 

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.

 

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17 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Spenser T. Harrison about 1 year 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)

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  2. Michael Whittenberg about 1 year 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.

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  3. Andrew Tonge about 1 year 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.

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  4. Mike Palmietto about 1 year 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!

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  5. Aron Glatzer about 1 year 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.

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  6. Aron Glatzer about 1 year ago

    I should have mentioned would have drafted Edwards in '05 if I ruled the world

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  7. Tom Highway about 1 year 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.

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  8. Matt Jakaitis about 1 year ago

    Good article but what about Jay Cutler, Jason Cambell, or the Cheifs quarterback situation?

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    • Michael Whittenberg about 1 year 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.

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    • Raider Card Addict about 1 year 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.

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    • Matt Jakaitis about 1 year ago

      I agree.

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  9. Cayce Mautino about 1 year 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.

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  10. John Fennelly about 1 year 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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  11. TJ Zwarych about 1 year ago

    I think Tavaris Jackson is going to have a huge year this year, and Alex Smith will not, he was a huge mistake with that number 1 pick, good article though.

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  12. Curly Morris about 1 year ago

    Don't forget about Clemens in New York. The Jets benched long time fan favorite Chad "weak arm" Pennington to put the youngin' in last season.

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  13. Gary Lloyd about 1 year ago

    Congrats on getting linked to FOX Sports.

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