David Garrard and Six QBs Who Won't Be Starting for Their Current Teams in 2011
In today's NFL, a quarterback is by far the most vital position.
Rules changes have allowed the "air it out" style to reign supreme in recent years, and never before have there been so many quality quarterbacks.
(Last season, a record 10 quarterbacks threw for over 4,000 yards.)
With the overall improvement of the position at its apex, having an awful quarterback is more crippling than it ever has been.
Because of that, quarterback leashes are shorter than ever as well. Gone are the days where you can sit and learn for years before being thrust into a starting role.
It's now or never in today's NFL and these guys are, well, never.
Here are six quarterbacks who won't be starting for their teams come opening night of the 2011 season...and my Week 4 Picks.
Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings
1 of 7
2010 Stats (Thru Week 3): 60.4 QB Rating, 597 Yards Passing, two TDs, six INTs (Team Record: 1-2)
Through three weeks of the 2010 season, the "magic" seems to be gone from a Vikings offense that shocked the world last season en route to the NFC Championship game.
Some blame the absence of Sidney Rice, the nagging migraines of Percy Harvin, or the overall ineptitude of Bernard Berrian.
I unequivocally blame Brett Favre.
In my picks column from Week 2, I noted (and I wasn't alone) that Favre struggled in early season contests last season but the team benefited from a Charmin-soft schedule and skated to a 3-0 start.
The schedule wasn't so easy this season. And the Vikings weren't so lucky.
Favre's irresponsibility and indifference to training camp is the main reason why the Vikings are sitting in third place in the NFC North through three weeks.
Columnists Jason Whitlock and Bill Simmons have both theorized that Favre will walk away mid-season, citing his nagging ankle, if Minnesota falls out of the playoff race.
I don't think Favre is that selfish, but every Vikings loss makes Favre's return in 2011 less likely.
Alex Smith, San Francisco 49ers
2 of 7
2010 Season Stats (Thru Week 3): 66.2 QB Rating, 732 Yards Passing, two TDs, five INT's (Team Record: 0-3)
By far the most idiotic personnel move of the off-season was the 49ers refusal to enter the Donovan McNabb sweepstakes because they believed Alex Smith's second half of the 2009 season was for real.
It's like the coaching staff didn't know they played a JV schedule in the second half.
Well, I guess with the utter incompetence they've shown so far this season, it's not out of the question...but still.
Anyone with even an ounce of personnel success at the NFL level suggested that the 49ers do what was necessary to acquire McNabb, the now-Redskins quarterback with a playoff pedigree and leadership experience to be the general of a leader-less team.
Now the 49ers sit at 0-3 after being the overwhelming pre-season favorite to win the NFC West and Alex Smith has been, to quote Dennis Green, exactly who he thought he was—a below-average NFL quarterback.
Hopefully the new regime (and you know it's coming, San Fran fans) cuts ties with the 2005 No. 1 overall pick in time to salvage their window of opportunity.
Derek Anderson, Arizona Cardinals
3 of 7
2010 Stats (Thru Week 3): 67.6 QB Rating, 580 Yards Passing, three TDs, three INT's (Team Record: 2-1)
On the bright side, at least Anderson is better than Matt "Palin" Lineart, my nickname for the former Cardinals quarterback who was so conservative that it was suffocating.
On the negative side, has anyone seen a smile on Larry Fitzgerald's face since Kurt Warner announced his retirement?
So far, Fitz has kept his lips pursed as balls sail over his head because the team is still (somehow) winning.
But how is a team with the sixth worst point differential (-29) in the NFL possibly going to keep this up?
It could start with benching Anderson and replacing him with Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt's boy, Max Hall.
Just know that if the team starts losing, Fitzgerald's lips will loosen along with Anderson's grip on the starting job.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo Bills
4 of 7
2010 Stats (Thru Week 3): 92.4 QB Rating, 247 Yards Passing, two TDs, two INT's (Team Record: 0-3, 0-1 with Fitzpatrick as the starter)
Full disclosure here, I'm rooting pretty hard for Fitzpatrick.
Actually pretty hard is an understatement. I'm rooting for him like I'm a single mother of five turning tricks on the corner and he's my football star son who is my meal ticket out of dregs of the streets and away from the strong backhand of my pimp.
Why am I rooting for Fitzpatrick so hard, you ask?
Because of awesome would it be to have a Pro Bowl quarterback be a Harvard graduate, that's why. His ascent to greatness would be such an "Outlier" that Malcolm Gladwell would have to write a second book chronicling his success.
I cannot be alone in my thought that this would be awesome, right? (.....anyone? No? Oh. Okay...forget I said anything.)
My Fitzpatrick love aside, anyone with an IQ over 20 knows that Buffalo was bound for a top three pick (and a franchise quarterback) from the moment the whistle blew to open up the 2010 season.
Poor Fitzpatrick never had a chance.
Jake Delhomme, Cleveland Browns
5 of 7
2010 Stats (Thru Week 3): 59.2 QB Rating, 227 Yards Passing, one TD, two INT's (Team Record: 0-3, 0-1 With Delhomme as starter)
Delhomme is the only player I internally debated putting on this list because I can see an infinite amount of scenarios where Delhomme is starting in Cleveland next season.
Cleveland is barreling forward in its destiny as a top three selector in the 2011 Draft, which, by normal standards, would mean they're going quarterback.
But historically Mike Holmgren doesn't draft quarterbacks high in the draft. Factor in the fact that the team drafted Colt McCoy in the third round of the 2010 Draft and Delhomme is under contract for next season, and it's not inconceivable that Jake could be under center for the Browns next year.
I just don't think Cleveland fans deserve any more torture, so I'm saying the Browns rid themselves of Delhomme after this season simply as a mea culpa. And I have no other reasoning.
David Garrard, Jacksonville Jaguars
6 of 7
2010 Stats (Thru Week 3): 66.7 QB Rating, 448 Yards Passing, four TDs, five INT's (Team Record: 1-2)
Talk about having a job by default.
There is a zero percent chance David Garrard is the starting job in Jacksonville if Jags management had any foresight whatsoever.
I mean, when was the last time Luke McCown wasn't on injured reserve?
Now Jacksonville is stuck with the equivalent of cardboard cut-outs as backups and they're still considering replacing their $60 million "franchise" quarterback.
That contract is so bad that people won't be Jacksonville in "Madden" out of fear of the cap penalty accompanied with releasing Garrard.
Nothing positive can honestly said about football in Jacksonville. Fans don't care, management is inept, coaching is even more inept, and the players are indifferent.
Hey, at least they're not wasting Maurice Jones-Drew's prime with meaningless playoff games.
Week 4 Picks
7 of 7
Last Week: 8-8
Season Record: 23-22-3
Lock of the Week Record: 1-2 (....oye)
Week 4
Tennessee (-6.5) over Denver
Baltimore (+2.5) over Pittsburgh
Cleveland (+3) over Cincinnati
Green Bay (-14) over Detroit
New Orleans (-13.5) over Carolina
San Francisco (+6.5) over Atlanta
Seattle (-2) over St. Louis
NY Jets (-6.5) over Buffalo
Jacksonville (+7) over Indianapolis
Oakland (+3) over Houston
San Diego (-9) over Arizona
Washington (+5.5) over Philadelphia -- Lock of the Week
Chicago (+3.5) over NY Giants
New England (-1) over Miami
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