Pat White and Tim Tebow: The New Breed of Quarterback

Dear Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, Peyton and Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, and all other immobile, "power" quarterbacks,

Move over.

There's a new class of quarterback coming to the NFL.

You won't see them immediately.  It's possible their invasion may not be complete for a decade or more.

It's already begun, with players like Ryan Thigpen, David Garrard, and Ryan Fitzpatrick boldly doing what few quarterbacks have done before:

Move their asses.

The fact is, among starting QBs in the NFL, only 16 have over 100 rushing yards this year.

Pat White and Tim Tebow, the generals, if you will, of this mobility invasion, have more rushing touchdowns combined than many NFL teams.  They have combined for over 1,500 rushing yards this year.  And, most importantly, they can also throw like the dickens.

Pat White, a guy who has a better yards/rush average (5.1) than most NFL running backs, almost certainly will not start in the NFL.  Not right away, at least.  Tebow almost certainly will.

But this isn't my point.

My point is that, from a football standpoint, White and Tebow are more valuable to an NFL team than many quarterbacks who are considered to be premier players.

Let's compare Tebow to Matt Cassel.  Cassel is considered the cream of the quarterback crop.  He's a mobile guy, close to the top of the league QBs in rushing yards. 

In the NFl, a quarterback's sacks are deducted from the team passing stats.  There is no penalty to the player individually. 

In college, yards last on a sack are deducted from a quarterback's personal rushing sacks. 

Why is this important?

Because, if Matt Cassel, a fairly mobile quarterback, were playing college ball, he would only have 37 rushing yards.

In fact, when the NCAA sack rule is applied, only two NFL quarterbacks have triple-digit rushing numbers.

Pat White has a quadruple-digit rushing number. 

I'm not trying to say that Tebow or White will have better careers than Favre or Warner or Manning.

I'm just saying they're better players.

P.S.  Those 16 NFL guys in triple digits?  10 of them were drafted in the last two years.

Let the invasion begin.