Mike Glennon, Zach Mettenberger Flash Starting Potential Behind Top Rookie QBs

Just because an organization selects a quarterback with a top-10 pick in the NFL draft, it doesn't automatically mean that those signal-callers already on the roster are incapable of playing the position or even starting for another team. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans provided the NFL with perfect examples after their respective selections of Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota with the first and second overall picks in April's NFL draft. 

Both rosters still feature young quarterbacks (Mike Glennon and Zach Mettenberger) who are currently stuck as their team's No. 2 options, yet each should still be viewed as a promising developmental option for other franchises. 

Supply simply doesn't meet demand when it comes to competent quarterback play. Today's NFL is tailored toward the quarterback position. It's a league where the most successful teams all feature top signal-callers. Names such as Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and even Andrew Luck are generally synonymous with production, playoffs and potentially big payoffs at the end of the season. 

Yet there are franchises seemingly caught in an endless cycle of suck because they simply can't get the quarterback position right. 

The reality of the situation directly reflects on those teams on the opposite of the spectrum.  

Failed retreads dot the NFL landscape in Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston and New York. The Bills, Browns, Texans and Jets shuffled quarterbacks in hopes of catching a spark from their veteran leadership. Matt Cassel, Josh McCown, Brian Hoyer and Ryan Fitzpatrick are proven commodities that are nothing more than bridges to each team's future.

It's a future dimmed by each team's quarterback conundrum, as CBS Sports' Pete Prisco opined: 

In order to be successful with these types of quarterbacks, teams must operate at a high level on defense, effectively run the ball and play mistake-free football. 

McCown said as much recently when asked by ESPN.com's Pat McManamon how a team can still win games without a top-tier quarterback: 

"

I think you just win as a team. I said this before, there are six or seven in my opinion that are kind of those guys that are true franchise-changing guys. Then there’s another group, but if you don’t have one of those guys then the way that you’re going to win is going to be different. It’s really going to come in all three phases, and you have to be efficient in all three phases and play good football. That’s kind of the situation that we’re in. I know who I am. For me, it’s just go out and play good, solid, efficient football for our team, and play complementary football to what our team asks. We know how our team is built, how we’re built both on the defensive side of the ball and running the football on offense. You understand that and you play accordingly. I think that’s key. I think that’s how teams win when you don't have one of those guys.

"

This approach leaves very little room for error on game days, and even less when trying to adequately address the game's most important position.

A team playing at .500 also places a franchise without a legitimate quarterback in limbo. Mediocre teams that win six to nine games generally draft between the 10th and 20th overall picks. Elite quarterback prospects usually don't slip outside of the first few selections. 

As such, it can be nearly impossible to address the position with the type of talent that can immediately carry a team from obscurity to prosperity.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but seven of the the NFL's top 10 passers this past season were selected among the first 11 picks of their respective draft classes. 

There are, however, other avenues a team can pursue in an attempt to improve its quarterback play, including making a trade for a promising young gunslinger. 

Two of the hottest names potentially on the market next offseason will be Mettenberger and Glennon. Their performances this preseason have already piqued interest around the league, even as the duo remains firmly entrenched behind Mariota and Winston, respectively. 

Hot Commodity

Conversations about potential trades set social media ablaze Saturday when Mettenberger played extremely well after taking over for this year's second overall pick. 

The LSU product finished the contest with 7-of-9 passing for 91 yards and a touchdown. The scoring toss, in particular, was extremely impressive. 

NFL Network provided a look at the laser Mettenberger threw to tight end Chase Coffman for the team's only first-half offensive touchdown: 

The quarterback's skill set is obvious. 

At 6'5" and 224 pounds, he stands tall in the pocket, takes shots from oncoming defenders and still delivers the football. Plus, he's absolutely fearless throwing into tight windows—as seen in the above video— which remains his greatest strength even after sliding in last year's draft. 

Despite early-round ability, Mettenberger slid into the sixth round, where the Titans selected him with the 178th overall pick. 

His draft status didn't represent his actual value, though. 

The former Tiger suffered a torn ACL and a grade-three MCL tear during LSU's final regular-season contest of the 2013 season. His recovery came along nicely, and the quarterback even threw for teams before the draft. But his overall readiness for training camp was still in question at the time. 

His injury then became secondary once the quarterback, who had already experienced off-field issues when he was kicked out of Georgia's program, failed a drug test at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. 

Despite these setbacks, his former offensive coordinator at LSU (and NFL head coach/coordinator), Cam Cameron, still viewed Mettenberger as a first-round talent. 

"It depends on the team, but in most cases Zach is a first-round quarterback," Cameron told USA Today prior to the draft. 

As a rookie, Mettenberger started six games. He played well after being forced into the lineup due to injuries to Jake Locker. The first-year signal-caller completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 1,412 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions.

The Titans lost each of the six contests he started, though. 

In his final start, against the New York Giants in Week 14, Mettenberger suffered a shoulder injury, causing the team to place him on injured reserve for the final three games of the season.

Due to the small sample size, injury history and minimal investment in the young gunslinger, Tennessee's brass decided to move on once Mariota became available. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner was simply too tempting for the organization to pass up, despite Mettenberger's potential. 

However, the franchise understands his value to the team. 

"In the league today it is very hard for one quarterback to make it through the whole season, so you better have a plan in case your starter doesn’t go," Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt told reporters Monday. "So we certainly feel very fortunate that we have Zach, and what Zach brings to the table."

The coach's stance intimates that the franchise isn't interested in trading its backup quarterback's services this year. In fact, Whisenhunt seems to relish the fact that his team now has two talented signal-callers ready at his beck and call. 

"You have to give credit to Zach, he is really playing well," Whisenhunt continued. "We are excited about Zach, and we are excited about Marcus. Our whole quarterback group has played very well. It’s a good problem to have."

Biding His Time

Like Mettenberger, Glennon has yet to receive a legitimate opportunity to be a starting NFL quarterback. 

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The Buccaneers selected the North Carolina State product with the 73rd pick in the third round of the 2013 draft. Glennon rewarded his team by playing better than any other quarterback in his draft class, albeit one with a weak quarterback crop that featured EJ Manuel and Geno Smith. 

Did the Buccaneers reward Glennon for playing above expectations once thrust into the starting lineup? Certainly not. 

Player	McCown	Glennon
Wins/Losses	1-10	1-4
Completion %	56.3	57.6
Yards	2,206	1,417
Passing Yards per Start	200.5	283.4
Touchdowns	11	10
Interceptions	14	6
Total Turnovers	18	6

The organization, now led by general manager Jason Licht and head coach Lovie Smith instead of Greg Schiano, decided it required a veteran presence to expedite the team's learning curve under a new regime. 

Tampa Bay signed McCown to a two-year, $10 million contract last offseason. The acquisition proved to be a disaster. The journeyman dealt with injuries and an unsteady offense as the team finished 1-10 during his 11 starts, which led Tampa Bay to the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft. 

Despite these issues, the Buccaneers never veered from McCown as their starting quarterback.

Glennon showed signs of promise, particularly early in the year during a relief effort against the Atlanta Falcons and a win against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. It never proved to be enough. 

Take this into consideration: The Houston Texans named Hoyer their starting quarterback on Monday. In two seasons compared to Hoyer's six, Glennon's production is already superior to the veteran's: 

• Glennon's career completion percentage is 2.3 percentage points higher. 
• Glennon is averaging nearly 70 more passing yards per game during his career than Hoyer. 
• Glennon has already thrown 29 touchdown passes compared to Hoyer's 19 scoring tosses. 

Yet somehow, one is getting another starting opportunity, while the other languishes on the bench for an indeterminate amount of time. 

Glennon is another tall, statuesque passer at 6'6" and 225 pounds who possesses legitimate ability to throw the football all over the yard. He'll force some throws, but he's also not afraid to try to make something happen.

Through two preseason games, Glennon has completed 20 of 33 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown. NFL Network provided video of his touchdown toss during Tampa Bay's second preseason contest against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday:

The above example is a high-level throw on three levels. 

First, Glennon recognized an upcoming Bengals blitz and adjusted the team's pre-snap calls to account for the oncoming rushers. Second, the quarterback stares down the gun barrel and delivers the pass knowing he's going to get hit. Finally, the pass was perfectly placed on Russell Shepard's outside shoulder to make an easy catch.

"I know a lot of people around this league that would love to have Mike Glennon," former head coach and Monday Night Football color analyst Jon Gruden said after the play. 

None of those people seem to reside in Tampa Bay, but there certainly is potential for Glennon to eventually find a new home if the organization considers a trade or his rookie contract eventually ends. 

Stand Tall and Deliver

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Mettenberger and Glennon can be considered throwbacks at the position. Tall, rocket-armed pocket passers went out of style long ago. The league now concentrates on accuracy and functional mobility. 

These two young quarterbacks are far closer in style to Dan Fouts and Terry Bradshaw than they are Manning or Brady. Every time they drop back, they threaten a defense vertically. 

They also lack the movement skills necessary for most quarterbacks when pockets collapse around them. Instead, both substitute the ability to sidestep incoming rushers with the toughness to still deliver a pass despite being hit. 

Their faults are obvious. Both will often be described as playing with their feet in cement. They're never going to develop into the NFL's most accurate passers. But their overall arm talent always puts them in position to make a play when a team desperately needs one. 

Plus, each presents four positive traits a team can use to legitimize a potential move.

Both are 25 years old or younger. Each of them has at least one more year remaining on his current contract after this season. They're also affordable, since both will make less than $1 million per season this year and the next. And there is still untapped potential in both of them as passers. 

There are limitations in both of their games. A team with the foresight to build an offense which downplays those weaknesses could benefit greatly from either's natural passing ability. 

Glennon and Mettenberger may never develop into legitimate franchise quarterbacks, but both are good enough to be starting in the NFL right now. 

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL and NFL draft for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.