Alabama Football: Greg McElroy Will Find Being Drafted Is Only Half the Battle

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Greg McElroy waited until over 200 other college football stars were selected before finally hearing his name called in the seventh round, the last quarterback drafted in this year's picks. Eleven other quarterbacks went before him.

But still, he was drafted.

The problem is that he was drafted by the New York Jets, who already have five other quarterbacks already on the roster.

The pick of McElroy, however, is expected to cause Kellen Clemens, who has been in the league for five years from Oregon, to pack his bags and be gone by the time camp starts, if it does at all this summer.

That leaves four others to fight with, well three really, as Mark Sanchez is pretty well penciled in as the starter and is securely entrenched in the No. 1 spot.

McElroy will end up dueling with the aging Mark Brunell, who has been around the NFL for 18 seasons, Kevin O'Connell, who came to the NFL in the 2008 draft and Willy Drew who came up last year from Buffalo.

Rating his chances, he looks like the class of the backups, at least on paper.

Willy Drew went to the University of Buffalo and never really set the world on fire there. He went undrafted in the 2009 draft, but signed on as a free agent with Baltimore where he was waived, re-signed and then waived again.

He then bounced to the colts practice team only to be cut there and in 2010 played for the UFL and the Las Vegas Locomotives playing in one game there.

He signed a free agent deal with the Jets this January.

McElroy should have no trouble with helping the Jets send this journeyman back to the job seekers list.

Kevin O'Connell is a different matter. He came to the 2008 NFL draft with all the tools to become a starter in the NFL: size, speed and a lively arm. At 6'6'' and 235 pounds, he was the second fastest QB in that year's draft, running a quick 4.61 in the 40.

Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, liked what he saw and took him in the third round with their third overall pick. That made O'Connell the highest drafted quarterback since their starter, Drew Bledsoe, whom they picked in the first round in 1993.

He was supposed to be the backup to Tom Brady but things just didn't pan out, and two days after a bad preseason game with two interceptions, they waived him in August of 2009.

He was quickly picked up by the Detroit Lions, who immediately traded him to the Jets for a future seventh-round pick.

He's been with the Jets ever since.

Lately though, he's been on injured reserve with a torn Labrum in his throwing shoulder. If his arm heals, he should be a threat to McElroy; if not, then he's gone.

That will simply leave Mark Brunell, who is now an old man in NFL years. Brunell's job is safe as he is still mentoring Sanchez and may well help bring along Greg McElroy along as well.

But one thing McElroy must keep in mind is that head coach Rex Ryan of the Jets has gone on record many times saying that he'll take a quarterback every year and either develop them or trade them.

With Mark Sanchez being so young, so good and only in his third year, it's going to be an uphill battle for McElroy to ever see any playing time, but one thing you have to like about McElroy is he can always surprise you when you write him off.