Pool of Quality QB's Running Thin

alen1 · May 27, 2008

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady will go down in NFL history as two of the greatest quarterbacks the league has ever known.

If only the NFL had a few more of them to spread around.

The league has expanded faster than the supply of elite or even competent quarterbacks.

The first quarterback drafted in 1987 (Vinny Testaverde) started more games last season (6) than the first quarterback drafted in 2007 (JaMarcus Russell) (1).
In all, an NFL-record 64 quarterbacks started regular-season games in 2007. That number was up from 50 starters in 2006. Even if the number stabilizes in 2008, injuries will again force some teams to dig deep for stopgap solutions at the most important position.

General managers aren't likely to find appealing options when they get to their second and third reads.

The current crop of unrestricted free agents goes seven deep: Testaverde, Daunte Culpepper, Tim Hasselbeck, Tim Rattay, Jamie Martin, Craig Nall and Chris Weinke. Of them, Culpepper provides the best combination of age (31) and experience (90 regular-season starts). But he has thrown seven more interceptions (20) than touchdown passes (13) since suffering a catastrophic knee injury midway through the 2005 season with Minnesota.

Given a choice between Culpepper and Russell last season, the Oakland Raiders went with Josh McCown.

Another wave of quarterbacks will become available in September when teams reduce rosters to 53 players. That sounds promising in theory, but in reality, nearly all of them will be undrafted rookies or unaccomplished veterans. A damaged former starter or two could hit the market -- Tampa Bay's Chris Simms comes to mind -- but they will carry their own sets of risks.

GMs looking to the Arena Football League for the next Kurt Warner will have to pick him out of a lineup featuring current AFL passing leaders Matt D'Orazio, Joe Germaine, Russ Michna, Tony Graziani, Chris Greisen, Aaron Garcia, Raymond Philyaw, Matt Nagy, Shane Stafford and, well, best of luck to ya.

The pool of proven NFL quarterbacks is shrinking.
Click to expand...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=sando_mike&id=3413890

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