What happened to the first round quarterback "bust"?

[Power I]

After an abysmal 2007 NFL Draft featuring first round picks Jamarcus Russell and Brady Quinn, it seems like every young quarterback is a hit.

Matt Ryan

Joe Flacco

Matthew Stafford

Mark Sanchez

Josh Freeman

Sam Bradford

Tim Tebow

Those are the first round quarterbacks since 2008. Stafford has a quarterback rating comparable to Matt Ryan's this year, but he's only played in 3 games. Tebow hasn't been "the guy", but they seem to be bringing him along the way almost everyone said would be the only way he could be successful. Add in the fact that Colt McCoy is playing pretty well for a second round rookie and it seems like every time a young quarterback steps in, they're successful.

Is it because of better scouting and background checks or have teams gotten really lucky lately?

[kirbyr]

Teams are moving away from the spread offense qbs that put up thousands of yards in favor of more pro style qbs like Matt.

[MSalmon]

Teams are moving away from the spread offense qbs that put up thousands of yards in favor of more pro style qbs like Matt.

Nah, that's not it, because McCoy, Tebow and Freeman all were spread guys. I think it is the focus on better background checks and "mental" tests. Teams are less "oohed and ahhed" by the huge arm, and more concerned with drafting a durable, cerebral QB who's a good citizen.

[tarantism]

It's still very early to tell. What does Tebow do that's so impressive? Stafford never sees the field and the jury (should) still be out on Sanchez.

None of that matters though. We have a gem in Matt Ryan. It feels so good to be a long time Falcons fan right now.

[Shredman]

alot of it has to do with the way they have changed the game over the past decade

they just dont let CBs play the way they use too, thats why these guys come in and look great out of the gate

HOF Corners like

Nitetrain Lane

M Blount

M Haynes

and R Lott

would not be HOFers in Todays NFL

Its more about NFL Rules favoring the QBs than it is about Great 1st rd QBs

IMO

[UnrealfalcoN]

and then there is Jimmy Clausen. I'm glad Carolina decided to pick the worst guy they can.

[st4ngeI2]

Stafford sucks

[Quarterback]

Many of your top 20 college offenses today are much more sophisticated thus producing more NFL ready. Two examples are Ryan at Boston College and Sanchez at USC where they ran more pro style offenses and NFL scouts get a much better feel today of how fast they'll quickly adapt to the NFL.

College teams/conferences with a more physical attack like the Big Ten and places like Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, etc, are a bit more of a gamble and sometimes you'll get a Sam Bradford or Josh Freeman and other times you get a Jamarcus Russell--big arm, no brains!

I believe there is less of a gamble today and thus more predictable NFL ready QB's than in previous eras where a first or second round QB was no more of a lock than a 4th-6th round QB.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Quarterback

[Pauliwood]

and then there is Jimmy Clausen. I'm glad Carolina decided to pick the worst guy they can.

beat me to it

[Farmer2]

After an abysmal 2007 NFL Draft featuring first round picks Jamarcus Russell and Brady Quinn, it seems like every young quarterback is a hit.

Matt Ryan

Joe Flacco

Matthew Stafford

Mark Sanchez

Josh Freeman

Sam Bradford

Tim Tebow

Those are the first round quarterbacks since 2008. Stafford has a quarterback rating comparable to Matt Ryan's this year, but he's only played in 3 games. Tebow hasn't been "the guy", but they seem to be bringing him along the way almost everyone said would be the only way he could be successful. Add in the fact that Colt McCoy is playing pretty well for a second round rookie and it seems like every time a young quarterback steps in, they're successful.

Is it because of better scouting and background checks or have teams gotten really lucky lately?

It's so funny you started this thread sting. I was literally laying in bed this morning thinking the same thing after watching Bradford yesterday. I was going to start this thread in a couple of days in hopes of getting some good conversation around it. I hope this doesn't get buried by the game reaction threads that our sure to come on a Monday because I'm really curious to get everyone's opinion of this topic.

[derrty bird]

its definitely how defenses are playing this year

look at the QB ranking of some of these qbs in week 10

colt mccoy 88.8%

mark sanchez 87.2%

chad henne 91.4%

ryan fitzpatrick 83.0%

david garrard 134.1%

josh freeman 134.2%

kyle orton 131.5%

matt cassel 116.0%

sam bradford 94.4%

troy smith 116.7%

jon kitna 124.1%

matt hasselbeck 106.6%

first time starters, rookies, back-ups, and plain average QBs

[JHav]

College teams/conferences with a more physical attack like the Big Ten and places like Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, etc, are a bit more of a gamble and sometimes you'll get a Sam Bradford or Josh Freeman and other times you get a Jamarcus Russell--big arm, no brains!

Alabama runs an offense that can't get any closer to a Pro-style offense...

Edited November 22, 2010 by JHav

[SCfalconfan]

Vince Young

Matt Leinart

Jimmy Clausen

Chad Henne

[slamee101]

I know I was certain Bradford was gonna be a bust.

Looks like I clearly missed on that one.

You still have guys like Brady Quinn, Jamarcus Russell, etc.

[ConnFalcon]

I know I was certain Bradford was gonna be a bust.

Looks like I clearly missed on that one.

You still have guys like Brady Quinn, Jamarcus Russell, etc.

I do too. I thought Bradford was good in college only because he had a good team around him. I was wrong as well. Bradford is making it happen on a team with NO WEAPONS, cept for that beat of a RB.

I also thought Sanzhez was going to be TERRIBLE. He only started like 12 games a USC, and figured it would be in his best interest to stay one more year. He does have a **** of a team around him though, so lets see what happens when it crunch time.

[GTFalcon25]

Well first of all, I think GM's should still be more pessimistic about drafting quarterbacks. A lot of the guys mentioned are very good. I think Ryan, Bradford, and Freeman are scary good. They might all have a ring before their careers end.

Flacco and Sanchez just don't impress me. They are on physical, defense-oriented teams. Do they make some good throws? Sometimes. But most of the time they just distribute the ball and minimize mistakes. They aren't asked to win the game like Matty is.

We were lucky enough to see Matt and Flacco head-to-head a couple weeks ago. I think that should answer the question "who is better" at least until they meet again. Not only did we win, but we won BECAUSE of Ryan. Flacco was a non-factor.

[bertrain7]

We were lucky enough to see Matt and Flacco head-to-head a couple weeks ago. I think that should answer the question "who is better" at least until they meet again. Not only did we win, but we won BECAUSE of Ryan. Flacco was a non-factor.

I believe Flacco turned it up at times in the game, some of his passes were actually perfect and our defense couldn't do anything about it, Grimes had 2 td's against him that game, one he mistimed his jump, the other was just a good pass and grimes was there... if i remember right

But i still got man love for Ryan, well our whole team right about now actually

[WVUDirtyBird]

Brian Brohm.....Man I'm glad we didn't take that guy.

[Power I]

Vince Young

Matt Leinart

Jimmy Clausen

Chad Henne

Yes, I agree that Young and Leinart are busts, but I was talking about since Matt Ryan was drafted, there hasn't been a first round quarterback that you can point to and say "he's a bust". The only two that don't seem to be on the fast track to stardom are Stafford and Tebow, but Stafford has played pretty well recently when he's healthy and Tebow has 4 TD's in very limited action.

I think Henne has been a pretty good investment for a second round pick. He's an average-below average starter who still has time to polish his game and get better.

And then there's Jimmy Clausen. This is actually where I think the scouting has gotten better on the personalities of these guys. In previous years, I feel like he'd be a first round pick. Now you have someone like Tebow being drafted in the first because of his personality over Clausen, even though Clausen seemingly was a better pro style quarterback or so the media would have you believe.

[Master Exploder]

IDK about Flacco, but I know that 3 of the guys that have been mentioned do not come from Pro-Style offenses. I think Alex Smith gave the spread a bad name.

I don't think anyone is ever going to have a sure-fire measurement on whether or not a QB will be successful or not, I think for the most part that the past few teams selecting 1st round QBs have gotten lucky. But we're still far away from being able to tell if these guys are really winners.

I believed Bradford was definitely going to be a bust, and I'm starting to think I was pretty wrong. I actually was one of the people who thought Clausen would be better, and sure the verdict is still out, but early on Bradford looks like the next great QB.

Next season will be a QB heavy class, and I'm quite certain we'll see Jake Locker become the next big bust.

[Power I]

IDK about Flacco, but I know that 3 of the guys that have been mentioned do not come from Pro-Style offenses. I think Alex Smith gave the spread a bad name.

I don't think anyone is ever going to have a sure-fire measurement on whether or not a QB will be successful or not, I think for the most part that the past few teams selecting 1st round QBs have gotten lucky. But we're still far away from being able to tell if these guys are really winners.

I believed Bradford was definitely going to be a bust, and I'm starting to think I was pretty wrong. I actually was one of the people who thought Clausen would be better, and sure the verdict is still out, but early on Bradford looks like the next great QB.

Next season will be a QB heavy class, and I'm quite certain we'll see Jake Locker become the next big bust.

Yeah, there's something about Locker that rubs me the wrong way. All of this talk about supposed 4.3 speed is hyping him up pretty badly. I haven't followed him too closely this year, but I have to assume he's not lighting up the wins column like Bradford and Tebow did.

[Master Exploder]

Yeah, there's something about Locker that rubs me the wrong way. All of this talk about supposed 4.3 speed is hyping him up pretty badly. I haven't followed him too closely this year, but I have to assume he's not lighting up the wins column like Bradford and Tebow did.

Yeah, I still have yet to figure out why all the draft "experts" are raving about him. Sure, he's doing decent to have no talent around him, but if he's the greatest QB prospect since Peyton Manning, I would imagine that he could make things happen without anybody, yet he barely completes over 50% of his passes and he has never shown an ability to read a defense and he scrambles entirely too soon and misses opportunities to open up the pass game. I really hope he falls to the 3rd round or farther. I'm going to feel bad for the team that drafts him.

[Finally]

Stafford is on track to bust. At some point people will stop saying it is because he gets hit and start saying he can't take a hit.

[Psychic Gibbon]

Stafford is made of glass but if he manages to stay healthy for a season then he'll be good, and I'd hold up on judgment for Tebow until he starts a game.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Psychic Gibbon

[slamee101]

Can't really call a guy a bust due to injuries. Tough breaks for Stafford but when it's all said and done he'll be better than a lot of these guys being mentioned and that's saying something.