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| New York Post |
Top 10 UFA QBs:
1 Ryan Fitzpatrick - hasn't won anywhere, hasn't been durable, throws way too many interceptions, but being basically a five-year starter is more than enough to top this list. Ideal backup. Voting here for perceived mental toughness vs. physical tools. (signed with Titans)
2 Drew Stanton – only 28, strong-armed, can scramble, can run a no-huddle offense. (signed with Big Dead 3/14)
2 Drew Stanton – only 28, strong-armed, can scramble, can run a no-huddle offense. (signed with Big Dead 3/14)
3 Jason Campbell – has never
been a winning QB and probably never will be. Still pretty young at
31, lots of game experience, positive turnover ratio, can run a
little. (signed with Browns, 3/26)
4 Kevin Kolb - never lived up to his draft-day hype in Philly, and all it got him was a beating in Arizona last year that likely makes him at best a backup the rest of his career. (signed with Bills, 3/30)
4 Kevin Kolb - never lived up to his draft-day hype in Philly, and all it got him was a beating in Arizona last year that likely makes him at best a backup the rest of his career. (signed with Bills, 3/30)
5 Chase Daniel – I like Chase; he
flashes a good arm and has shown he can run an up-tempo offense. His
best fit, though, is backing up Drew Brees in New Orleans. I suppose
he could run the new offense in Philly. Surprised Saints haven't
locked him up already. (Too late! Signed with Chiefs 3/13.)
6 Luke McCown – I've liked Luke
McCown for a while, though he seems to be a guy who peaks in
preseason. He's very mobile, strong-armed and throws some of the
prettiest deep balls you'll ever see. Has several years' experience
in the system the Falcons run. (Signed with Saints, 4/1)
7 David Garrard – 35, fumbles a lot
and has a reputation for poor decision-making. Has had more TDs than
INTs every year he's been a starter, though. (Signed with Jets)
8 Seneca Wallace – more dangerous
with his feet than with his inaccurate arm. I'm guessing he washed
out of Cleveland because Pat Shurmur wanted to avoid any kind of
offensive excitement.
9 Josh Johnson – only 26, has a
strong arm and can run like the wind. If you're looking to add some
read-option, you have to look his way. Then again, after the 49ers
cut him last summer, nobody looked his way till the very end of the
season. Must be a reason.(Signed with Bengals, 3/22)
10 Bruce Gradkowski – career backup
who once lost a training camp battle to Brock Berlin. Very
inconsistent thrower, but moves well in the pocket and can make teams
pay if they don't keep him hemmed in. (signed with Steelers, 3/13)
11 Caleb Hanie - even though he has had one good game in his career - the 2010 NFC Championship.
Sleepers: this
atrocious group of QBs isn't good enough for a sleeper, so this is
more of a coma pick than a sleeper pick. But would you raise an
eyebrow if you heard a 6'5”, 225, 27-year old QB once drafted by
the genius Bill Belichick could be pulled off the scrap heap
super-cheap? I give you Kevin O'Connell, picked by the Patriots in
the 3rd
round in 2008. He collapsed in the 2009 preseason, though, got cut,
and has been nothing but a camp arm since. Maybe not quite a Hy-Vee
grocery stock boy, but it's the best I've got.
Wild cards:
The mobile guys, like Vince Young, Tyler Thigpen or Troy Smith. Yes,
Young peaked in 2009 and probably has collection agents chasing him.
But he outplayed Thigpen last preseason, and Tyler peaked in 2008.
Yes, Troy Smith still probably doesn't know where any of his passes
are going when he lets go of them. But what all of these guys
(probably) can do is run. With the right team, any of them may still
have a chance to latch onto the early read-option wave.
Tag you're it: none
Out of the running: Joe
Flacco (re-signed by Ravens: 6 years, $120.6M); Matt Moore (re-signed
with Dolphins); Tarvaris Jackson (re-signed with Bills); Matt Cassel (cut by Chiefs, briefly #2 on this list, signed by Vikings; Matt Hasselbeck (cut by Titans, signed by Colts); Josh McCown (re-signed with Bears); David Carr (re-signed with Giants); Pat White (signed with Redskins); John Skelton (cut by Big Dead, signed with Bengals)
Voting present: John Beck's a Captain Checkdown with no pocket presence but was almost one of the best ten QBs left. Kellen
Clemens can come off the bench and run a WCO for you, but I don't
suspect he's ever going to win you any games. Questionable pocket
presence and gets too inaccurate beyond the short stuff. Looked
really bad at times last preseason. (SPOILER ALERT) Hasn't shown he
brings anything to the field the Rams have to have. I assume Charlie Batch is on the way to retirement now that the Steelers have signed Gradkowski.
The doctor will see you now:seems
like a very healthy group, with the possible exception of self-esteem
issues.
Gawd no: Byron
Leftwich is done, isn't he? 33, struggled with injuries for at least
two years, one of the slowest releases in the league and won't help
you much with his feet. Rex Grossman is, well, Rex Grossman (re-signed by Redskins, 4/4). Jordan
Palmer's only 28, but may be the worst preseason QB I've ever seen.
He'd be much better off being Carson Palmer. Brady Quinn's coming off a season with a passer rating of 60.
Matt Leinart is Matt Leinart. Derek Anderson (re-signed with Panthers, 3/14) is a shell of Rex
Grossman. Chris Redman and A.J. Feeley are both 35 and neither played
in the league last year. Sage Rosenfels hasn't attempted a pass since
2008. And J.P. Losman couldn't beat him out two years ago in Miami.
Hilariously, Rotoworld still has Donovan McNabb on its list of UFA
QBs. Has he learned how to talk yet? I'll support anything that gets
him off NFL Playbook.
Rotoworld doesn't list Jamarcus Russell, who is probably still
topping 300 pounds at this point, but is at least working with the
likes of Marshall Faulk, Jeff Garcia and Larry Fitzgerald trying to
get back into the league.
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| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
RamView’s moves: With the
likely departure of Steven Jackson in free agency, there's less
question than ever before that the Rams are Sam Bradford's team. That
sounds like a good thing with Sam bouncing back from an
injury-shortened 2011 season to set career marks for yards, TDs and
passer rating in 2012. And though he likely will have to do so with
fewer weapons than the Costa Rican army (or the Swiss navy), 2013 is
the year Sam Bradford has to step up. It's year four, he's in the
same offensive system for the second straight year for the first
time... time to complete the journey to elite QB (I'll take
near-elite) if he's going to get there. Sam's deep ball is getting
better. He's successfully rallied the team from behind late in the
game quite a few times. He hangs tougher in the pocket and finds more
options downfield instead of settling for checkdowns (which he still
does plenty of). I love that he has some of his best games against
the 49ers. But you realize his passer rating last year, while a
career high, was still worse than Kevin Kolb's, Carson Palmer's, Colt
McCoy's, Ryan Fitzpatrick's and TIM TEBOW's, right? Bradford has to
cut out the slow starts, has to improve in the red zone, has to start
hitting the end zone fade route, has to quit getting so many passes
batted down at the line, has to run more when it's there, has to find
and exploit pre-snap mismatches more often, has to quit missing as
many makeable throws as he does, needs to complete more than 40% of
his passes against the Freaking Big Dead, needs to never again get
outplayed by the likes of Mark Freaking Sanchez... but other than
that, he's right there, hee. 2013 could be the turning point of the
Sam Bradford era. When healthy, he has steadily gotten better, and
that path should lead him to a status as a very successful NFL QB. If
he doesn't stay healthy and improve in 2013, though, all bets are
off.
The Rams' front office seems confident
Sam can complete the trip. GM Les Snead has already felt free to call
Austin Davis the QB2, which emphasizes that Bradford doesn't need
veteran baby-sitting from the likes of Kellen Clemens. Assuming he's
even invited to camp, I doubt Clemens makes the final roster. The
Rams nearly went with just 2 QBs last year and are even more likely
to do it in '13. Clemens didn't have the league beating down his door
when the Rams released him briefly last summer, so it's possible the
Rams could in effect have him on call in the event they do have a QB
injury. Bradford's experienced enough, and Davis has the athletic
ability and mental makeup, to make the 2-QB plan a safe gamble. I
would expect the Rams to keep a third QB on the practice squad. Maybe
even Tom Brandstater, who I think still has eligibility there.
Shoot the moon: The
most unexpected-but-somehow logical move I can think of for the Rams
at QB? How about extending Bradford? It would represent both a vote
of confidence from management, and an apology for the level of talent
they appear willing to surround him with for 2013.
Prediction: How
Bradford fares in 2013 is almost anybody's guess at the moment.
Without Jackson and possibly without Danny Amendola, he's going to be
hard-pressed to continue on an upward trajectory. Then again, he
could be running a more free-wheeling, pass-first offense. Then again
again, the Rams may lack the pieces to do anything in that style.
Rosterwise, though, look for the Rams to go with just Bradford and
Davis behind center.
-$-
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