Originally Posted by
hawaiiansteel
Ed: NFL History Shows Rookie QB Won't Succeed Ben
WEDNESDAY, 01 MAY 2013 WRITTEN BY ED BOUCHETTE
Good May Day morning,
So Charlie Batch believes the Steelers drafted Landry Jones to ultimately replace Ben Roethlisberger. If that were the case, the Steelers should try the lottery instead because they’d have a better chance finding Roethlisberger's successor with the $20 scratch-offs.
Here is a list of quarterbacks who were drafted in the fourth round or later through 2009 who were still in the NFL in 2012: Josh Johnson, Matt Flynn, Isaiah Stanback, Tyler Thigpen, Brad Smith, Bruce Gradkowski, Kyle Orton, Dan Orlovsky, Derek Anderson, Matt Cassel, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Luke McCown, Matt Hasselbeck, Tom Brady.
Hasselbeck and Brady, both sixth-round draft picks, were the best. Hasselbeck, drafted by Green Bay, made three Pro Bowls with Seattle and Brady is going to the Hall of Fame.
Cassel, drafted in the seventh round by New England, played one season for the Patriots when Brady was hurt, was traded to Kansas City and has since been replaced. He made one Pro Bowl.
Fitzpatrick, drafted by St. Louis in the seventh round in 2005, finally became a starter with his third team, the Buffalo Bills, who just drafted his replacement in the first round.
Anderson, drafted by Baltimore in the sixth round in 2005, actually became a starter for the Browns in his second season, but that didn’t last and he was with his third team last year.
Orton, drafted in the fourth round by Chicago in 2005, started as a rookie, was hurt, started again in 2008, and then was traded to Denver, where he started 2 1/2 seasons before they brought in Peyton Manning. Last year, Orton was on his fourth team, appearing in one game with the Cowboys.
Gradkowski, drafted in the sixth round by Tampa Bay in 2006, started 11 games for the Bucs as a rookie, started none in his second season and never became a regular again. He is a backup with his fifth team, the Steelers.
Thigpen, drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round in 2007, started 11 games for Kansas City in 2008 and has started one game since and was with his fourth team, counting the Vikings, last season, the Bills.
Flynn, drafted by Green Bay in the seventh round in 2008, started two games for the Packers in four seasons and was supposed to be the 2012 starter in Seattle until rookie Russell Wilson came along. Flynn is now with his third team, the Oakland Raiders.
Johnson, drafted in the fifth round by Tampa Bay in 2008, was with the Browns last season and has started five games in four seasons.
What that tells you is this: Brady, really, became the only quarterback drafted by the team he would go on to lead for a number of years as their starting quarterback. Hasselbeck, the only other true success story still in the league, had to go to another team after starting 0 games in two years with the Packers.
That history is not a bad one for Landry Jones. It shows that quarterbacks drafted in the fourth round or later can make it in the NFL and stick around for awhile. All he has to do is ask his new teammate, Bruce Gradkowski. But that history also shows if he does make it, it’s not likely to occur with the Steelers, the team that drafted him. That’s rare.
What history does show is that the Steelers used their fourth-round pick on a quarterback to, at best, prepare him for life in the NFL with another team.
We turn now to our Reader Research corner, where we received an email from Gerard Sepe of Liberty University, who delves a little further into the history of quarterbacks drafted in the fourth round and beyond. I’m presenting his research here, not authenticating it:
Writes Sepe:
“To think that Landry Jones will become anything more than a backup QB would be foolish. To even become a quality backup will be an accomplishment for a fourth round QB. If I'm not mistaken roughly 125 QB have been taken from round 4 on in the past 25 years and so few have made it as starters.
Top 10:
Tom Brady - as rare as hitting mega millions lottery
Matt Hasselbeck
Brad Johnson
Stan Humphries
Jeff Blake
Marc Bulger
Scott Mitchell
Trent Green
David Garrard”
Thank you, Gerard, even though that’s a top 9, we get the point. And the point is, if you want to find a young, backup quarterback, go ahead and draft one in the fourth round or later. If you want to find one who will succeed Ben Roethlisberger, wait until his career ends, then go get one.
[URL]http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/pro-sports/steelers/121005-ed-nfl-history-shows-rookie-qb-wont-succeed-ben[/URL]
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