The Quarterback Position

How a team like the Texans was willing to subject themselves to 3-4 games of a chicken running with his head cut off may be beyond all of us, but I'm gonna try to inject some sense into the quarterback moves that have kicked off free agency. It's kind of a sports lull: MLB spring training is beyond boring, the freaks of the combine are over, NBA is in midseason but the playoffs aren't looming, college hoops is finally starting to heat up, and my mind is on the NFL.

With such a lofty title, I don't think the goal is to explain the quarterback position, but rather to rationalize the moves made, the fegos involved, and the thinking behind it. This is probably a little too serious of a post, but who cares.

Starting at Fego:
Matt Cassel.
Sage Rosenfels.
Dan Orlovsky.

The Other Players:
Daunte Culpepper.
Tyler Pigpen.
Tavaris Jackson.
Tom Brady
Kevin O'Connell
Matt Schaub


Regardless of whether or not this report is true, the pats probably got a good deal. They dump vrabel who is 34 and is a free agent next year, and free up their cap space by getting rid of Cassel. Grraaaayt. So they win, but who cares about the Pats. Why is Scott Pioli taking on what he knows is a dwindling talent in vrabel just to get Cassel?

Scotty Doesn't Know
While the Boston sports media had a collective jerk off session for Matt Cassel all season long, at one point half-joking that "we don't need Brady!", the normal people were thinking: "Ok, so this guy took an offense that Destroyed NFL records and turned it into an average to above average offense and won 11 games.

So now cassel gets to (apparantly) take over a KC team that is clearly rebuilding. Which is fine, except that once they are done retooling and Cassel is in his prime... let's say 3-4 years down the road, he's still the same guy who took the greatest offense of all time and made it human against a schedule softer than Big Baby. The only playoff teams he beat were a slacking Arizona team in week 16, and Miami. And it's not like Cassel is a candidate to improve this year. Sure, he hasn't started since high school, but looking at recent successful qbs who didn't start as rookies like carson palmer, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, you're going to show in year one that you have the talent to make tough throws and be a passing threat in the NFL. Cassel's best attribute is his scrambling, but he doesn't scramble to pass, he scrambles to run because he isn't that good of a passer.

So far, Matt Cassel's career has been a bigger marketing success than football success. Somehow, the Patriots turned a career backup into a second round pick. The pats deserve more PR credit than anything by inflating the numbers of a mediocre QB to enhance his resale value. As was said in Tasty's earlier today: "There is no 'Value Added' in the Matt Cassel trade."

What did the Chiefs gain? A great backup QB and the assurance that they will not find or draft a playmaker at the QB position since they still have confidence in the backups, Pigpen and Croyle. In 2-3 years the chiefs will peak as a 10-6 playoff first round exit. At best. Scotty doesn't know.


Rosenfels and Guildenstern:
Because the Vikings have such a good team already, they need a QB who can make a few plays in the air. Tavaris Jackson is not that player. Gus Frerotte is not that player. If there's one thing to be said for Rosenfels, he can get hot and string some throws together. He is accurate enough to consistently make teams pay if they sell out for the run. Minnesota doesn't need a stud QB; they just need a competent one. Sage throws truckloads of interceptions, but so did Frerotte and Jackson. They also threw truckloads of wormburners to boot.

Sure, he doesn't have Andre Johnson-arms to bail him out, but Adrian Peterson should make up for that. That the vikings got him for a 4th seems like a no-brainer. That said, Rosenfels is a stopgap and they need to find a qb to pair with AP in order to be a dominant team. Still, a 4th rounder for what might ultimately be just a good backup qb isn't a bad move.

Tan Man Dan:
Without Detroit weighing him down, Orlovsky gets a fresh start. The Texans get to see if he actually has starting potential, while they knew that Rosenfels probably doesn't. So far, the Matt Schaub experiment has had mixed results. They are definitely a better team with him than without him, but the fact that he misses 4-5 games per year troubles me and now it troubles Dan Orlovsky. That makes the No. 2 QB an even more important position, and I don't understand the risk they are taking by trading a known commodity in Rosencrantz for a 4th rounder who won't contribute for a while if at all, and a quarterback who clearly hasn't gotten his fair shot with a crappy Detroit team, but has only shown horrible play on the field.

So you're thinking "A bunch of mediocre QBs moved, who gives a crap?". Fair Enough. Kurt Warner used to be one of those mediocre QBs. Not to mention the fact that all of these teams still need to draft QBs, it just doesn't seem like it anymore.