Jaguars Draft 2014 : To QB or NOT QB : 2010
Jaguars Draft 2014 : To QB or NOT QB : 2010 first round selection
Tim Tebow. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to Jaguars Draft 2014 : To QB or NOT QB : 2010. There is no doubt that when the Jacksonville Jaguars draft 3rd in the 2014 NFL draft that there will be a QB available to them. Teddy Bridgewater. Blake Bortles. Johnny Manziel. One of them will be there. Even the casual Jags fan knows that QB is a position of need. There also could be one of the better pass rushers to come into the league for many years in Jadeveon Clowney also waiting to be picked.
The Jags have needed a DE for about the history of this franchise. Who should the Jags pick? Clowney, whom many feel will make an immediate impact? Or the QB that will hopefully wash the bile from our throats that was Blaine Gabbert. All come with some kind of visible flaw that could prevent them from ever being a true “franchise” player? Is it possible that the prudent move Dave Caldwell could make is trade out of this advantageous spot?
It has become very clear that a general manager that makes the mistake of drafting a QB that fails to hit will pretty much seal their fate along with their job security. For that reason, I am going to tackle this situation with a little science. Some statistical data to honor the tradition of “Those who ignore history are bound (or doomed) to repeat it”. I am going to go over the QB draft picks for the last ten years to get an idea if the mindset that I have had (that a serviceable QB could be drafted AFTER the first round) holds any water. I have made it clear in my “Gumbussy Mock Drafts” that I want Clowney if he is available. Would that be a mistake. Let’s see what recent history indicates. We have already gone over:
The year is 2010. Overall there were fourteen QBs drafted that year. Here’s the breakdown & stats.
- Round one – Sam Bradford & Tim Tebow
Combined Career – 84 games played, 13,487 passing yds, 76 TDs, & 47 INTs. They have a combined QB rating average of 77.3. They have also combined for one Rookie of the Year and one playoff victory.
Mixed bag here. Bradford started out strong, though not so much statistically. He has since been injured a lot and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Rams dip their feet in the QB draft class in 2014. Tebow is the human version of a logo. He gets a tremendous amount of attention and people who aren’t even football fans adore him. That was his downfall. Tim Tebow, even with his shocking winning run his second year including a playoff win, put up some of the worst passing stats in the history of the NFL. He was just horrible. But his fan base could not be dissuaded. They wanted him starting, no matter what. It made him a liability and it is why he is already out of the NFL.
- Round two thru five – Jimmy Clausen (2nd), Colt McCoy (3rd), Mike Kafka (4th), John Skelton (5th), & Jonathan Crompton (5th)
Combined Career – 65 games played, 9,773 passing yds, 39 TDs, & 56 INTs. They have a combined QB rating average of 61.0. They have also combined for NOTHING. One player has never played an NFL down.
All I can say is EWWW! This was a bad year for QBs. Only McCoy and Kafka are still in the league and that is precarious. Not one of these guys are worthy of starting in the NFL and some were questionable backups.
- Round six & seven – Rusty Smith (6th), Dan LeFevour (6th), Joe Webb (6th), Tony Pike (6th), Levi Brown (7th), Sean Canfield (7th), & Zac Robinson (7th)
Combined Career – 38 games played, 1,158 passing yds, 3 TDs, & 10 INTs. They have a combined QB rating average of 51.9. They have also combined for NOTHING. Three players have never played in a regular season game.
This has been the worst QB class I have rated. Only two of this group remain in the league and they are WAY down the depth charts. There isn’t even anything interesting about this motley crew. We’ll move on.
Summary of the 2010 QB draft class:
First round selections – One can’t find a job and the other can’t stay healthy. At least Tebow has made the NFL a ton of money in jersey sales. The one thing to take from this is that both of these players were former Heisman Trophy winners. All you people wanting to suck in 2014 to have a shot a Jameis Winston, better think twice before you assume he is a lock.
Rounds two thru seven & UFAs – Yuck, yuck, yuck! What can you take from these failures? 1) There hasn’t been a successful Notre Dame QB since Montana. 2) Big School (Notre Dame, Texas) or Little (Florida Atlantic, Fordham) if you aren’t any good, you won’t make it in the NFL. 3) Jimmy, Colt, Rusty, Levi, & Zac…Were these NFL QBs or the cast of “Saved By the Bell?”
The verdict from this seventh experiment would indicate the Jags should definitely not draft a QB…PERIOD!!! I’m exaggerating but I bet coming into the 2010 draft, some of these guys were being talked up like they were future franchise QBs. You see how that turned out! We will see how the current GMs do in May.
See ya in 2011!
Still hoping Clowney is available at #3…Michael McDonald.
If you still want Tim Tebow to play for the Jags, I give you permission to never read another one of my articles! Please send comments to twitter @gumbussy.