Jaguars Franchise Has 2nd Worst Collection of Quarterbacks in NFL
By Daniel Lago
With the first stage of offseason activities coming to an end this week, it’s time to delve into some of those fun “dead zone” topics that throw is into rousing debate. The latest piece to come across my screen does just that, as Elliot Harrison over at NFL.com ranked every NFL franchise by their historical success at having good quarterbacks.
Right away, you know the Jaguars aren’t going to rank very high on this list. Harrison went 3 quarterbacks deep in his rankings for every team, and the Jaguars barely have 3 signal callers worth mentioning in this particular conversation. Unsurprisingly, the Jaguars came in at 31 out of 32:
"31) Jaguars: Mark Brunell, Byron Leftwich, David GarrardBrunell was somewhat the prototype of what teams are looking for now in QBs coming out of college: He could throw accurately, throw on the run and scramble when needed. (Well, except for the fact he was left-handed.) Leftwich replaced Brunell with varying degrees of success. Garrard took over for Leftwich, and overall, was a more effective quarterback. Garrard also maintained a winning record in 76 career starts — it’s been all downhill in Jacksonville from there."
Looking back, Brunell’s individual statistical production doesn’t really stack up to some of the monster number put up regularly by modern quarterbacks, but his team success and clutch moments put him in the top spot by a considerable margin.
Having Leftwich ranked over Garrard is a somewhat shameful oversight on Harrison’s part. Garrard helped the Jaguars win a playoff game, and he led easily the most successful Jaguars team in the last 15 or so years.
The Jaguars are such a young franchise – barely 20 years in – so we shouldn’t be too discouraged by their spot in these rankings. Blake Bortles is a pretty good bet to crack into the franchise’s top 3, and hopefully he can supplant Brunell as the best in franchise history.
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