Steve Young
Frank Tarkenton
Kordell Stewart
Steve McNair
Donovan McNabb
Michael Vick
Cam Newton
Tim Tebow
*Jake Locker
*Robert Griffin III
*Both of these players are unproven or have yet to play a snap.
What does this list of players all have in common? Is it that they enjoy a good cognac, the love of some healthy animal competition, the smell of pine trees in the winter, or could it be something else?
I would like to propose to you that these players, each in perhaps a different way, have opened the door to the new kind of NFL Quarterback; A QB who can make plays both with his arm and with his legs/feet. I realize that this isn’t a brand new idea, but it is one that I believe could finally be gaining some traction in the NFL.
Michael Vick was the first Quarterback to really be a dual threat in the NFL in the last 8 years. Other players could gain a first down from time to time, if they were flushed from the pocket, but teams actually had to gameplan to keep Vick IN the pocket, where he was only a threat to throw, not to run for 45 yards. (For the 21st century fan, he was one of a kind. I know that there were amazing running QB’s in the league before my time, but I don’t know them well, and they were still an anomaly.) He revolutionized how fun a quarterback could be, and changed the amount of ways he could change the game.
Currently in the NFL, there are only 4 starting quarterbacks who can consistently run and gain yardage on the ground, and still throw to some degree. Michael Vick, Josh Freeman, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow. (argue if you want, but those are the facts. Freeman is trying to not be athletic, and his team is awful, but he can still rush for 45 plus yards a game if the OC wanted him to.) 3 of these 4 teams should have made the playoffs, although only two of them actually did.
My GM question that I would like to examine is basically tied in with my Indiana bias: Should the Colts take a traditional pocket passing QB who can occasionally make plays with his legs and could be the next Manning (Luck), or a dual threat QB who was 2nd on his team in rushing and completed 72% of his passes? (Griffin III)?
I don’t have an answer to this question, but let’s look at some numbers to compare the two. I will include Bowl numbers, since both of them played.
Andrew Luck 2011 season stats:
3517 passing yds
71.3 completion percentage,
37 TD, 10 INT
150 rushing yds
Robert Griffin III 2011 season stats:
4293 passing yds
72.4 completion percentage
37 TD, 6 INT
699 rushing yds
So the question is, in the modern NFL, which QB do you think will have the better career? Or, assuming they are both successful NFL QB’s, which one do you think will have the greater overall impact on their team? Looking at Cam Newton, Vick, and Tebow from this year, it appears that the dual threat Quarterback is in vogue, but the NFL has seen traditional throw-only QB’s win the last 296 Superbowls. In my humble opinion, I love when a team can have 2 skill players to get things done instead of one, so Andrew Luck plus a good RB would be my choice, but many people, including Tony Dungy, think that Robert Griffin III has the ability to change a franchise. What do you think?
I will post this on Facebook and Twitter, so please feel free to comment on the blog or on Facebook.
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