QuarterBack Competitions

One of the most exciting elements of preseason and training camp in the NFL is the quarterback competitions.  The most interesting story line this year is that of the Seattle Seahawks. It seemed that with the signing of Matt Flynn that he would be the clear cut starter but with Russell Wilson playing so well this pre season Flynn may have a run for his money. It only makes sense for the Seahawks to way out the options here; Flynn has only played in 2 NFL games. Though he did put up jaw dropping numbers it was only two games and from what we’ve seen from Wilson thus far shows there is definitely some competition there.            

Wilson has completed around 65% of his passes this season, shown an ability to throw the ball down field and has been great with his legs. The question is can he do it against first team NFL defenses? He did throw a terrible looking interception against the Titans in game 1 and it seems that him being undersized could lead to him getting hurt quite a bit. We’ve seen some flashes of really quality quarterback play out of Wilson but it is yet to be determined how long he can sustain that play.

Flynn in the preseason has yet to really impress, but we have to keep this in mind; he is with a new team and his sample size isn’t as large as Wilson because right now he is only playing a few drives a game. Overall I believe this will and should be Flynn’s job to lose. This off season the Seahawks signed Flynn to a three year 26 million dollar contract, 10 of which is guaranteed, even though he only played 2 games. He played very well in those games and one has to believe he has learned a thing or two from playing behind Aaron Rodgers for the past 4 years but that is a lot of money for unproven guy. The fact that the Seahawks invested that much money into Flynn is the reason that he is number one on the depth chart and will more likely be the week 1 starter.

Arizona and Jacksonville are two of the clearer cut competitions going on right now. With Kolb looking pretty bad thus far, seems that Skelton is coming up for that spot in Arizona. After a poor outing against Oakland, Kolb was called out by Raiders Defensive Tackle Tommy Kelley for looking scarred in the pocket and it is now Skelton taking the snaps with the first team offense. Neither has really been consistent for the Cards. Kolb his whole career has constantly been injured and last season when he was healthy he was not spectacular. He threw the ball fairly well completing 58% of his passes but with Kolb it is the turnovers. He had eight interceptions and seven lost fumbles in just nine games last season and in his career he has 22 Interceptions and 14 lost fumbles to just 20 touchdowns. Kolb’s injuries and turnover problems are what lost him his job in Philly and those may continue to haunt him as Skelton is creeping in on his job in Arizona.

Skelton did not throw the ball as well as Kolb did in 2011 but he did turn the ball over less. He played in 8 games last season and threw 11 touchdowns to 13 interceptions, but his mobility allowed him to evade sacks better and hang on to the ball with only 1 fumble. It is hard to say who the better choice is at this point because neither has played a full season. But with the time both have played neither has been great. The Cards traded for Kolb to be their started so anticipate that he will until otherwise stated.

Jacksonville is in a bit of a different situation they have the young QB of the future in Blaine Gabbert but he was god awful last season with a 65.4 QB rating and 15 total turnovers. First of all the Jags just threw Gabbert out there with his only weapon being Maurice Jones-Drew. They did help by drafting Justin Blackmon but it seems they took a step forward and 100 steps back now that MJD might be feeling to hold out the entire season. To top it all off the Jags signed former Dolphins QB Chad Henne. Henne is no superstar but he started for the Dolphins in a tough division and has had pretty solid career. He is another guy who tends to turn the ball over more than he should with 37 career interceptions to 31 career touchdowns.  Jacksonville will probably stick to their young guy to try and develop him better but don’t be surprised if you see Henne taking some snaps this season. Gabbert has the big frame and the big arm with some weapons around him he could develop but only time can tell.

The Dolphins are a team that is believed to have a three way competition going on but just yesterday they named rookie Ryan Tannenhill their starter. There was some speculation that Moore or David Garrard had been in the discussion, but Garrard has been out of football for a year and now has to get knee surgery after getting back surgery last year and Moore just seems like a better back up option as the Dolphins are clearly trying to go younger. Moore was a pretty solid guy for the phins last season though completing 60% of his passes with 16 touchdowns and only 9 interceptions. They did only have a 6-7 record with Moore under center and the win lose column is what Miami wants to change. Tannenhill is their Quarterback of the future and they are bringing the future now. Tannenhill has looked good this pre season, he has yet to turn the ball over and has led the Dolphins on three scoring drives.

The Tennessee Titans going into camp had a competition on their hands between 14 year vet Matt Hasselbeck and second year quarterback Jake Locker. That competition is over as the Titans released a press conference two days ago stating that Locker will in fact be the starter opening day against the New England Patriots.

This decision is good one for the Titans; Locker was very impressive in the 5 games he played for the Titans last season, two of which he started. He posted a QB rating of 99.4, completed over 50% of his passes, and has thrown 4 touchdowns without having recorded a turnover.  The Titans have decided to move on with their young players in this organization. If Chris Johnson can stay healthy and get back to his form of two years ago, Tennessee could have a playoff contending team.

For those of you reading this and asking what about the Jets?! Well sorry folks no Tebow vs Sanchez battle there. Sanchez is the starter for the Jets and as much as I love Tebow I don’t see that changing any time soon. There is no competition there just packages for Tebow to play in.

Most of these QB competitions are going to come down to the wire, to the last day of preseason for some. Looking forward to see how the contests play out.