Factoid
Byron Leftwich and Daunte Culpepper remain unsigned. It serves as a reminder that just because a quarterback is selected in the first round -- even high in the first round -- doesn’t guarantee him a starting job or ensure he'll be successful.
Consider the following chart, which shows the 30 quarterbacks who’ve attempted at least 700 passes in the last three years. They’re ordered by their NFL passer rating. On that chart, the bottom nine guys are all former first-round picks (and of those nine, only two are securely employed with the teams that drafted them. But of the top 12 guys on the list, only four are former first-round picks.
Maybe it makes more sense, in other words, to try to address this position via free agency, trades and developing later-round prospect. The concept of investing a bunch of money in a hit-or-miss rookie at the top of the first round doesn't seem to be working consistently enough.
PASSER RATINGS, 2005-2007
(Former first-round picks are listed in bold.)
Rating Quarterback
100.9 Peyton Manning
99.7 Tom Brady
96.5 Tony Romo
93.6 Carson Palmer
91.6 Drew Brees
91.0 Ben Roethlisberger
90.9 David Garrard
89.9 Donovan McNabb
89.5 Matt Hasselbeck
88.2 Kurt Warner
87.7 Jake Delhomme
86.4 Marc Bulger
86.4 Philip Rivers
86.1 Mark Brunell
83.5 Trent Green
82.5 Chad Pennington
81.4 Jake Plummer
80.9 Steve McNair
79.3 Jon Kitna
79.1 Brett Favre
78.9 Brad Johnson
77.8 J.P. Losman
76.8 David Carr
75.6 Eli Manning
74.4 Michael Vick
73.3 Kerry Collins
72.3 Joey Harrington
70.9 Rex Grossman
69.0 Vince Young
63.5 Alex Smith
--Ian Allan
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