I thought it was interesting that Buffalo would sign Kyle Orton. Maybe desperate. With EJ Manuel looking awfully indecisive in the preseason – like maybe his confidence is shot – and the team needing to win now, I think they’re bringing in Orton to make a quick change.
They’re not paying him chump change. He’s reportedly getting $5 million. Not bad for a guy who started only one game last year and blew off training camp.
I think the idea going forward is that if Manuel doesn’t make some kind of measurable jump/improvement in the initial games, they’ll stick in Orton and see if he can give the offense a spark. They need to figure out a way to sneak ahead of the Jets and Dolphins. All three of those teams are in the same boat – capable of getting into the playoffs as a wild card but also potentially finishing last, with all the coaches fired at the end of the season.
The Bills drafted Sammy Watkins No. 4 in the draft. Would be nice if they had a quarterback who could get him the ball with any consistency.
Orton had some success when he was with the Broncos (before they went with Tim Tebow). Over the last four years, he’s been an average quarterback statistically when the numbers are adjusted to fit with games played. Since 2010, he’s averaged 268 yards in the 22 games he’s started, with 31 touchdowns. In conventional fantasy scoring, that works out to 19.3 fantasy points per game. That’s better than Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, Ryan Tannehill and Alex Smith, among others.
Here’s the list of all quarterbacks with at least 20 starts in the last four years. (I’ve combined the passing and rushing stats to make the info more presentable.)
QUARTERBACKS PER START SINCE 2010 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | St | Yards | TDs | Points |
Drew Brees | 64 | 321 | 2.59 | 26.8 |
Aaron Rodgers | 55 | 298 | 2.51 | 26.2 |
Peyton Manning | 48 | 309 | 2.63 | 26.0 |
Cam Newton | 48 | 278 | 1.92 | 24.9 |
Michael Vick | 40 | 288 | 1.70 | 24.2 |
Matthew Stafford | 51 | 303 | 2.02 | 24.0 |
Tom Brady | 64 | 289 | 2.22 | 23.8 |
Robert Griffin III | 28 | 275 | 1.54 | 22.9 |
Andrew Luck | 32 | 276 | 1.72 | 22.5 |
Tony Romo | 53 | 277 | 1.94 | 22.0 |
Matt Ryan | 64 | 274 | 1.84 | 21.5 |
Philip Rivers | 64 | 275 | 1.81 | 21.3 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 56 | 272 | 1.70 | 20.9 |
Russell Wilson | 32 | 234 | 1.78 | 20.8 |
Colin Kaepernick | 23 | 242 | 1.61 | 20.7 |
Andy Dalton | 48 | 246 | 1.81 | 20.3 |
Carson Palmer | 56 | 268 | 1.55 | 19.9 |
Eli Manning | 64 | 263 | 1.64 | 19.9 |
Ryan Fitzpatrick | 54 | 245 | 1.57 | 19.5 |
Kyle Orton | 22 | 268 | 1.41 | 19.3 |
Josh Freeman | 51 | 248 | 1.45 | 19.2 |
Matt Schaub | 50 | 257 | 1.44 | 18.8 |
Jay Cutler | 51 | 233 | 1.49 | 18.5 |
Joe Flacco | 64 | 239 | 1.44 | 18.2 |
Ryan Tannehill | 32 | 239 | 1.22 | 17.9 |
Alex Smith | 50 | 225 | 1.40 | 17.8 |
Brandon Weeden | 20 | 253 | 1.10 | 17.4 |
Sam Bradford | 49 | 231 | 1.24 | 17.1 |
Matt Cassel | 38 | 217 | 1.39 | 17.0 |
Jason Campbell | 27 | 219 | 1.22 | 16.8 |
Mark Sanchez | 47 | 210 | 1.38 | 16.7 |
Chad Henne | 37 | 239 | 1.03 | 16.6 |
Matt Hasselbeck | 35 | 226 | 1.09 | 16.0 |
Colt McCoy | 21 | 221 | 1.00 | 16.0 |
Christian Ponder | 35 | 188 | 1.20 | 15.5 |
Blaine Gabbert | 27 | 166 | .81 | 12.1 |
—Ian Allan