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Trivia for January 7, 2022

Question

Trevor Lawrence has thrown 10 touchdown passes in his first 16 games. Who was the last quarterback selected in the first round who threw even fewer touchdown passes in his first 16 starts? (Note that most quarterbacks don’t start 16 games in their first season – some of those first 16 starts come in in the second season or even later.)

Answer

David Carr. Carr started all 16 games for the expansion Texans in 2002, throwing 9 touchdown passes. Two other quarterbacks picked in the first round have thrown 10 TDs in their first 16 starts: Alex Smith and Kyle Boller. There have been 19 total who’ve averaged under a TD pass per game in their first 16 starts, and only four of those guys ever developed into what you would call notable NFL quarterbacks: Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Joe Flacco and Josh Allen. Next in line would be Bryon Leftwich, Vince Young, Mark Sanchez and Blake Bortles.
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com

9 Reader Comments:

Mike Craig

Kokomo, IN
2022-01-07T15:46:47Z
I guessed too far back with Akili Smith. Looked him up. He had 5 TD passes in 17 starts.
Good question.

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-01-07T16:40:51Z
I thought of Blaine Gabbert, but he was not quite as awful as I remembered.

Eric Goetz

Shoreline, WA
2022-01-07T17:58:15Z
Going back considerably further, Terry Bradshaw threw 10 TD in his first 16 starts. His first 7 starts were particularly miserable with 2 TD.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2022-01-07T18:01:21Z
Good observation on Akili Smith. I went back and re-ran the numbers. In the Super Bowl era, three others were were than 8 TDs in their first 16 starts. Trent Dilfer 3, Kelly Stouffer 6, Terry Bradshaw 7. All three of those guys, of course, also were first-round picks. A bunch of QBs with 8-9 TDs.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2022-01-07T19:23:57Z
(On Bradshaw, Eric is listing Bradshaw in his first 16 games; I'm going with the first 16 games that he started -- Bradshaw as a rookie threw 3 TDs in games where he was not the starting quarterback.)

Eric Goetz

Shoreline, WA
2022-01-07T20:48:09Z
Ian, unless I misread Pro Football Reference - in Bradshaw's rookie year 1970 he started 7 games and threw 2 total TD in those games. The most he threw in any game that season was 2 (as a non-starter). His first 9 starts in 1971 he threw a total of 8 TD.

Eric Goetz

Shoreline, WA
2022-01-07T20:51:28Z
Ah, I did misread it - he started 8 games in 1970, so only the first 8 starts of 1971 count for a 16 game total of 7.

Bruce Sadler

Lakeland, FL
2022-01-07T22:10:17Z
My first thought was Ryan Leaf how did he not get on this list

James Costello

Portland, ME
2022-01-07T23:12:56Z
Funny thing about David Carr. One of those 9 touchdowns came within the first minute and a half of his first game
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