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The Best QB Draft Class

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  • I know a lot of you think the coming draft is full of good potential QBs. I am not so sure, but here is a related topic: A debate has often been held about which QB draft class was the best. The following are the QBs that were taken in the regular draft in many years since 1950. Decent QBs listed. I have bolded the HOF QBs, Italics for certain future HOF.

    1950 Tobin Rote, Eddie LeBaron

    1952 Billie Wade, Babe Parilli, Ed Brown

    1955 John Unitas

    1956 Earl Morrall, Bart Starr

    1957 John Brodie, Len Dawson, Milt Plum, Sonny Jurgenson

    1960 Don Meredith, Charlie Johnson

    1961 Norm Snead, Billy Kilmer, Fran Tarkenton

    1962 Roman Gabriel, John Hadl

    1964 Roger Staubach

    1965 Craig Morton, Joe Namath

    1967 Bob Griese

    1968 Greg Landry, Ken Stabler

    1970 Terry Bradshaw

    1971 Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning, Dan Pastorini, Lynn Dickey, Ken Anderson, Joe Theisman

    1973 Bert Jones, Ron Jaworski, Dan Fouts, Joe Ferguson

    1975 Steve Bartkowski, Steve Grogan

    1978 Doug Williams, Bill Kenney

    1979 Phil Simms, Joe Montana

    1983 John Elway, Jim Kelley, Ken O'Brien, Dan Marino

    1984 Boomer Esiason, Jeff Hostetler, Jay Schroeder

    1985 Randall Cunningham (Bernie Kosar, supplemental)

    1986 Jim Everett, Mark Rypien

    1987 Vinny Testaverde, Chris Miller, Jim Harbaugh, Rich Gannon, Steve Beurelein, Don Majkowski

    1988 Chris Chandler, Stan Humphries

    1989 Troy Aikman

    1991 Brett Favre

    1992 Jeff Blake, Brad Johnson

    1993 Mark Brunell, Elvis Grbac, Trent Green, Drew Bledsoe

    1995 Steve McNair, Kerry Collins, Kordell Stewart

    1998 Peyton Manning, Brian Griese, Matt Hasselbeck

    1999 Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Aaron Brooks

    2000 Chad Pennington, Marc Bulger, Tom Brady

    2001 Michael Vick, Drew Brees

    2003 Carson Palmer

    2004 Eli Manning, Phil Rivers, Ben Roethlisbeger, Matt Schaub

    2005 Aaron Rodgers, Jason campbell, Kyle Orton, Matt Cassell

    2008 Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco

    2009 Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez

    2011 Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick

    2012 Andrew Luck, RGIII, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson, Nick Foles

    2014 Blake Bortles, Teddy Twatwater, Derek Carr

    2015 Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota

    Rank say your top 5 classes of all time from the above list.

    @the-gipper said:

    I know a lot of you think the coming draft is full of good potential QBs. I am not so sure, but here is a related topic: A debate has often been held about which QB draft class was the best. The following are the QBs that were taken in the regular draft in many years since 1950. Decent QBs listed. I have bolded the HOF QBs, Italics for certain future HOF.

    1950 Tobin Rote, Eddie LeBaron

    1952 Billie Wade, Babe Parilli, Ed Brown

    1955 John Unitas

    1956 Earl Morrall, Bart Starr (giving Morrall credit for playing most of 1972 Dolphins seasons)

    1957 John Brodie, Len Dawson, Milt Plum, Sonny Jurgenson

    1960 Don Meredith, Charlie Johnson

    1961 Norm Snead, Billy Kilmer, Fran Tarkenton

    1962 Roman Gabriel, John Hadl

    1964 Roger Staubach

    1965 Craig Morton, Joe Namath

    1967 Bob Griese

    1968 Greg Landry, Ken Stabler

    1970 Terry Bradshaw

    1971 Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning, Dan Pastorini, Lynn Dickey, Ken Anderson, Joe Theisman

    1973 Bert Jones, Ron Jaworski, Dan Fouts, Joe Ferguson

    1975 Steve Bartkowski, Steve Grogan

    1978 Doug Williams, Bill Kenney

    1979 Phil Simms, Joe Montana

    1983 John Elway, Jim Kelley, Ken O'Brien, Dan Marino

    1984 Boomer Esiason, Jeff Hostetler, Jay Schroeder

    1985 Randall Cunningham (Bernie Kosar, supplemental)

    1986 Jim Everett, Mark Rypien

    1987 Vinny Testaverde, Chris Miller, Jim Harbaugh, Rich Gannon, Steve Beurelein, Don Majkowski

    1988 Chris Chandler, Stan Humphries

    1989 Troy Aikman

    1991 Brett Favre

    1992 Jeff Blake, Brad Johnson

    1993 Mark Brunell, Elvis Grbac, Trent Green, Drew Bledsoe

    1995 Steve McNair, Kerry Collins, Kordell Stewart

    1998 Peyton Manning, Brian Griese, Matt Hasselbeck

    1999 Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Aaron Brooks

    2000 Chad Pennington, Marc Bulger, Tom Brady

    2001 Michael Vick, Drew Brees

    2003 Carson Palmer

    2004 Eli Manning, Phil Rivers, Ben Roethlisbeger, Matt Schaub

    2005 Aaron Rodgers, Jason campbell, Kyle Orton, Matt Cassell

    2008 Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco

    2009 Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez

    2011 Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick

    2012 Andrew Luck, RGIII, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson, Nick Foles

    2014 Blake Bortles, Teddy Twatwater, Derek Carr

    2015 Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota

    Rank say your top 5 classes of all time from the above list.

    Above I have highlighted all QBs who have won a championship....for what that's worth.

  • Hard to pick who is the worst, so to speak.....so Im gonna base mine on the most highly touted flops.....

    @the-gipper said:

    2007 Jamarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, Kevin Kolb, John Beck

    1990 Jeff George, Andre Ware

    2002 David Carr, Joey Harrington, Patrick Ramsey

    2006 Vince Young, Matt Leinert, Jay Cutler, Kellen Clemens, Tavaris Jackson

    1991 Dan McGwire, Todd Marinovich, Browning Nagle....even with Farve, Ill still take '91....McGwire and Marinovich were monumental fails...

    @tour2ma said:

    More better? Such grammar! 😉

    Im waffling on this....may be acceptable in context...?

    @mudfly said:

    Hard to pick who is the worst, so to speak.....so Im gonna base mine on the most highly touted flops.....

    Im waffling on this....may be acceptable in context...?

    It is indeed.

    WSS

  • @the-gipper said:

    This is a much more difficult choice. I will eliminate 1994 from the list as Dilfer did take a team to a Super Bowl win. I am debating about 2006 because Cutler has played some very decent football...but those other 4? Blechh.

    How about:

    1. 2007

    2. 1992

    3. 2010

    4. 2002

    5. 1972

    Moral of the story....for all of you touting this group of QB draft candidates for 2016: look above...it is not beyond the realm of possibility that it could join this list.

    And it could also join the list of best draft classes?

    Whatever point you were trying to make failed.

    @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    And it could also join the list of best draft classes?

    Whatever point you were trying to make failed.

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

  • @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    And it could also join the list of best draft classes?

    Whatever point you were trying to make failed.

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

    @the-gipper said:

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

    Lets hope it joins the best class group...and we don't end up looking back and crying because we're the ones who drafted JP Losman.

  • @tim-couch-pulls-out said:

    And it could also join the list of best draft classes?

    Whatever point you were trying to make failed.

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

    @the-gipper said:

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

    Exactly... It's all about the odds... and 3:1 ain't bad...

  • Hard to pick who is the worst, so to speak.....so Im gonna base mine on the most highly touted flops.....

    @the-gipper said:

    2007 Jamarcus Russell, Brady Quinn, Kevin Kolb, John Beck

    1990 Jeff George, Andre Ware

    2002 David Carr, Joey Harrington, Patrick Ramsey

    2006 Vince Young, Matt Leinert, Jay Cutler, Kellen Clemens, Tavaris Jackson

    1991 Dan McGwire, Todd Marinovich, Browning Nagle....even with Farve, Ill still take '91....McGwire and Marinovich were monumental fails...

    @tour2ma said:

    More better? Such grammar! 😉

    Im waffling on this....may be acceptable in context...?

    @mudfly said:

    Im waffling on this....may be acceptable in context...?

    I consulted my English teacher wife and she says that it was incorrect as originally written. She's in agreement with Tour. I told her that makes her one sick puppy. 😆

  • @the-gipper said:

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

    Lets hope it joins the best class group...and we don't end up looking back and crying because we're the ones who drafted JP Losman.

    @bbedward said:

    Lets hope it joins the best class group...and we don't end up looking back and crying because we're the ones who drafted JP Losman.

    We did that in 2012.

  • @bbedward said:

    Lets hope it joins the best class group...and we don't end up looking back and crying because we're the ones who drafted JP Losman.

    We did that in 2012.

    @the-gipper said:

    We did that in 2012.

    And many more.

  • @the-gipper said:

    It didn't fail....it was a precautionary point. We just don't know the future of this future draft class. It could join either camp.....you don't have a fucking clue what will happen. Neither do I.

    Exactly... It's all about the odds... and 3:1 ain't bad...

    @tour2ma said:

    Exactly... It's all about the odds... and 3:1 ain't bad...

    What I did with the "good QB" list is list all the decent QBs taken every year. With the bad classes, I didn' take every year that a really bad QB was taken ...just the years when no good QBs were taken.

    That is why I eliminated 1991....as bad as it was. Even going back to the first year I listed: 1970....I didn't list that year as while there were several bad QBs, it still had Terry Bradshaw.

    The parameters that I used was not the same for both lists.

  • @mudfly said:

    Im waffling on this....may be acceptable in context...?

    I consulted my English teacher wife and she says that it was incorrect as originally written. She's in agreement with Tour. I told her that makes her one sick puppy. 😆

    @texasag1969 said:

    I consulted my English teacher wife and she says that it was incorrect as originally written. She's in agreement with Tour. I told her that makes her one sick puppy. 😆

    Well, go back and ask her what the right way was to say it.

    "1971 had more good QBs than most other years" ?

  • That list got me to thinking, so I went back and looked at all the QB drafts for the last 30 years.....and my calculation has the "best of class" QB being picked first only 11 times.....meaning 19 times, the perceived best QB really wasnt......they were wrong 66% of the time and right 33%....

    Food for thought....

  • That list got me to thinking, so I went back and looked at all the QB drafts for the last 30 years.....and my calculation has the "best of class" QB being picked first only 11 times.....meaning 19 times, the perceived best QB really wasnt......they were wrong 66% of the time and right 33%....

    Food for thought....

    @mudfly said:

    That list got me to thinking, so I went back and looked at all the QB drafts for the last 30 years.....and my calculation has the "best of class" QB being picked first only 11 times.....meaning 19 times, the perceived best QB really wasnt......they were wrong 66% of the time and right 33%....

    Food for thought....

    Interesting.....let's eat that:

    Here is the list of years where the First QB taken is the best QB of the draft year, going back to 1970:

    1970 Bradshaw

    1974 Danny White

    1976 Richard Todd

    1978 Doug Williams

    1980 Marc Wilson (though some could say Eric Hipple)

    1983 John Elway....though some could argue for Marino

    1984 Boomer Esiason

    1985 Randall Cunningham (regular draft...Kosar in supp...arguable)

    1986 Jim Everett

    1987 Vinny Testaverde...though Rich Gannon arguable

    1989 Troy Aikman

    1993 Drew Bledsoe

    1995 Steve McNair

    1996 Tony Banks

    1998 Peyton Manning

    2003 Carson Palmer

    2004 Eli Manning....though BR/Rivers arguable

    2008 Matt Ryan...though Flacco arguable

    2009 Matt Stafford

    2010 Sam Bradford

    2011 Cam Newton

    The following years are where the first QB taken was NOT the best to come out of that class. I give the best and which order he was taken in the draft among QBs, and then the guy that was taken first that year:

    1971 Ken Anderson 5th QB taken.....Plunkett first

    1972 Brian Sipe 12th QB .....Jerry Tagge 1st

    1973 Dan Fouts 6th.....Bert Jones 1st

    1975 Steve Grogan 3rd...Steve Bartkowski 1st

    1977 Tommy Kramer 2d...Steve Pisarkewiscz 1st

    1979 Joe Montana 4th....Jack Thompson 1st

    1981 Neil Lomax 2d...Rich Campbell 1st

    1982 Jim McMahon 2d....Art Schlichter 1st

    1988 Chris Chandler 2d Tom Tupa 1st

    1990 Neil O'Donnell 5th....Jeff George 1st

    1991 Brett Favre 3rd...Dan McGwire 1st

    1992 Brad Johnson 13th....David Klingler 1st

    1994 Gus Frerotte or Trent Dilfer 6th or 2d...Heath Shuler 1st

    1997 Jake Plummer 2d...Jim Drukenmiller 1st

    1999 Donovan McNabb 2d...Tim Couch 1st

    2000 Tom Brady 7th....Chad Pennington 1st

    2001 Drew Brees 2d...Michael Vick 1st

    2002 David Garrard 5th....David Carr 1st

    2005 Aaron Rodgers 2d....Alex Smith 1st

    2006 Jay Cutler 3rd....Vince Young 1st

    2007 Trent Edwards 6th...Jamarcus Russell 1st

    2012 Russell Wilson 6th......though some can argue that #1...Andrew Luck may still be better

    2013 Geno Smith 2d....EJ Manual 1st (arguable

    I have not done this for 2014/2015...still too early to tell I think.

  • Here is this note about the Browns.....they have only ever twice in their draft history taken the the first QB taken in a draft:

    1999 with Tim Couch

    1954 with Bobby Garrett.

    Both of these were taken with the #1 overall pick. They have never gotten the first QB available in a draft any other time...no matter how far down the draft the first QB was taken.

    The other exception of course is Kosar in the Supplemental draft.

    Yes, we all know that they may be in a position to take the first QB to be taken in this draft. Unless someone jumps them with a trade to the Titans to get a QB at #1, they could do that this year, if that is what they want.

  • Here is more info. Teams that have taken the first QB taken in a draft the most times. Again, this is not #1 overall choice....it could be a late first round....or even later round....its just that these teams took the first QB this number of times. This goes all the way back to 1936 when the first draft was held:

    Colts 8 times (this includes the first Colt franchise in 1950.....current Colts franchise 7 times)

    Redskins 5 times

    Cardinals 5 times

    Rams 5 times

    49ers 5 times

    Bears 4 times

    Packers 4 times

    Lions 4 times

    Bengals 4 times

    Patriots 2 times plus 2 times in AFL draft

    Cowboys 3 times

    Falcons 3 times

    Bucs 3 times

    Oilers/Tits 3 times

    Jets 2 times plus 1 time in AFL (Namath)

    Raiders 2 times plus 1 time in AFL

    Eagles 2 times

    Browns 2 times

    Steelers 1 time

    Seahawks 1 time

    Texans 1 time

    Panthers 1 time

    Bills 1 time

    Jags 1 time

    Chargers 1 time (Eli...traded)

    Broncos 1 time in AFL.

    The Saints, Vikings, Giants, Chiefs, Ravens and Dolphins have never selected the first QB taken in any draft.

  • @mudfly said:

    Im waffling on this....may be acceptable in context...?

    I consulted my English teacher wife and she says that it was incorrect as originally written. She's in agreement with Tour. I told her that makes her one sick puppy. 😆

    @texasag1969 said:

    I consulted my English teacher wife and she says that it was incorrect as originally written. She's in agreement with Tour. I told her that makes her one sick puppy. 😆

    lmao... I figured you'd get her involved sooner or later. Was she also not a Manziel fan? 😉

  • These are among the better quarterbacks and they would be called 'better quarterbacks' and there would be more of them. Pretty simple.

    WSS

  • @texasag1969 said:

    I consulted my English teacher wife and she says that it was incorrect as originally written. She's in agreement with Tour. I told her that makes her one sick puppy. 😆

    lmao... I figured you'd get her involved sooner or later. Was she also not a Manziel fan? 😉

    @tour2ma said:

    lmao... I figured you'd get her involved sooner or later. Was she also not a Manziel fan? 😉

    Didn't I just say she was one sick puppy? Draw your own conclusions. 😛

  • I nominate tour to be my assistant general manager.

  • Pluto wrote an article on exactly this topic just this morning....maybe he's reading our discussions....ha!

    http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2016/02/cleveland_browns_have_terry_ta_51.html#incart_river_index

  • Pluto wrote an article on exactly this topic just this morning....maybe he's reading our discussions....ha!

    http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2016/02/cleveland_browns_have_terry_ta_51.html#incart_river_index

    @mudfly said:

    Pluto wrote an article on exactly this topic just this morning....maybe he's reading our discussions....ha!

    http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2016/02/cleveland_browns_have_terry_ta_51.html#incart_river_index

    If he isn't reading us, he should.

    But he seems to say that out of Lynch/Goff/Wentz that he believes only one of them will become a decent starting QB in this league.

    Historically that may actually be right....unfortunately.