Top 5 QBs drafted overall, hits and misses
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Here are the QBs drafted this century in the Top 5 of the draft. Which are hits, which are misses, which are too soon to tell:
Drafted Players
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- Glossary
Rk Year Rnd Pick Pos DrAge Tm From To AP1 PB St CarAV G GS QBrec Cmp Att Yds TD Int Att Yds TD College/Univ 1 2017 1 2 Mitch Trubisky QB 23 CHI 2017 2017 0 0 1 7 12 12 4-8-0 196 330 2193 7 7 41 248 2 North Carolina College Stats 2 2016 1 1 Jared Goff QB 21 LAR 2016 2017 0 1 1 13 22 22 11-11-0 408 682 4893 33 14 36 67 2 California College Stats 3 2016 1 2 Carson Wentz QB 23 PHI 2016 2017 0 1 2 24 29 29 18-11-0 644 1047 7078 49 21 110 449 2 North Dakota St. College Stats 4 2015 1 1 Jameis Winston QB 21 TAM 2015 2017 0 1 3 33 45 45 18-27-0 939 1544 11636 69 44 140 513 8 Florida St. College Stats 5 2015 1 2 Marcus Mariota QB 21 TEN 2015 2017 0 0 3 33 42 42 20-22-0 787 1274 9476 58 34 154 913 9 Oregon College Stats 6 2014 1 3 Blake Bortles QB 22 JAX 2014 2017 0 0 4 40 62 61 21-40-0 1318 2229 14928 90 64 223 1410 7 Central Florida College Stats 7 2012 1 1 Andrew Luck QB 22 IND 2012 2016 0 3 4 59 70 70 43-27-0 1570 2651 19078 132 68 286 1442 14 Stanford College Stats 8 2012 1 2 Robert Griffin QB 22 WAS 2012 2016 0 1 2 35 42 40 15-25-0 766 1210 8983 42 26 275 1670 10 Baylor College Stats 9 2011 1 1 Cam Newton QB 22 CAR 2011 2017 1 3 7 95 109 108 62-45-1 2001 3420 25074 158 94 828 4320 54 Auburn College Stats 10 2010 1 1 Sam Bradford QB 22 STL 2010 2017 0 0 5 43 80 80 34-45-1 1805 2887 19049 101 57 144 333 2 Oklahoma College Stats 11 2009 1 1 Matthew Stafford QB 21 DET 2009 2017 0 1 8 85 125 125 60-65-0 3005 4850 34749 216 118 271 949 14 Georgia College Stats 12 2009 1 5 Mark Sanchez QB 22 NYJ 2009 2016 0 0 5 34 77 72 37-35-0 1295 2285 15219 86 86 169 449 13 USC College Stats 13 2008 1 3 Matt Ryan QB 23 ATL 2008 2017 1 4 10 120 158 158 95-63-0 3630 5593 41796 260 126 351 1023 5 Boston Col. College Stats 14 2007 1 1 JaMarcus Russell QB 22 OAK 2007 2009 0 0 2 6 31 25 7-18-0 354 680 4083 18 23 40 175 1 LSU College Stats 15 2006 1 3 Vince Young QB 23 TEN 2006 2011 0 2 4 33 60 50 31-19-0 755 1304 8964 46 51 282 1459 12 Texas College Stats 16 2005 1 1 Alex Smith QB 21 SFO 2005 2017 0 3 10 93 156 151 88-62-1 2877 4613 31888 183 96 529 2433 14 Utah College Stats 17 2004 1 1 Eli Manning QB 23 SDG 2004 2017 0 4 13 112 216 214 111-103-0 4424 7396 51682 339 228 296 540 6 Mississippi College Stats 18 2004 1 4 Philip Rivers QB 22 NYG 2004 2017 0 7 12 134 196 192 106-86-0 4171 6492 50348 342 166 335 573 3 North Carolina St. College Stats 19 2003 1 1 Carson Palmer QB 23 CIN 2004 2017 0 3 11 108 182 181 92-88-1 3941 6307 46247 294 187 301 474 8 USC College Stats 20 2002 1 1 David Carr QB 23 HOU 2002 2012 0 0 5 44 94 79 23-56-0 1353 2267 14452 65 71 305 1328 9 Fresno St. College Stats 21 2002 1 3 Joey Harrington QB 23 DET 2002 2007 0 0 6 30 81 76 26-50-0 1424 2538 14693 79 85 142 402 0 Oregon College Stats 22 2001 1 1 Michael Vick QB 21 ATL 2001 2015 0 4 7 93 143 115 61-51-1 1807 3217 22464 133 88 873 6109 36 Virginia Tech College Stats -
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My own opinion:
Hits:
Vick (despite his off field issues), Palmer, Rivers, Eli, Smith, Ryan, Stafford, Newton, Luck
Misses:
Harrington, Carr, Young, Russell, Sanchez, Bradford, Griffin,
Too Soon
Bortles, Mariota, Winston, Wentz, Goff, Trubisky
Areas of argument:
A. Sanchez took his team to two AFC title games his first two years....should he be given credit...or still...since he has done nothing since
B. Smith....seemed mediocre for a long time...but got his act together
C. Bradford....see Smith....so far very mediocre....but could he get his act together (and stay healthy?)
D. Luck....I give him a hit....but his overall career will be a disappointment if he cannot come back to form.
E. Griffin....great for one year...then nothing. Now can't even get a job.
F. Bortles....he was coming off pretty mediocre for a while....but seems to be getting it together....so it is a wait and see situation....which is why I put him on the too soon category
G. The Young ones: With Mariota, Winston, Wentz, Goff, Trubisky.....some are looking good...some are looking so-so. Ergo, too soon to tel.
H. Of course...the big question for all of us will be: which of the Hit or Miss category will our new guy fall into eventually. Not a good track record for us to be optimistic.
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Disagree on:
- Bradford and Griffin... missing primarily due to injury is a special subset. Especially so in the case of Bradford who clearly had the talent to succeed. RG3? Since his "talent" required him to play a style that increased his injury potential...
- Too soon on Bortles? He has 4 seasons under his belt. He's a miss.
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Geographically pretty well scattered all over the place but not one from The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
But then again the Buckeyes strengths since Tressel has been defense, running game and special teams. With all of the attention this year on this crop of ok quarterbacks it just reinforces the fact that QBs are long shots to be franchise players, maybe because the BROWNS have so desperately needed one for so long.
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Disagree on:
- Bradford and Griffin... missing primarily due to injury is a special subset. Especially so in the case of Bradford who clearly had the talent to succeed. RG3? Since his "talent" required him to play a style that increased his injury potential...
- Too soon on Bortles? He has 4 seasons under his belt. He's a miss.
Disagree on:
- Bradford and Griffin... missing primarily due to injury is a special subset. Especially so in the case of Bradford who clearly had the talent to succeed. RG3? Since his "talent" required him to play a style that increased his injury potential...
- Too soon on Bortles? He has 4 seasons under his belt. He's a miss.
Missing due to injury may be a subset....but it is still a Miss. If I had gone back one year earlier to 1999, then we would have had Tim Couch on the list. And most people would call him a miss....and probably be right. But to me he would belong in the "injury" subset. But since I only put either "Hit" or "Miss" as eligible categories....he too would be a miss. Though...yes....it can be a qualifier.
On Bortles....I don't know....he played quite well this year. Not spectacular....steady. Got his team into an AFC title game they should have won. The Jags seem to have decided that he is their future (for now). He could become a solid, steady "game manager" QB....if not a Superstar type.
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Geographically pretty well scattered all over the place but not one from The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
But then again the Buckeyes strengths since Tressel has been defense, running game and special teams. With all of the attention this year on this crop of ok quarterbacks it just reinforces the fact that QBs are long shots to be franchise players, maybe because the BROWNS have so desperately needed one for so long.
Geographically pretty well scattered all over the place but not one from The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
But then again the Buckeyes strengths since Tressel has been defense, running game and special teams. With all of the attention this year on this crop of ok quarterbacks it just reinforces the fact that QBs are long shots to be franchise players, maybe because the BROWNS have so desperately needed one for so long.
Buckeyes not a factor in this thread. Not sure why you bring them up. See the post in the USC QB thread.
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Geographically pretty well scattered all over the place but not one from The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
But then again the Buckeyes strengths since Tressel has been defense, running game and special teams. With all of the attention this year on this crop of ok quarterbacks it just reinforces the fact that QBs are long shots to be franchise players, maybe because the BROWNS have so desperately needed one for so long.
Buckeyes not a factor in this thread. Not sure why you bring them up. See the post in the USC QB thread.
Buckeyes not a factor in this thread. Not sure why you bring them up. See the post in the USC QB thread.
Upon closer inspection:
Top 5 QBs drafted overall, hits and misses
All those quarterbacks mostly from the South and West and not ONE BIG TEN quarterback in the bunch......just an observation. Top picked quarterbacks must not go with the Midwest style of football.
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Disagree on:
- Bradford and Griffin... missing primarily due to injury is a special subset. Especially so in the case of Bradford who clearly had the talent to succeed. RG3? Since his "talent" required him to play a style that increased his injury potential...
- Too soon on Bortles? He has 4 seasons under his belt. He's a miss.
Disagree on:
- Bradford and Griffin... missing primarily due to injury is a special subset. Especially so in the case of Bradford who clearly had the talent to succeed. RG3? Since his "talent" required him to play a style that increased his injury potential...
- Too soon on Bortles? He has 4 seasons under his belt. He's a miss.
To the wimps that say- gotta take Saquon since he's more of a "Sure thing". Since 2003 only one mega-bust- Jamarcus, and close on his heels Vince Young. Other than that, the track record has been pretty good. Sanchez and Bortels not quite so bad under performing relative to their draft status, Bradford and Griffin injury busts- it happens at every position. I got a bust rate of around 30% since Carson Palmer. Scouting and metrics apparently vastly improved over the last 15 years. And we've hashed it out a bunch of times, the farther down you draft a QB, the higher the odds he's going to bust. LOL, the Browns have the market cornered on #22 QB busts. Who knows? Maybe a sober Johnny can turn it around, I'm not counting on it though
PS, RE: Bortels- you don't guarantee a guy $26 million if you think he's a bust.
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Buckeyes not a factor in this thread. Not sure why you bring them up. See the post in the USC QB thread.
Upon closer inspection:
Top 5 QBs drafted overall, hits and misses
All those quarterbacks mostly from the South and West and not ONE BIG TEN quarterback in the bunch......just an observation. Top picked quarterbacks must not go with the Midwest style of football.
Upon closer inspection:
Top 5 QBs drafted overall, hits and misses
All those quarterbacks mostly from the South and West and not ONE BIG TEN quarterback in the bunch......just an observation. Top picked quarterbacks must not go with the Midwest style of football.
Interesting. Did not notice that.
But...whether or not "Top Pick" QBs go with Midwest Football.......NFL football surely goes with Midwest football:
Brady: Michigan
Brees: Purdue
Ben R: Miami, Oh
Russell Wilson: from Ohio/ Wisconsin
All Super Bowl winners that are active
Kirk Cousins: Michigan St. (only now the highest paid player in the NFL)
Carson Wentz: North Dakota St. I think you can classify that as "Midwest".
Plus a few others...that are retired:
Len Dawson Purdue/Alliance
Roger Staubach....from Cincinnati
Bob Griese...Purdue/Evansville Ind.
Kurt Warner...from Iowa (Northern Iowa U)
And that doesn't even include the Western Pa crowd...that is within spitting distance of being "Midwest": Marino, Montana, Kelly, Namath, Unitas
And other decent QBs that either went to college in the Midwest...or were from the Midwest
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Disagree on:
- Bradford and Griffin... missing primarily due to injury is a special subset. Especially so in the case of Bradford who clearly had the talent to succeed. RG3? Since his "talent" required him to play a style that increased his injury potential...
- Too soon on Bortles? He has 4 seasons under his belt. He's a miss.
To the wimps that say- gotta take Saquon since he's more of a "Sure thing". Since 2003 only one mega-bust- Jamarcus, and close on his heels Vince Young. Other than that, the track record has been pretty good. Sanchez and Bortels not quite so bad under performing relative to their draft status, Bradford and Griffin injury busts- it happens at every position. I got a bust rate of around 30% since Carson Palmer. Scouting and metrics apparently vastly improved over the last 15 years. And we've hashed it out a bunch of times, the farther down you draft a QB, the higher the odds he's going to bust. LOL, the Browns have the market cornered on #22 QB busts. Who knows? Maybe a sober Johnny can turn it around, I'm not counting on it though
PS, RE: Bortels- you don't guarantee a guy $26 million if you think he's a bust.
To the wimps that say- gotta take Saquon since he's more of a "Sure thing". Since 2003 only one mega-bust- Jamarcus, and close on his heels Vince Young. Other than that, the track record has been pretty good. Sanchez and Bortels not quite so bad under performing relative to their draft status, Bradford and Griffin injury busts- it happens at every position. I got a bust rate of around 30% since Carson Palmer. Scouting and metrics apparently vastly improved over the last 15 years. And we've hashed it out a bunch of times, the farther down you draft a QB, the higher the odds he's going to bust. LOL, the Browns have the market cornered on #22 QB busts. Who knows? Maybe a sober Johnny can turn it around, I'm not counting on it though
PS, RE: Bortels- you don't guarantee a guy $26 million if you think he's a bust.
Then there is the Tim Couch/David Carr other factor: They were high picks (#1s)....that went to play for a "paper" team. I.e....and expansion or expansion type team, where the ONLY guys on those teams were the dregs that the league allowed the team to pick in their expansion drafts.
We have always said: what if these guys had gone to more established teams....instead of paper teams, with paper thin offensive lines.
I suppose you could put those two into another "subset".
Fair to say?
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Miss does not equal bust... or as h put it "mega-bust".
When you trade up to take a QB #3 overall, you ain't looking for "OK".
Miss does not equal bust... or as h put it "mega-bust".
No....true.....I guess we could have broken it down to like 10 different categories....but I did not decide to do that.
When you trade up to take a QB #3 overall, you ain't looking for "OK".
Perhaps....but you may be looking for a guy that can control the game....not make turnovers....and make plays....and WIN! So...Bortles seems to be doing that now. You know...he is just now 25 years old. Turns 26 in April. Still plenty, plenty of time for him to prove....or disprove himself.
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Upon closer inspection:
Top 5 QBs drafted overall, hits and misses
All those quarterbacks mostly from the South and West and not ONE BIG TEN quarterback in the bunch......just an observation. Top picked quarterbacks must not go with the Midwest style of football.
Interesting. Did not notice that.
But...whether or not "Top Pick" QBs go with Midwest Football.......NFL football surely goes with Midwest football:
Brady: Michigan
Brees: Purdue
Ben R: Miami, Oh
Russell Wilson: from Ohio/ Wisconsin
All Super Bowl winners that are active
Kirk Cousins: Michigan St. (only now the highest paid player in the NFL)
Carson Wentz: North Dakota St. I think you can classify that as "Midwest".
Plus a few others...that are retired:
Len Dawson Purdue/Alliance
Roger Staubach....from Cincinnati
Bob Griese...Purdue/Evansville Ind.
Kurt Warner...from Iowa (Northern Iowa U)
And that doesn't even include the Western Pa crowd...that is within spitting distance of being "Midwest": Marino, Montana, Kelly, Namath, Unitas
And other decent QBs that either went to college in the Midwest...or were from the Midwest
Brady: Michigan...... GOAT?
Brees: Purdue
Russell Wilson: from Ohio/ Wisconsin
All Super Bowl winners that are active
Kirk Cousins: Michigan St. (only now the highest paid player in the NFL)....... this one still cracks me up!

Len Dawson Purdue/Alliance..... I remember Lenny Dawson the Alliance Aviator when I was a kid!
Roger Staubach....from Cincinnati
Bob Griese...Purdue/Evansville Ind.
Kurt Warner...from Iowa (Northern Iowa U)....... I remember him in that darn Unidome!
And that doesn't even include the Western Pa crowd...that is within spitting distance of being "Midwest": Marino, Montana, Kelly, Namath, Unitas....... whoa, what a bunch.
And other decent QBs that either went to college in the Midwest...or were from the Midwest
Oh yes the Midwest quarterbacks the overlooked, underrated and the smurfs.
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