New NFL Uniforms By Nike, With the NFL season quickly approaching, I figured it would be a good time to break down and compare the top 32 starting quarterbacks in the league. And what better way to do so than through a list.
Now just for clarification, I\'m ranking the starting quarterbacks of each team with a few exceptions. I will still include injured players like Josh Freeman and Donovan McNabb despite the fact that both might not be able to play in Week 1. Sam Bradford will also be on this list because we all know that, at very least, he will be the starter at some point this year.
So here we go:
#32: Matt Leinart/Derek Anderson - Arizona Cardinals: While we await the Cardinals\' decision of who will be the starting quarterback come week 1, in my opinion, it doesn\'t really matter. Matt Leinart plays in slow motion while Derek Anderson is about as erratic as it gets at the quarterback position. Whoever ends up under center for this team is a massive drop off from Kurt Warner and deserves to be ranked 32nd out of the 32 starting quarterbacks.
#31: Alex Smith - San Francisco 49ers: The former number one overall pick has dealt with a lot during his time in San Fran - injuries, demotions, several offensive coordinators, and a severe lack of talent in his own body. While he does make the occasional great throw, it isn\'t enough for me to put him in the top 30. CAN\'T DO IT!!!
#30: Matt Moore - Carolina Panthers: The Panthers appear to be biding their time with Matt Moore until they feel comfortable playing Jimmy Clausen. They wouldn\'t have drafted Clausen with their first pick (even though it was in the middle of the second round) if they weren\'t planning on giving Clausen the keys to the car as soon as he\'s ready to drive. Moore doesn\'t really stand out in any way. He\'s got okay arm strength, okay accuracy, okay coverage recognition skills etc...But he isn\'t the Panthers\' long-term solution at quarterback. Clausen is.
#29: Trent Edwards - Buffalo Bills: Trent Edwards hasn\'t been the model of consistency so far in his NFL career. However, he does have some positive traits. Namely, he has a compact delivery and throws a nice long ball (he throws it high so it drops into the receiver\'s hands at an angle that is very tough for the DB to get to). However, he doesn\'t seem to have the ability to find the open receiver if his primary read is covered. You can just see it when you watch him on Sundays. If he isn\'t ready to throw the ball at the top of his drop and there is any indecision, he starts to panic (the top of a QB\'s drop is when the primary read receiver should be coming out of his break). This ultimately gets him in trouble on way too many occasions.
#28: Josh Freeman - Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josh Freeman shows a lot of potential as a young QB. He has a relatively strong arm, and surprisingly, he has some ability to make plays outside the pocket when the play breaks down. But similar to many young quarterbacks, his coverage recognition and decision-making both need to be faster. If he can improve this part of his game significantly in 2010, you New NFL Uniforms By Nike could find him cracking the top 20 quarterbacks by the end of this season.
#27: Kevin Kolb - Philadelphia Eagles: Kolb has some big shoes to fill this year. He isn\'t the most physically talented QB in the league, but last season he showed glimpses of being able to function at a very high level within the framework of an offense that has tons of weapons. This isn\'t as easy as it sounds. There is a certain level of timing you need to have as a quarterback, even when you are surrounded by a ton of talent. Last year, Kolb showed that he has that type of timing to his game. Now he just needs to put a shaky preseason behind him.
#26: Jake Delhomme - Cleveland Browns: If not for his erratic play, Delhomme might be higher on this list. He does actually have talent and he\'s shown the ability to make some great throws into small windows throughout the course of his career. There is a lot of Brett Favre in his game. The bad part is, he\'s like the Brett Favre with all of the bonehead throws and only a fifth of the great throws. John Madden is extremely upset that I just mentioned Delhomme and Favre in the same sentence.
#25: Sam Bradford - St. Louis Rams: If you\'re a Rams fan, you have to be happy with what Bradford showed this past week against the Patriots. He looked extremely calm in the pocket, which is New NFL Uniforms By Nike impressive considering how bad his O-line has been. His accuracy stood out and his arm looked surprisingly strong.
#24: Matt Cassel - Kansas City Chiefs: Expect Cassel to be passed by Bradford as the year progresses. Cassel is the epitome of a system quarterback. He needs a lot of talent around him because his overall quarterbacking skills are just good and not great. Isn\'t it funny to look back to the 2008 season when many fans and Boston media-types where trying to argue that the Patriots should trade Brady in the off-season and sign Cassel to a long-term deal. Haha, classic.
#23: Mark Sanchez - New York Jets: Jets fans everywhere are outraged! They are screaming at their computers right now and cursing my name for putting Mark New NFL Uniforms By Nike Sanchez so low. But what can I say? Despite whatever potential Sanchez may or may not have, right now he is not a good NFL quarterback. This doesn\'t mean he won\'t be a good quarterback in the future. But let\'s face it, it\'s not like he has a cannon. It\'s not like he dazzles us with his accuracy, coverage recognition, or poise on a week-in week-out basis. He\'s got a lot of work to do. The good news is that it can\'t get any worse for Sanchez than it has been this preseason.
