RSS FeedStark Contrast in Teams’ Ability to Draft Quarterbacks
By Chris Malumphy
I've been playing around with the career statistics for quarterbacks drafted since 1991. It is remarkable how stark the variation is by team. For instance, I have often mentioned that the Kansas City Chiefs have never, EVER, drafted a good quarterback. In contrast, the Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers, Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots have hit the jackpot on multiple occasions even though they didn't always keep those quarterbacks around for long.
Take two simple statistics, career yards passing and career touchdown passes. Would anyone dream it possible that the quarterbacks drafted by the Falcons since 1991 could have thrown over 900 touchdown passes while the total for the Chiefs was a measly 12. Or how about the quarterbacks drafted by the Falcons, Chargers, Packers and Patriots amassing over 100,000 yards while the Cowboys and Chiefs drafted quarterbacks who total 6,757 and 3,878 respectively.
Of course, the Falcons have drafted the likes of Brett Favre, Matt Schaub, Matt Ryan and Michael Vick while the best the Chiefs could do was Steve Stenstrom and Brodie Coyle. The Patriots hit the jackpot with Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe and even Matt Cassel while the Cowboys best was Quincy Carter and Stephen McGee. The Chargers' quarterback selections have done fine: Drew Brees, Eli Manning and Trent Green as have the Packers': Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Brunell, Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Brooks. Not all were stars, but each was a servicable starter somewhere in the league. The Raiders have stunk up the joint too with their quarterback selections. And the Bills, try as they might, haven't drafted a quarterback in that timeframe who has yet been able to amass 10,000 yards, which is nowdays just 2 1/2 decent seasons. The best quarterback ever drafted by the Texans is still the first, David Carr with 14,452 career yards passing compared to T.J. Yates with 1,100, David Ragone with 135 and Drew Henson with 98. The Texans are hoping to do a little better with this year's top choice.
