Who is considered an ELITE quarterback in the NFL? Better yet, who out of that group has been in the league less then six years?
Football has turned into a passing game over the past two decades which requires more skills at the quarterback position one of which is the fluidity and accuracy of throwing.
Six, seven, eight years ago people like my self immediately answered, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, etc. And well were still listing these players as the NFL's most elite quarterbacks... No where on that list is their a player that has been in the league less then 10 seasons.
After this era of quarterbacks says goodbye to the game... who will step into their shadows? There aren't 5 to 6 up and coming quarterbacks in the league that an argument can be made. (Maybe two or three names, Wilson, Kaepernick, and Newton)
(Give or take Russell Wilson could be on that list. An argument could be made on Cam Newton given the season he is having this year but in order to be elite ... you have to do it for consecutive seasons)
So, What happened? The simple answer, defenses are more aware of the tendencies of the quarterback....and well quarterbacks in this day and age are clones of what their high school and colleges have programmed them to be. In other words quarterbacks can't adjust to what they are seeing defensively.
In 2002 Tom Brady won his first Superbowl within two seasons of being in the NFL defeating Kurt Warner's St.Louis Rams in Super bowl 36, which brought him into the conversation of the leagues best.
Just take a moment and let that sink in... a six round pick was able to lead his team to a Superbowl title after two seasons. That's insane...considering alot of quarterbacks in the NFL never get to see the Superbowl championship game during their entire career. Given Tom Brady's immediate success as a sixth round pick, a lot of credit must go to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick for developing a system that highlighted his players strengths.
In a similar case, the quarterback in the Jet City has mirrored Brady's success from the draft to winning a Superbowl within his first two season in the league. Russell Wilson, similar to Tom Brady was not a highly scouted quarterback coming out of college... in fact he was drafted in the middle of the 3rd round. Seem familiar? In Wilson's case there was a little more to his back story. Upon being draft into the NFL ,Wilson was drafted by the Texas Rangers into the MLB. Wilson had the power and quick speed to compete competitively in both baseball and football but chose football because he was better at it.
On to trying to help more quarterbacks have immediate success .....How do we fix the trend of " the Bust" at the quarterback position in the NFL? For starters, coaches need to do a better job of access the strengths of the "athlete". Before an athlete can be named a quarterback they have to show something distinctive that's gives the indication "this guy is a quarterback". Minus being an "athlete" the player has to possess excellent vision. While that might be easy to assess, having excellent vision with less then five seconds to throw the ball might be more challenging to observe. In addition to having excellent vision and ability to stay calm, you have to have athleticism. The current era of quarterbacks, Brady, Eli, Peyton have watered that skill down as much as possible because of their ability to keep calm in the pocket throwing the ball but sometimes a quarterback will have to make something out of nothing. In other words scramble plays and the ability to run to escape defenders will be imperative especially when your offensive line isn't as strong, just ask Aaron Rodgers...So we have vision, composure, athleticism, lastly the ability to read/ adapt to what you are seeing defensively. Some quarterbacks in the NFL can tell if a blitz or rush is coming but will continue to run the play as their coach had instructed them to in practice or on the sideline... resulting in their face in the turf. The best quarterbacks are the ones that can change the play on the fly or can pick apart the play to make it feasible against that specific defensive set. In other words, the reasons there aren't a lot of great young quarterbacks, is because they follow everything their coaches tell them to a "T"and don't know the plays in the play book backward to forward.
Looking at the accomplishments of current quarterbacks in the NFL through a wide range of lenses, Russell Wilson's Superbowl win ... in just his second season in the league after winning the Seattle starting quarterback position from Matt Flynn speaks to how hard work can pay off in the NFL.While their might not be 5 to 6 distinct quarterbacks that will represent the next era with Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick with a combined three Superbowl appearances in the last three seasons the next era will be in decent shape.
