The Developmental QB

Edition #338

Good morning! ☀️

The scouting combine has arrived and for the next week, we’ll be covering the main topics in the quick throws section.

We’re going to start that today with some news that came out yesterday about the quarterbacks, which leads us nicely into the theme of today’s newsletter…drafting a QB and developing instead of starting him. A strange concept these days.

Interestingly, Derek Carr has yet to make a third visit. We were led to believe that he would be taking his time and visiting more cities before making a decision. So far he’s visited the Saints and the Jets, and after leaving the Jets facility last week, he’s been back in Vegas. Is that a sign his market may not be as robust as we were led to believe? Or has he decided that it’s between the Saints and Jets?

✍️ Robert Saleh won’t be in Indianapolis for the combine this week, preferring to stay at 1JD to work on his off-season plan and 2023 season preparation. Saleh wasn’t at the combine last year and that seemed to work out considering the Jets drafted the offensive and defensive rookies of the year. Joe Douglas will be there, and he’ll be meeting with the media on Tuesday, I wonder what he’ll be asked.

🚗 Albert Breer was on the Rich Eisen show and he spoke about the QB situation. There was nothing overly revealing but he did say “Put it this way, there’s very strong interest between the Jets and Carr” - The hope is we start seeing some movement with all the GMs and agents converging on Indianapolis for the combine.

🫡 The Washington Commanders have released QB Carson Wentz. Wentz has been traded or released for three straight years now. I have absolutely no interest in Carson being the Jets QB in 2023, but with the Joe Douglas connection I'm sure you'll hear a few people raise that option.

🏋️ C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis have all confirmed that they will be throwing at the combine, but Bryce Young has decided to bypass the passing portion in Indy. I like it when top prospects decide to go through workouts at the combine, it’s unscripted and it shows self-confidence. If you’re taking a QB in the first round, you want a guy who backs his own talent all the way.

🏷️ The first franchise tag has been handed out. Washington defensive tackle Daron Payne was slapped with the tag early Tuesday. He is now set to receive $18.937 million in 2023. The former Alabama man had 11.5 sacks last year to go with 64 tackles.

💪 Keeping in line with that, Alabama's standout defensive end/linebacker Will Anderson Jr. will also work out while in Indianapolis. He didn’t commit to doing all the drills, but he did say he will definitely take part in some on-field activity. Anderson has racked up 27.5 sacks over the last two years and is almost certainly going to be a top-5 pick in the draft.

Between 1992 and 2022 there have been 82 quarterbacks selected in the first round. Only 10 of the 82 have failed to start at least one game during their rookie season, making them developmental prospects.

Those players include Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers, Daunte Culpepper, Brady Quinn, Carson Palmer, J.P. Losman, Phillip Rivers, Jake Locker, Jason Campbell, and our very own Chad Pennington.

Combined those players have a Super Bowl title, 4 first-team all-pro selections, and 24 pro bowl selections, as well as multiple passing leaders and a number of other accolades. Some were stuck behind good QBs, some just weren’t ready and some were never ready, *cough* Brady Quinn *cough*.