Why You Can’t Let Young QBs Learn from the Bench

[Hammock Parties]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/17/n...-practice-time

Every year we see NFL teams draft an unready quarterback in the first or second round, with the intention of having him learn from the bench as a rookie. The Bears (Mitchell Trubisky), the Texans (Deshaun Watson) and especially the Chiefs (Pat Mahomes) will toy with this idea in 2017. It’s a logical and admirable approach. Every team wants its guy to be like Aaron Rodgers emerging from Brett Favre’s shadow, turning an apprenticeship into stardom. The only problem: that never happens anymore.

Literally. It … does … not … happen. Since 2006, no team that drafted a quarterback in the first two rounds sat him for the entirety of his rookie season and then saw him become a long-term franchise quarterback. In fact, only two QBs in that time who sat out their entire rookie seasons have even gone on to start at least 48 games: Colin Kaepernick, with the 49ers, and Chad Henne, with the Dolphins.

The previous generation of quarterbacks saw a handful of highly drafted players sit and learn. The best examples were Carson Palmer in Cincinnati, Drew Brees in San Diego, Philip Rivers in San Diego, and, of course, Rodgers in Green Bay. There were also the unique cases of Tony Romo and Tom Brady, guys who were brought in to fill the back of the roster and wound up developing well enough to become quality starters once they took the field. (Incidentally, both permanently replaced Drew Bledsoe.)

But those quarterbacks were all drafted at least 12 years ago. No one has followed that path since.

What’s changed in those dozen years? You can start at everyone’s favorite place and blame the culture. The NFL is an impatient, win-now league more than ever! There’s some truth to that, plus the simple fact that teams who draft a quarterback in the early rounds usually do so because they didn’t have a good one to begin with. The Favre-led Packers selecting Rodgers is an extreme outlier. Many teams with highly drafted QBs don’t have a solid starter for him to sit behind.

But the bigger issue is time. In 2011, the current collective bargaining agreement significantly reduced practice hours, both during the season and and during the offseason. Naturally, it’s the backup players’ reps that disappear. There’s barely enough time for the first-teamers to practice.

Which means the only way to evaluate a QB and let him learn kinetically is to put him with your first team. And voila! There’s your new starting quarterback.

Eventually, something will give. Stylistically, the NFL and college games are drifting farther and farther apart. Incoming NFL quarterbacks are less prepared each year. With fewer chances for them to practice, young quarterbacks must continue to learn under the fire of live games. This diminishes the NFL’s product and can help ruin careers.

There is, however, one saving grace. The nature of today’s pass-happy NFL is prolonging quarterbacks’ careers. The days of repetitive deep dropback passes are practically over. Teams now regularly throw the ball quickly after the snap. Quicker, shorter passes place a greater emphasis on the intellectual side of quarterbacking and less on the physical side.

A quarterback no longer has to consistently throw the ball as far or hold it as long. Instead, he’s reading the defense more before the snap, which is how he’s able to throw so quickly after it. (This is how most college offenses operate, but they’re executing many of those quick throws differently than what you see in the NFL. In college, the hash marks are spaced farther apart, which allows for wider formations. The wider side of these formations create more defined, almost indefensible quick throws. Everything becomes easier for the quarterback.)

Look at all the thirtysomething quarterbacks who are still performing at their highest levels:

Tom Brady, almost 40
Drew Brees, 38
Carson Palmer, 37
Eli Manning, 36
Philip Rivers, 35
Ben Roethlisberger, 35

Peyton Manning threw for 5,477 yards at age 37 and, after finally getting pushed up against the ropes by Father Time, still won a Super Bowl at age 39.

The NFL no longer gives young quarterbacks enough time to develop, but at least more stars at this position are staying around a little longer. At some point, of course, new quarterbacks will be needed. Hopefully in the next CBA teams can get back to practicing more. Developing QBs from the bench needs to be a real option rather than the pipedream that it has become.

[Hammock Parties]

Mahomes will start games this year. If Reid is smart enough to realize this trend.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

One year and it is Mahomes' time, unless they are out of the playoff hunt by December

[notorious]

Trust them to make the right decision. It's their ass after all.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Mahomes will start games this year. If Reid is smart enough to realize this trend.

Mahomes will only start if Alex Smith goes down w/ inj...OR...the Chiefs have a shitty season and end up being out of playoff contention. The latter, would mean the Chiefs enter the month of December with 4 or less wins, which IMO is highly unlikely.

[ChiefGator]

Interesting article. The demise of NFLE doens't help either, but I don't think anyone was sending their #1 drafted QB over there.

Mostly, I think it is because you need to pick in the upper half (and likely very upper half) of the draft to get a QB that is good enough to consider a franchise changer. And to pick that high, you have to be really bad.

We are in a rare state of luxury.

But, a valid point on the reduced number of snaps allowed. There are lots of other ways to learn I suppose, but reducing the practice snaps for backups certainly doesn't help any position.

[Rasputin]

Mahomes II will be practicing against first team defense and he can show up Alex Smith in practice. May give coaches notice and thoughts to bring him in games this season.

[threebag]

Imagine how good Blackledge could have been

Hopefully Mahomes pans out after he sits behind Alex

[pugsnotdrugs19]

We all love the idea of Pat taking over this team and starting ASAP, but we have to be reasonable. Is he more talented than Alex right now? Yes. But, there is something to be said for being able to go out there and not think too much. To be able to go out there, have a good grasp of the offense, have a great understanding of the different looks defenses are throwing at you... these things are very important.

I believe by 2018, Mahomes will be ready for these things. By then, he will be able to feel comfortable with what is going on around him and will essentially be on 'auto-pilot'. His talent can then take over rather than having to think through each play.

[Molitoth]

I have posted similar ideas in threads before about this. There are plenty of fresh QBs coming in and taking over the league during rookie seasons.

[KChiefs1]

Great article.

The Chiefs are in a different situation than most of those teams.

Defending division champion with an established team & veteran QB. How many teams picking 27th drafted a QB because that is essentially what the Chiefs did.

I'd like more extensive research on teams picking a first round QB & the situation they came into with that team.


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[rydogg58]

It's an interesting article for sure. It says that in most of the cases the teams didn't have a quality starter to begin with. We do have that. Like it or not, Smith is a quality starter. Not my favorite, but he's not some waste of skin like Cassel or Palko. I'm just as ready as anyone to see something different at QB, but...we will see what happens.

I think the situation in KC is different than what the article references since 2006. Mahomes sits for a year and then takes over.

[DanBecky]

If Alex doesn't start his slide sooner after scrambling out of the pocket, may be seeing Mahomes quicker than we think.

[jjchieffan]

Interesting article. But I agree with several who have already said that our situation is different. This team is more like the Packers team that drafted Rodgers than the teams that typically draft a quarterback so early in the draft. We just won the division and had a first round bye with our current starter. The Chiefs aren't desperate to make a change. They have the luxury of sitting him for a year. Yes it hurts that he can't get as many snaps as we would like. But there is more that he needs to learn that he can work on. He can get into the playbook and study it. Andy's playbook is complex. A year to familiarize himself with it will help a lot. And then there's game film. He will have a full season to watch Smith run Andy's offense. He will see how it's designed, and he will see all of the big plays that Smith fails to execute. Nothing will replace actual game time. But that will come soon enough. Let him sit and learn for now.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Good stuff.

Would love to see Mahomes play at some point in the season.