PhinPhreak
Perennial All-Pro
After reading this article it has only confused me more on what they should do, I wish we could just get the draft over with so we can get past this who to draft scenario. :googly:
Full Story
David Garrard has three career NFL starts. Rohan Davey and J.T. O'Sullivan have none. Yet, when teams are searching for starting QBs for '06, they'll likely be hot commodities
In his first three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, quarterback David Garrard appeared in only 10 games, started three of them and completed only 70 passes, with just four of those for touchdowns.
Barring a catastrophic injury to Byron Leftwich, who as a first-year full-time starter in 2004 led the Jaguars to the cusp of the playoffs, those statistics for Garrard likely will not be enhanced very much in 2005.
What does figure to dramatically improve by this time next year, though, is Garrard's overall career direction.
In the spring of 2006, and at the relatively tender age (for a quarterback) of 28, Garrard will become an unrestricted free agent. Despite a pretty sparse résumé, and even with the presumption Garrard doesn't throw a single pass in the upcoming season, his availability in the unfettered market will significantly change the prism through which he is viewed.
Even with an unremarkable body of work, Garrard is a highly regarded player, so much so that at least four teams phoned the Jaguars since the end of last season to inquire about his availability in a possible trade. The price tag hung on Garrard by Jacksonville, which retained a right of first refusal by making the middle-level restricted-free-agent qualifying offer of $1.43 million to him, was said to be a first-round draft pick.
No one was willing to part with a first-round choice for Garrard, whose raw potential still supercedes his on-field deeds, and that is understandable. But next spring, when Garrard won't cost another club anything in terms of compensation to the Jags, bet the mortgage that agent Albert Irby's phone is going to be ringing off the hook as soon as the free-agent signing period commences.
Why so? Well, think about this: How often in the history of free agency, and particularly in recent years, has there been an unrestricted quarterback available who still has more football ahead of him than behind him? The answer: Not too often. Garrard is one of the rarest of specimens in that regard, a player still in the formative stage of his career, and at the game's most singularly critical position.
Much has been made of the annual quarterback carousel in the NFL, a high-stakes game of musical chairs, one that shuffles depth charts around the league every spring. But rarely do the quarterbacks who change addresses in free agency possess skills that are sufficient to change the long-term direction of a franchise. Most are older quarterbacks whose best years are already in the history books and not fresh, young passers with new and possibly exciting chapters yet to be authored.
For the most part, the quarterbacks who have switched teams in free agency over the last several springs fall into two categories: Proven but declining veterans who can provide an insurance policy for a team and, perhaps, a tutor or security blanket for the young starter. Or "caretaker" quarterbacks, players who are stop-gaps, hired for the short term, brought in to serve as the bridge to a franchise's next generation.
Full Story
David Garrard has three career NFL starts. Rohan Davey and J.T. O'Sullivan have none. Yet, when teams are searching for starting QBs for '06, they'll likely be hot commodities
In his first three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, quarterback David Garrard appeared in only 10 games, started three of them and completed only 70 passes, with just four of those for touchdowns.
Barring a catastrophic injury to Byron Leftwich, who as a first-year full-time starter in 2004 led the Jaguars to the cusp of the playoffs, those statistics for Garrard likely will not be enhanced very much in 2005.
What does figure to dramatically improve by this time next year, though, is Garrard's overall career direction.
In the spring of 2006, and at the relatively tender age (for a quarterback) of 28, Garrard will become an unrestricted free agent. Despite a pretty sparse résumé, and even with the presumption Garrard doesn't throw a single pass in the upcoming season, his availability in the unfettered market will significantly change the prism through which he is viewed.
Even with an unremarkable body of work, Garrard is a highly regarded player, so much so that at least four teams phoned the Jaguars since the end of last season to inquire about his availability in a possible trade. The price tag hung on Garrard by Jacksonville, which retained a right of first refusal by making the middle-level restricted-free-agent qualifying offer of $1.43 million to him, was said to be a first-round draft pick.
No one was willing to part with a first-round choice for Garrard, whose raw potential still supercedes his on-field deeds, and that is understandable. But next spring, when Garrard won't cost another club anything in terms of compensation to the Jags, bet the mortgage that agent Albert Irby's phone is going to be ringing off the hook as soon as the free-agent signing period commences.
Why so? Well, think about this: How often in the history of free agency, and particularly in recent years, has there been an unrestricted quarterback available who still has more football ahead of him than behind him? The answer: Not too often. Garrard is one of the rarest of specimens in that regard, a player still in the formative stage of his career, and at the game's most singularly critical position.
Much has been made of the annual quarterback carousel in the NFL, a high-stakes game of musical chairs, one that shuffles depth charts around the league every spring. But rarely do the quarterbacks who change addresses in free agency possess skills that are sufficient to change the long-term direction of a franchise. Most are older quarterbacks whose best years are already in the history books and not fresh, young passers with new and possibly exciting chapters yet to be authored.
For the most part, the quarterbacks who have switched teams in free agency over the last several springs fall into two categories: Proven but declining veterans who can provide an insurance policy for a team and, perhaps, a tutor or security blanket for the young starter. Or "caretaker" quarterbacks, players who are stop-gaps, hired for the short term, brought in to serve as the bridge to a franchise's next generation.
