There’s a surprisingly large number of rookie quarterbacks at the helm early on this football season, and the biggest reason could be the lack of good veteran signal callers.
You’ve got your Tom Brady‘s, your Aaron Rodgers‘, your Drew Brees‘ and your Peyton Manning‘s, who few would dispute are elite. Beyond that batch, however, the waters are muddy.
You’ve got second-tier quarterbacks, including Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan and some others, and you’ve got guys whose placement in the QB echelon depends on who you ask. The terms “overrated” and “underrated” are two of the most commonly used words when it comes to describing NFL quarterbacks.
So who falls in that “overrated” category?
Tony Romo has a tendency to put up big numbers from time to time, but his big performances typically come when the stakes are low, which is a major turn-off for some QB analysts.
The same can be said for Jay Cutler, whose tenure in Chicago hasn’t gone as well as the Bears hoped when they acquired the gun-slinger from the Broncos in 2009. Plus, Cutler’s toughness was famously called into question during the Bears’ 2010 playoff loss to the Packers.
Carson Palmer has also been plagued by injuries and the “overrated” tag, as he’s never really accomplished much aside from putting up some big numbers early in his career.
Mark Sanchez, meanwhile, is a veteran whose been able to bring the Jets to two AFC Championship Games, although many fans think it’s been in spite of Sanchez at the helm rather than because of his presence in the offense.
And Kevin Kolb? Well, his potential was enough for the Cardinals to deal away promising young cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick while also shelling out loads of cash to lock up the quarterback long term. To say Kolb’s days in Arizona haven’t gone according to plan would be an understatement.
So who gets your vote as the most overrated of the bunch?
