3 Free Agent QBs Better Than Delhomme
At 35-years old, with a quarterback rating that declined by a full 25 points last season, ladies and gentleman, meet Cleveland Browns starting quarterback Jake Delhomme. It may seem tough to fathom that a quarterback could legitimately drop his rating so heavily in such a short amount of time, but just call Delhomme’s 59.4-rated 2009 unbelievably bad. In 11 games started before a season ending finger injury, Delhome racked up an 8:18 touchdown to interception ratio (no, that’s not an inverted typo). In Cleveland, he won’t even have the benefit of the two-headed monster at running back he enjoyed in Carolina, taking pressure off the passing game. In this opinion, there is no starting quarterback in the league bringing less to the table at this point in his career than Jake Delhomme. To prove a point, here are 3 quarterbacks not even on NFL rosters who would be better suited under center (bear in mind, that’s not saying much):Jeff Garcia Even at 40, Garcia’s return to the Browns offers more upside. Currently playing for the Omaha Nighthawks, the man obviously would welcome a return to the big stage. Consider Garcia the anti-Delhomme, actually improving his play in his last few NFL seasons. Playing with the Lions in 2005, Garcia still never had a year quite as bad as Delhomme’s 2009, though he was surrounded with a far inferior supporting cast. Garcia resurrected his career with stops in Philadelphia and Tampa over the next 3 years.Pat White Sure, he has only thrown 13 passes of which he’s completed just 5 at the NFL level, but bear in mind most of those were trick plays out of the wildcat package in Miami. Under center against the Falcons this preseason, in the only significant playing time he saw, White completed 4 of 4 passes and looked accurate. Yes, it’s a small sample size, but who knows there could be some Willie Beaman (Any Given Sunday) potential there.Matt Gutierrez The guy almost beat out Matt Cassell for his back-up job in New England a few years back, and we all saw what Cassell did when Tom Brady went down. Why not give the kid a shot, after all, he’s 2 for 2 on his career in NFL passes.