What year had (Talentwise) the least talented Top 10 QBs?

Aerolithe_Lion said:
Hot Take: the QB talent now is better than it has ever been. The guys floating around 12th-18th are Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold and Jayden Daniels. Look at just 10-15 years ago when those spots were Andy Dalton and Kirk Cousins and Matt Hasselbeck and Ryan Tannehill and Matt Schaub. Or 10-15 years before that when it was Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler and Quincy Carter and Trent Dilfer and Tavaris Jackson and Matt Cassel

The worst since 1980 was probably right before Elway/Marino/Kelly were drafted
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Man alive! Don’t you have commas in Pennsylvania? :laugh:

Nonetheless, I broadly agree with your take.
 
The league QB talent took a big hit when Roger retired so 1980 sounds right. And Montana had not broken out yet. Bradshaw was going down hill; Bert Jones had gotten injured again. Fouts,Bartkowski and Sipe were the league leaders
Archie Manning finished third in passing yards, as beat up and broken down as he was
you look at the stats for that year and no one had a better than 2-1 TD to INT; and most had only a few more TDs then picks. The highest passer rating was 91.
 
Aerolithe_Lion said:
Hot Take: the QB talent now is better than it has ever been. The guys floating around 12th-18th are Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold and Jayden Daniels. Look at just 10-15 years ago when those spots were Andy Dalton and Kirk Cousins and Matt Hasselbeck and Ryan Tannehill and Matt Schaub. Or 10-15 years before that when it was Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler and Quincy Carter and Trent Dilfer and Tavaris Jackson and Matt Cassel

The worst since 1980 was probably right before Elway/Marino/Kelly were drafted
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I agree. The qb talent is good now. It use to be rare to be mobile and throw. So many guys do both and throw on the run with accuracy.
 
DarkVader33 said:
The rules have changed dramatically to favor the QB over the years. Some of the guys you mentioned would probably be very good today.
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I don’t k ke if statues would though. I think Steve Young and Randall Cunningham would flourish. Joe Namath and Bradshaw? Don’t think so.
 
TheMarathonContinues said:
I don’t k ke if statues would though. I think Steve Young and Randall Cunningham would flourish. Joe Namath and Bradshaw? Don’t think so.
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I'm glad the Eagles don't have Cunningham now. Buddy Ryan never gave him an offensive line. Their line was always among the worst in the league. That dude could launch it 70 yards.
 
TheMarathonContinues said:
I don’t k ke if statues would though. I think Steve Young and Randall Cunningham would flourish. Joe Namath and Bradshaw? Don’t think so.
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I don’t think it’s that simple as other factors are involved. Scheme, oline, a RB who can pick up blitzes, good blocking TE, all factor into it. Also, Dan Marino for example, was a statue but had a knack of feeling the pressure and was able to avoid the rush really well. But having legs does sure help.
 
Aerolithe_Lion said:
Hot Take: the QB talent now is better than it has ever been. The guys floating around 12th-18th are Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold and Jayden Daniels. Look at just 10-15 years ago when those spots were Andy Dalton and Kirk Cousins and Matt Hasselbeck and Ryan Tannehill and Matt Schaub. Or 10-15 years before that when it was Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler and Quincy Carter and Trent Dilfer and Tavaris Jackson and Matt Cassel

The worst since 1980 was probably right before Elway/Marino/Kelly were drafted
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That's a hot take for sure, and I'm going to respectfully disagree.

I get where you're coming from, but it seems more like a result of a bias toward unfinished careers vs settled narratives.

Realistically, the QB ranking position is in flux once you get past the top 5 guys because of a weak field marked by inconsistency, and inconsistency is the result of a weak talent pool. So now, it's way more common to project potential over established players (remember how everyone said Jayden Daniels is probably the best QB in the NFC just 2 seasons ago despite Stafford, Dak, Goff, and Hurts?).

Stafford is a good barometer. He's probably seen as the 4-6th best QB today whereas he was probably the true 10th-12th in the first half of his career. Is he actually any better? No not really.

I will say, it's easier for QBs, especially ones on cheap deals, to be effective nowadays which, I guess could mean that they're a stronger group across the board. But I just don't view it as the talent being better than ever. Maybe better than the 90s and 80s. Might be fair, but hard to judge.
 
DarkVader33 said:
I don’t think it’s that simple as other factors are involved. Scheme, oline, a RB who can pick up blitzes, good blocking TE, all factor into it. Also, Dan Marino for example, was a statue but had a knack of feeling the pressure and was able to avoid the rush really well. But having legs does sure help.
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I think Dan could play today. I don’t know if he’d be as good though. I think there’s some perks to all eras and arguments.
 
Kingofholland said:
Interesting question would probably go with early 80s and maybe later 90s as the worst just because they were both transition periods where the old guard was disappearing and right before the next generation of new QBs was coming in. Then offenses really benefitted from defensive changes and more QB protection rules which I think extended the windows of the new QB generation in the 200s and 2010s.
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The late 90s were the worst crop of my lifetime for the reason you've stated.

Cunningham, Elway, Marino and Young were on the outs. Peyton was very early in his career. McNabb also. It was the quiet before the boom. The league was Bledsoe, Flutie, Green, and Testaverde type players.
 
TheMarathonContinues said:
I think Dan could play today. I don’t know if he’d be as good though. I think there’s some perks to all eras and arguments.
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I agree about some perks in different eras. But Dan would obliterate his own records today, of course under the right conditions. But I respect if you don’t agree.
 
Nova said:
The late 90s were the worst crop of my lifetime for the reason you've stated.

Cunningham, Elway, Marino and Young were on the outs. Peyton was very early in his career. McNabb also. It was the quiet before the boom. The league was Bledsoe, Flutie, Green, and Testaverde type players.
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Yeah I forgot how bad that was right before the Rivers, Ben, Eli class….Vick and Peyton were young….Brees and Brady… tough era.
 
1999

It was an expansion year, which diluted everything, and some of the best QBs were hurt

Jake Plummer was bad.
Kordell was bad.
Saints didn’t even have a QB.

Marino, Young, Trent Green and Testeverde all got hurt

It was a horrible rookie class for QBs (Tim Couch, Akili)

The only reason the year might not jump out is because of Warners greatest show on turf and Peytons emergence.
 
DarkVader33 said:
I agree about some perks in different eras. But Dan would obliterate his own records today, of course under the right conditions. But I respect if you don’t agree.
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Marion had the quickest release ever seen in the NFL. He was a freak.
 
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