blacksaint

By Tom Marino
Scout.com
Posted Aug 10, 2007

Former pro scout Tom Marino provides his analysis and rankings of the quarterbacks in the NFC South. Find out what he sees as areas of strength and areas of concern for each of the players as they prepare for the 2007 season.

Unlike its sister division the NFC North's, Drew Brees is a clear cut winner to the question of; who is the top QB in the NFC South? Entering his seventh NFL season and second with the Saints, this undersized former Purdue Boilermaker and San Diego Charger, is not only in the prime of his career, but also appears poised to take the defending NFC South champions to that one event that has so far eluded them and their loyal fans for the entire 40 years of their existence -- the Super Bowl.

Now as much as anyone, I understand a great many things must go right for a club to reach the big game, with talent level, team chemistry, coaching, the injury factor, and Lady Luck among the most important. This year's Saints teams appears to have all of those components, but again a key injury to No. 9 would end any thought of them potentially advancing in the postseason.

He doesn't have ideal height and isn't a serious threat to beat you with his feet, but Brees is as accurate a thrower as there is in the game today. His sets were quick and efficient, he consistently made good throwing decisions, has excellent touch and anticipation and surprisingly has been very durable (missed just a half dozen games) during his professional career. Add to the equation the quality of his character, and one can readily see that the Saints today have in Brees their very best quarterback since a fellow by the name of Archie Manning was at the helm from 1971 through the 1982 season.

I'm going to give you a little truism today. The next time you hear a coach say at the start of training camp that he has two serious contenders for the team's quarterback job, know in the back of his mind that in actuality, he has none. And such is the case with this year's edition of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (are you listening in Kansas City and Cleveland?).

Counting the seemingly now retired Jake Plummer and free agent Eugene Bruce (injured in NFL Europe), the Bucs had 6 quarterbacks on their roster at the start of training camp!!!

I haven't attended one practice session, but in my mind the quarterback competition is not even close. Thirty-seven year-old Jeff Garcia is truly a remarkable individual, who after a stint in the CFL went on to star for six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and later played for a season each with the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and most recently with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Just how much Garcia has left in the tank and how effectively he will perform in 2007 is anyone's guess, but keep in mind that since leaving the 49ers after the 2003 season all of his successes have come in a backup or short-term starter role. I admire Garcia tremendously, and have to say he played exceptionally well in 2006 after replacing the injured Donavon McNabb. But I also have to question if at his advanced football age whether he still has the skills to perform at a championship level over the long haul (16-plus games).

The skinny on Garcia is that he obviously has a great deal of starting experience having thrown for over 20,000 yards in his NFL career, has good quickness, body balance, can throw on the move and from awkward positions, was an accurate short passer, can make time with his feet, and shows good running sense. My big questions are whether he can throw the deep out from the far hash and can he hold up physically over a long NFL season?

2006 starter, Chris Simms (1 TD and 7 Interceptions in 2006) has shown little in his four previous seasons with the Bucs to get me very excited. And Bruce Gradkowski was flat-out overmatched as a rookie in 2006.

The Carolina Panthers are in somewhat of a similar situation to Tampa Bay, but have intentionally avoided making the competition between nine-year professional and incumbent starter Jake Delhomme and recently acquired David Carr, a five-year regular with the Houston Texans, a focal point for their 2007 camp.

Delhomme, a former Saints free agent and third quarterback made a quantum leap after signing with the Panthers after the 2002 season. In four seasons he has thrown for nearly 14,000 yards, but it is the opinion of many football people within the league that in spite of his numbers, he slipped noticeably in 2006 and very well may have already peaked as a player. It did appear that he struggled before getting injured in the latter stages of 2006.

David Carr was the first player selected in the 2002 college draft, but unfortunately had the misfortune of getting his baptism under fire for an expansion club that had few offensive weapons and could be described quite candidly as offensively bankrupt. His numbers have always been more then respectable, but in an era when offenses are content to advance the ball downfield with slip screens, swallow crosses, read screens, and arrow and circle routes, those numbers are also somewhat deceiving.

Carr may one day fulfill his promise that many top scouts and coaches predicted of him after concluding his star-studded career at Fresno. But to do so, he is going to have to prove he can consistently make plays down the field, become more efficient in the red zone, and protect the ball better in the pocket. And regardless of the talent level around him, he must avoid sacks (249 over five seasons with a high of 76 as a rookie is totally unacceptable).

When I decided to undertake this project a few weeks back, I never dreamed I would be considering the relative worth of Joey Harrington as opposed to that of Michael Vick. But as we all know, a great many things have transpired over the last three to four weeks in Atlanta.

Harrington was the third overall selection by the Detroit Lions in the 2002 college football draft behind the aforementioned David Carr and Julius Peppers. After four uneventful seasons performing for a poor Lions squad, he was traded by the new staff to the quarterback-starved Miami Dolphins for a late-round 2007 draft selection.

In 2006, Harrington replaced the injured Daunte Culpepper in the fourth game of the season, but as was the case with the Lions, he really struggled to find any degree of consistency and was released at the conclusion of the season

Harrington is a classy individual with ideal size, intelligence, and good athletic skills. But I just never warmed up to him as a player, feeling that he lacks the necessary throwing skills (didn't like his stroke nor did I think his ball had enough life) and most importantly the ability to consistently make a play at a critical time in a ballgame.

Few people in the history of the game have been given as much God-given natural ability then Michael Vick. In all my years in professional ball I have never seen a person with the foot speed, acceleration and escape skills of this human highlight machine. I also personally saw him in pregame warmups versus East Carolina in 2000, and he effortlessly threw a football 80 yards flat-footed!

That being said, after six professional seasons, I still have my doubts if he can ever develop his quarterback skills enough to bring a team to the big dance. In baseball today there are many 22 to 29 year-old pitchers toiling in A and AA ball who possess 92 to 97 MPH fastballs, while player like Greg Maddux (41 years of age) and Jamie Moyer (45 years old) are still pitching effectively in the big leagues with fastballs that might top out the at 84 to 86 MPH range!!!

The key word in the above paragraph was obviously "pitching" and not "throwing." In the game of football the word we refer to constantly when talking about the the quarterback position is "passing" -- not "throwing." After six professional seasons, Michael Vick -- in spite of the daily schooling he has received by hopefully competent coaches -- is still very much a thrower rather then a passer. During this period, he has averaged just over 2,000 yards per season in passing yards, while completing a modest 53.8% of his passes.

To take his game to the next level, he is going to have to develop much better throwing consistency, awareness, and improve his accuracy and pass timing on all of his intermediate and deep throws. The most important quality that a quarterback can possess is accuracy. Without it he has little chance to succeed at the professional level.

I'm not going interject my personal views regarding the Vick dog-fighting controversy at this time other then to state that regardless of the outcome of the trial, this young man needs a great deal of work on developing life skills and finding himself spiritually.

NFC South Quarterback Rankings

1) Drew Brees
2) Jake Delhomme / David Carr
3) Jeff Garcia / Chris Simms
4) Joey Harrington / Michael Vick

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