Smith: The NFL is Short on Quarterbacks with “IT”
The NFL is about 6 QBs short of having enough to start let alone for backups. So what is the problem? Plenty of QBs come out of college at all levels every year to provide the league with all the QBs it would ever need. Not so much. To be successful, an NFL QB has to have IT.
Matt Ryan and to a lesser degree Joe Flacco stepped in to NFL teams that struggled last year and led them to the playoffs. They have IT. So why have so many 1st round and even first choice over all QBs failed miserably? Because they didn’t have IT.
Unfortunately there is no combine test that measures for IT. Like beauty, IT is in the eye of the beholder. The Browns thought the saw IT in Tim “I’m now on the” Couch and took him with the first pick overall in 1999. IT wasn’t even in the same state. The Bengals knew they saw IT in Akili Smith in 1999 and took him with the 3rd pick. Nope, no IT there. The Texans were sure they saw IT in David Carr in 2002 and took him with the first overall choice that year. No IT there either. The Chargers were sure that Ryan Leaf had IT in 1998 and took him with the 2nd overall pick. Sorry, Leaf had a negative IT.
profootballcentral.com
1/10/09
Magnolia Tribune
