QB Depth Around The League - (Dolphins Dilemma?)
it's not about Tua - the NFL has created a a position so specialized that only about 10-15 players can perform the job the way it was meant to be
but there are 32 of these jobs, meaning that there would be 32 backups - that's 34 players doing jobs they're not qualified for
there's a design flaw in there somewhere
Well, part of the design flaw sort of came about organically or developed incrementally due to more and more NFL scouts looking for dual-threat QB's that can run, throw and pass effectively ala Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Michael Vick, etc. Over the past 35-40 years, there's been this growing obsession about drafting QB's who have a fair amount of mobility or speed opposed to primarily pocket-based QB's like Brees was for us and excelled at for so many years. And while Brees could hardly be compared to Steve Young or Donovan McNabb as a scrambler, compared to his 70's and 80's predecessors, Brees was actually pretty mobile juxtaposed to guys like Danny White, Phil Simms, or Ron Jaworski from 40 years ago. Think about it, Guido, when you were in HS in the late 70's/early 80's: most NCAAF and NFL QB's werent very mobile, agile, quick and fleet-footed players who could bend opposing defenses in numerous ways. It was still customary for the QB to be primarily a pocket passer and if he had a little speed, maybe scramble as a last resort.
Even QB's today we might define as "pocket passers" are far more agile, quicker and faster then those immobile, "stick figure" QB's who got sacked and beat up repeatedly like Dave Krieg, Ken O'Brien, Erik Kramer 30-35 years ago and IMHO, Krieg is one of the most underrated QB's in NFL history over the past 50 years.