One of
the terms favored by people who want to impress is “paradigm shift.” It’s a fancy way of saying that something has
changed fundamentally, at least for a while. One such has been underway in the
National Football League for a few years now and has reached full bloom this
season. It concerns quarterback, the game’s most important position.
For just
about all of this century and a few years before the beau ideal for the post was
Peyton Manning, a tall, rugged, strong-armed sort who knew his place on the
gridiron, which was in the “pocket” formed by his protecting linemen. If he
carried the ball it was by necessity, when his pocket broke down and no
alternative presented itself. It was as
though his career length was measured by the number of times he was tackled,
and running served only to increase that risk.
No example is perfect and there
were running quarterbacks during Manning’s tenure (1998-2015), Michael Vick
being the most prominent. In 2006 he ran for 1,039 yards, breaking the 34-year
record for the position held by Bobby Douglass, the lumberjack type who played
for the 1970s’ Chicago Bears. Vick was an outlier, though, fit for inclusion in
a Malcolm Gladwell book.
But Russell Wilson came along in
2012 and, with the help of the “slide rule” that protects ball carriers who give
themselves up feet first, showed that dual threating could be an asset for an NFL
signal-caller. In 2018 that rule was extended to include head-first surrenders,
increasing the protection option.
It took a 2014 Super Bowl title for Wilson’s
Seattle Seahawks and few more seasons for him to prove his durability, but
nine-year-vet Wilson’s role as an exemplar now is firmly established. A cadre
of swift, versatile young quarterbacks currently ply their trade in the league
and it’s no stretch to say they’re the new models for the post. Listed in no
particular order they’re Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Patrick Mahomes
of the Kansas City Chiefs, Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans and Kyler
Murray of the Arizona Cardinals. Jackson and Murray are 23 years old, Mahomes
and Watson are 25, meaning that, with luck, each has many years ahead of him.
That can’t be said for the pocket
passers who ruled the league before them and still might not be through. Tom
Brady, newly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is 43 years old, the New Orleans
Saints’ Drew Brees is 41, the Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger is 38 and
the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers is 37. They are in various stages of
decrepitude, Brady showing the most wear this season, but can’t be expected to
stick around much longer under best-case scenarios. Sculptors no doubt already
at work fashioning their Hall of Fame busts won’t have to wait long for the
unveilings.
The
league’s growing acceptance of dual-threat QBs is reflected in their draft
status. Pioneer Wilson wasn’t drafted until the third round of the 2012 draft
after a bifurcated college career at North Carolina State and the U. of
Wisconsin and I think it’s correct to say the Seahawks weren’t sure what they
were getting. Jackson lasted until the 32rd pick in 2018 and Mahomes and Watson
were chosen 10th and 12th respectively in their years. By
contrast, Murray went No. 1 in 2019 after the Cardinals renounced their top
pick of the year before, pocket-passer Josh Rosen, to clear the decks for
him. Such an admission of error is rare
in the draft-proud NFL.
Among
the above-mentioned new stars the best ball carrier by far is Jackson. He tucks
it in (176 times last season) about twice as often as do Mahomes, Watson or
Murray, and averages about six yards a try when he does. He has the mentality
of a runner, sometimes lowering his shoulder when contact looms, which
generally isn’t a good idea for a quarterback. He’s both speedy and elusive,
his better runs making up a riveting highlights reel.
By me
Mahomes is the best all-around QB of the four, elusive on the ground and able
to get off accurate passes on the run and from unpromising positions. He’s the
best in the league at those latter skills along with Green Bay’s Rodgers, who
continues to wow ‘em at his advanced age.
Mahomes has the additional
advantage of size, at a listed 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds being officially bigger than
Jackson, Watson or Murray, or Rodgers, for that matter. Caveat here,
though: My distrust of program weights
and measures is heightened by the fact that Rodgers looks like the bigger man
when he and Mahomes are pictured together in those State Farm commercials.
Watson’s skills seem to be a match
for those of either Jackson or Mahomes, but he’s played on worse teams so
comparisons are difficult. Suffice it to say that I wish my Chicago Bears had
picked him (or Mahomes) instead of Mitch Trubisky in the 2017 draft. Watson’s
teams haven’t gone far but he is well represented in the NFL record book, among
other things being the fastest player to both pass for at least 6,500 yards and
run for 500.
Murray is a case apart, at
5-feet-10 a little man in a big man’s game. While Jackson strides with the ball
Murray tiptoes, pitter patting prettily around tacklers and along sidelines.
I’d love to see a footrace between the two. Because he played only two
collegiate seasons as a starter, one at Texas A&M and one at Oklahoma, Murray
is still very much a work in progress, especially in the passing department.
He’s a thrill to watch, though, and by himself is worth the price of admission.
A specter hangs over the young quarterbacks
in the person of Robert Griffin III. He ran opponents crazy in his 2012 rookie
year with the Washington Whatchacallits but was laid low by a late-season knee
injury and never has been the same thereafter. Football’s a dangerous game in
all cases but especially so for running QBs. Be careful guys, it’s a jungle out
there.
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