...and I have to agree. The pure QB is an endangered species and priceless in the NFL. We all balked at Flaco's contract. Would you take it now? Sure he is over rated but what would you give for his kind of play? What about Rodgers? Imagine if he hit the market in today's climate. Here is the article... The Panthers-Colts matchup on Monday night was billed as a clash between two of the top young quarterbacks in football: Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. What we got was sloppy, disappointing … and ultimately won by Newton. It was the NFL’s entire younger generation of NFL quarterbacks captured in one dreary game. Countless articles have been written this season about how we as football fans must make sure to appreciate Peyton Manning while he is still playing, even in his diminished 2015 form. The elder Manning has regressed so far that his 0 TD, 1 INT performance in Sunday’s win over the Packers was supposedly a statement game. Just 12 months ago, any game in which Manning didn’t throw at least three touchdowns was an aberration, and now his Sunday game is being called a return to form? “Peyton Manning of old shows up, and the Broncos stay undefeated” read the headline in the New York Times. Ugh. Depressing. But while we’re all trying to appreciate Manning (while wincing and peering through our fingers), we might want to also carve out time to enjoy the other quarterbacks of his generation who are still playing at a high level. Because the future of the NFL’s most important position is looking worse than a Manning Face after a postseason interception. Manning is 39. His younger brother, Eli, isn’t all that young any more at 34. Tom Brady is 38, Drew Brees 36, Ben Roethlisberger 33. Even Aaron Rodgers turns 32 next month. Only one living starting quarterback possesses a Super Bowl ring and is under the age of 30, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson. We can – and likely will, unfortunately – continue to argue about whether Joe Flacco (31 in January) is elite, but we can probably all agree that the generation that will replace the older QBs most definitely is not. While it’s easy to criticize Manning for his postseason failures – as I did just three paragraphs ago! – if you look at his entire career as a performance under pressure, he’s as clutch as it comes. When Manning was drafted No1 overall in 1998 by the Colts out of Tennessee, Archie’s prize son was dubbed the future of the quarterback position in the NFL. And he delivered. Yes, there’s “just” the one Super Bowl title over a Rex Grossman-quarterbacked team, but there’s also pretty much every passing record. The NFL desperately needed Manning to deliver, too. John Elway was about to play his last season and Dan Marino, Troy Aikman and Steve Young were all on the way out. The future of the NFL quarterback position in 1998 was a 29 year-old Brett Favre and … I don’t know … Drew Bledsoe? Yikes. Manning struggled in his rookie season, but in 1999 had a passer rating of 90.7, good for fourth in the NFL, three spots behind Kurt Warner in his out-of-nowhere breakout season. Here was the entire top 10 that season: 1. Warner 2. Steve Beuerlein 3. Jeff George 4. Manning 5. Brad Johnson 6. Rich Gannon 7. Ray Lucas 8. Charlie Batch 9. Gus Frerrote 10. Chris Chandler Sweet merciful god. That list isn’t much better than the Browns QB jersey. No wonder Vince McMahon thought then that the time might be approaching to launch a competitor league to the NFL. Manning bridged the gap between two eras and let fans know there was at least someone alive outside of Favre who could throw a football. Then Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger and Rodgers came along and all was right with the football world. The league is in a similar place now as it was in the late ‘90s. The older generation of QBs is nearing the end of its run and the NFL would like to identify its future icons. The idea was that Andrew Luck would be one of them. Drafted No1 overall by the Colts and supposedly cerebral like his predecessor, it was hoped that Luck would be a more athletic Manning. Instead, he’s playing more like a less hygienic Jay Cutler. After throwing four interceptions in the playoffs last year, giving him 12 interceptions in six career playoff games, Luck is on pace this season to go 6-10 with 26 touchdowns, 24 interceptions and a 71.6 quarterback rating – and a large chunk of those touchdown passes have come in garbage time. Luck isn’t the next Peyton Manning. That’s OK. There will probably never be another Peyton Manning. But Luck might not even be, you know, to use a fancy scouting term: good. So which young quarterbacks are? Cam Newton, age 26, is undefeated and might be having his best season. Five years into his career, he looks to be a quarterback who can win games but isn’t necessarily going to drop any jaws. Perhaps, with some more talent around him, his career will take the path or Roethlisberger, with the eye-popping stats coming later in his career. But as of now, Newton’s career-high for touchdown passes in a season is 24. Manning beat that in his first seven games two years ago. Russell Wilson, also age 26, has that ring. But even with his new, huge contract and the addition of Jimmy Graham, he’s looking more like a skilled manager – both at game managing and brand managing – than a generational talent. Wilson still hasn’t won a game in his career when the Seattle defense gives up more than 24 points. Andy Dalton is having a career year at age 28. But he remains Andy Dalton until he stops being Andy Dalton. The NFL isn’t focusing marketing efforts around the guy anytime soon. He needs to win a playoff game, and probably more, before he’s no longer Andy Dalton. Is it bad if the future of the NFL quarterback position could be a Raiders quarterback? I feel like that’s bad Matt Stafford and Ryan Tannehill aren’t next-level talents. RG3 and Colin Kaepernick went bust. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota are still too green for anyone to know what they can do. That leaves … Blake Bortles? Derek Carr? Huh, maybe it’s Derek Carr? He’s exploded in his second NFL season at age 24. But is it bad if the future of the NFL quarterback position could be a Raiders quarterback? I feel like that’s bad. What makes the struggles of the younger generation even more concerning is that, thanks to Manning and Brady, absolutely every rule in the NFL is written to help offenses – and quarterbacks specifically. And still we’re not seeing much. Imagine Andrew Luck playing under the rules that existed even 10 years ago. No turnover record would be safe. There’s not much help on the way either. I mean, teams are seriously considering drafting Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg in the first round. It might be time to re-launch the XFL, Vince. This all isn’t just to lament the younger generation of quarterbacks or say they suck. Newton is good, a team can obviously win with Wilson, and Luck still has plenty of time to turn it all around. It’s to make the case that, with most of the 30-something QBs still producing, that we’re in the later days of a golden age of NFL quarterbacks. Six future Hall of Famers are in action every Sunday. Enjoy it while we have it. It might not be long before talents akin to Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer are winning Super Bowls again. Of course, maybe Tom Brady really will play 10 more years as he recently said he hopes to. If that happens, everything will be just fine. Just please don’t suspend him, Mr Goodell. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/03/nfl-golden-era-tom-brady-peyton-manning
This makes a lot of sense. When RBs were the shit teams invested a lot into the best RB, only to start to realize just how fragile the position is and how short lived their careers tend to be, even among football players. But that was also an era with some amazing RBs instead of many plug-n-play type players. Now we've moved on to QBs being the end-all-be-all but perhaps much of that had to do with the (brief) era of quality QBs available. Whatever the reason, the focus has become so absurd that the teams with truly great QBs usually have to pay them so much money that they can't surround them with talent. So you end up with a choice: do you want a great QB on a team with lots of holes or a great team with a hole at QB? At some point there has to be a realization that paying way over $20mil a year for ANY one player on a team that needs 22 starters is foolish. There is simply not enough cap space to do this. So this golden age of the QB is probably going to end with QBs returning to being what they once were: they are still the most important position and still going to be the best paid, but their pay isn't going to stand out like a sore thumb. The problem will be when the next fad kicks in..... Will it be super expensive TEs? WRs? Who the hell knows....
Garbage article for sure. The Golden Age has it's new era now. Rodgers, Roeth, Brady, BRees, Rivers, Mannings, Luck.......they're cornerstones, check their records as they're now a decade in. The next batch is def a lower rung but there are potentials for bigger numbers with some due to the current continuing softening of the rules which favor passing
Did you read it in its entirety? The article basically compared those very same quarter backs you mentioned to the newer generations. You essentially just named a bunch of veterans that haven't been eclipsed by a newer class. Their capabilities have been established years ago. In 2010 you knew how good most of these QBs were. The golden age has its new era now? How? Elaborate. As you said, their records are a decade in so these seem to be contradictory stances.
that's the point. despite the softening of the rules the next batch isn't putting up numbers even remotely on par with the previous group of top tier QB's, thus the assertion the golden age of QB's is over. what you attempted to use to criticize the article actually supports the article's position.
Yep, once the current guys above 30 decline/retire, the younger group doesn't seem to have anyone near the same talent level. None of these current guys seem to be in the potential all time great category.
Hopefully the era of the $20M a year QB is coming to an end. I doubt that the era of the superstar QB is. What I'm seeing this year is that when you pay your QB a 7th of the cap you have trouble competing unless everything else is going gangbusters. If the Broncos defense isn't elite this year people would be calling for Peyton Manning to retire. The Ravens and Seahawks are both having trouble "carrying" their QB's contract. Imagine the consternation in Indy with the ownership, FO and CS having to contemplate paying Luck $25m a year in the near future when he can't carry the team as it is.
Absolutely, unless there are some big development jumps guys like Derek Carr will be considered one of the 'elite' quarterbacks in the near future,
Andrew Luck is still going to be the #1 guy in a few years. Maybe not in Indy where the expectations are so high that he probably can't meet them but somewhere. Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Cam Newton and Andy Dalton will be in the group also. What we're seeing now is the reality produced by a few significant QB injuries, beginning with a banged up Luck this season and including the RGIII injury-produced flameout. Sam Bradford might well have developed into a significant QB if he hadn't been on IR repeatedly. The 70's had a big gap for superstar QB's right after the merger. Joe Namath's knees had a lot to do with that.
Media was on their knees for Luck for 3 years. Now he has a bad 1st half and they need to come up with something. so instead of acknowledging their mistake in kissing his ass its "the end of the golden age" fuck that. the panthers-colts game was sloppy because it was a downpour. Cam Newton never gets enough credit anyway. He will be part of this next group of great QBs to take the torch
Since the merger the only QB's to lead the NFL in TD's by their age 24 season are Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, Daunte Culpepper and Andrew Luck. The only QB's to throw 40+ TD passes by then are Marino (twice), Luck and Matthew Stafford. There's evidence on both sides of where Luck will wind up but the preponderance of the evidence suggests record-breaking numbers and the Hall of Fame by the end of his career.
I don't understand why it is so terrible that Derrick Carr and the Raiders could be the future of NFL. I'm certainly not rooting for them, but why would it be bad?
Other than, its not the Jets, that's fine. I made the Darrick Carr reference because he is regarded as one of the best young prospects in the league. He may be part of the next 'elite' QB class and my opinion is this class will be performing at a lower level when compared to the current elites. We could be a lucky generation that got to see the greats play. I hate Brady but man what a freak.
Luck has also been injured. The reaction to his decline this season has been ridiculous. But the article still has merit IMO. This next crop of QBs, including Newton, don't appear to be anywhere near the level of the previous group. Not that they won't be good, but they don't seem to be all time greats which we have a handful of on their way out.
As long as there are stupid teams and an increasing salary cap, there will be $20mil/year QBs. Hell, Calvin Johnson's cap number for the next 3 years exceeds 20mil.
