The QBs of the 2007 NFL Draft: The Worst Single Position of Any NFL Draft Class Ever?

We are now more than 2 1/2 years into the NFL careers of the players who were drafted in 2007.

If you scroll down the list of first round draftees, several names will jump out at you of players who have already carved out solid beginnings to their careers.

In a few cases, some of the first round draftees from 2007 have proven to be franchise cornerstones worthy of high picks: Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Darrelle Revis, Ted Ginn Jr, to name a few.

In other cases, however, the players drafted in 2007 have proven to be worth far less than what their draft position might suggest. This is no more evident than with respect to the two QBs drafted in the first round in 2007: JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn.

My goodness, what wasted first round picks those two are proving to be.

And amazingly, Russell and Quinn are not alone. Several other QBs were taken in 2007, none of whom have amounted to much of anything. Let’s review the carnage.

First, we have to examine the combined ineptitude of Russell and Quinn. Let’s start with the caveat that both players were drafted by teams that have spent most of the last decade defining the word futility. Any quarterback would have struggled in the situations that Russell and Quinn have been in.

With that said, bad franchises take QBs in the first round specifically so that they can emerge from their futility and become competitive. The Raiders and Browns have stayed the same, if not regressed, since deciding to take these two in the first round.

And it has culminated in this, from Pro Football Talk today, in which MDS breaks down (via Adam Schefter) the possibility of the Browns or Raiders breaking the all-time NFL record for fewest points in a 16-game season (currently held by the 1992 Seattle Seahawks, 140 points):

…both the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders have a shot at the record this season. Nine games into 2009, the Browns have scored 78 points, putting them on pace to finish with 139 and break the 1992 Seahawks’ record.

And if the Browns don’t break the Seahawks’ record, the Raiders might: Having scored 88 points this season, Oakland is on pace to finish with 156. If Bruce Gradkowski manages the superhuman feat of being a worse quarterback than JaMarcus Russell, maybe the Raiders can come in under 140 as well.

Now, to be fair to Brady Quinn, he has not started the entire season. He was replaced by Derek Anderson after playing only 10 quarters. But that is perhaps even more of an indictment of Quinn’s failures, because we all saw how pathetic Anderson was.

Just take a look at Russell’s and Quinn’s career numbers. (I apologize in advance for not having sickness bags ready for the Browns and Raiders fans who are reading this.)

Brady Quinn:

• 2007 draft position: #22 overall
• Passer rating: 58.0
• Completion Percentage: 52.2%
• TD:INT ratio: 3:7
• Yards per attempt: 5.2
• Total passing yards: 1,071
• Large fines for cheap hits on opposing defenders after INTs: 1

JaMarcus Russell:

• 2007 draft position: #1 overall
• Passer rating: 65.5
• Completion Percentage: 51.6%
• TD:INT ratio: 17:21
• Yards per attempt: 6.0
• Total passing yards: 3,860
• Number of google results when you search “jamarcus russell poor work ethic”: 1,070,000

Thinking back to the 2007 NFL draft, and how big a deal was made about Brady Quinn dropping unexpectedly and being “embarrassed” as the cameras caught the disappointment on his face, it almost makes me laugh. Considering how he’s turned out, he should have been jumping for joy to be picked in the first round and get some guaranteed money; it’s the Browns and their fans who should have winced in agony.

But hindsight is always 20-20, as they say.

Okay, fine. So the two first round QBs of 2007 turned out to be putrid. Surely there must have been a diamond in the rough uncovered later in the draft, right? Well…

Kevin Kolb was taken with the 36th pick. He actually showed some promise this season, sporting an 88.9 QB rating in two starts. Still, he’s only played in 11 games over three seasons and has thrown seven INTs against only four TDs. But we’ll be generous and say the jury is still out on Kolb.

John Beck was taken with the 40th pick by the Miami Dolphins. He has thrown 107 career passes and is now a benchwarmer for the Ravens. Failure.

Drew Stanton was taken with the 43rd pick by the Detroit Lions. All you need to know about Stanton is that he has been so good the Lions took Matthew Stafford with their first pick in the last draft. Failure.

Trent Edwards was taken by the Bills with the 92nd pick. He has actually been the “best” QB from the 2007 draft…which is not saying much. He has at least played in 31 games for the team that drafted him though, and has a respectable (I guess) 78.0 QB rating with a 24:25 TD:INT ratio. I suppose this is not terrible production from a third round pick, but it’s not good for a draft class when this is the high water mark.

The Dallas Cowboys drafted Isaiah Stanback with the 103rd pick and then promptly switched him to WR, where he now plays for the Patriots. Go 2007 QB class! Go!

The Bengals drafted Jeff Rowe with the 151st pick. Who? Exactly.

The Ravens drafted Troy Smith with 174th pick. He made such an impression that they drafted Joe Flacco in the very next draft.

The Redskins drafted Jordan Palmer with the 205th pick. He now plays with his brother in Cincinnati and has done about as much in an NFL uniform as Jordan Farmar.

The Minnesota Vikings selected Tyler Thigpen in with the 217th pick in the 7th round. He was later dealt to Kansas City and now is in Miami. He at least put some decent stats for the Chiefs last year. Let’s put it this way, his 76.0 QB rating, 54.8% completion percentage, 2,608 yards, and 18:12 TD:INT ratio in 2008 are better than anything Quinn or Russell have even approached. And Thigpen played for a similarly crappy team.

Apparently 2007 was like some sort of bizarro draft in which QBs were drafted in inverse order of their future production. Am I embellishing a bit? Sure. But not by much.

So, in conclusion, the 2007 QB draft class featured two first round QBs, yet the two most productive players from that class have been a 3rd rounder who has oscillated in and out of the lineup and a 7th rounder who is now a backup with his third team.

In fact, it would not be unreasonable to state that the greatest contribution from the QB class of the 2007 NFL Draft is an iPhone app that tells you the most optimal times to take a wizz during a movie.

Now, I have neither the time nor the inclination to review each position from every draft in an effort to prove my hypothesis true. But I’d be willing to blindly bet $20 right now that there is not another position from a single draft more porous, putrid, and pathetic than the QBs from the 2007 NFL Draft.

If anyone wants to take the challenge, go right ahead. But you’ve got your work cut out for you. (So you probably shouldn’t ask JaMarcus Russell to help. In fact, shh…he’s taking a nap…the Raiders are in a meeting. )

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