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Trubisky and The Terrible Ones
If you’re selected as the best quarterback in the draft, you’re probably not.
Yesterday, I posted facts about quarterbacks who were drafted #1 overall in the NFL. The greater frequency that quarterbacks are drafted at the top, the less special they are. Unless Eli Manning gets in, I don’t see a Hall of Fame quarterback among the 11 #1 overall qb picks drafted 2000–2015. In contrast, four of the ten qbs drafted #1 overall 1970–1999 are in the Hall.
But the great quarterbacks must come from somewhere, right? I wondered: how successful were the first quarterbacks taken who were not the #1 overall pick?
I looked. There have been 26 of them 1970–2020. The last one, Mitchell Trubisky in 2017, was drafted second overall. Was he a disappointment? Yes. But, Bears fans, take this as consolation: it could have been worse. If he was a flop, you don’t know the meaning of the word. This group is underwhelming.
The 26 quarterbacks, when playing for their original teams, have three conference championships combined and four MVPs.
Boomer Esiason, Steve McNair, and Matt Ryan have one of each. They each also have an MVP. Bert Jones has the fourth MVP.
Unless Ryan gets in due to career statistical totals or possible late-career success, there’s not a Hall of Famer to be found.
