[A1elbow]

There is a lot of hype lately about all the young QBs in the league right now. A lot of it is because the most rookies ever started week one, but about half the teams in the league are starting QBs who are in the first four years of their career. I find a lot of the discussion to be less than credible as it centers around the idea teams are turning to younger QBs because that is what they want. Five or seix years ago there was a lot of talk about how the league needed an injection of talent at the position. Here are the top twenty-nine passers (attempts) in 2007:

Brees
Brady
Palmer
Hasselbeck
Kitna
Favre
Eli
Derek Anderson
Romo
Peyton
McNabb
Cutler
Rivers
Warner
Campbell
Roethlisburger
Young
Bulger
harrington
Huard
Garcia
Garrard
Cleo Lemon
Tavaris Jackson
Schuab
Boller
Edwards
Griese
Pennington

So, I bolded those guys who are still starting. That is a third of the list who still has a job. I also put in red those guys who are still playing. That is sixteen guys. That leaves thirteen players who aren't in the league anymore, and I'd say outside of Garcia, Pennington, Favre, Kitna and Warner the rest could still be considered playing age (maybe Garrard). What I take from this is that in 2007, there were a lot of shitty QBs in the NFL and now teams have turned to either better young QBs or the new shitty QB. Note that Leinart isn't on that list, as the Cardinals had already given up on him but should be thought of when considering bad QBs the league was leaning on at the time.
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Here is a blurb from Cleo Lemon's Wikipedia page:

Quote

After a career as a backup, Lemon started the first regular season game of his career in the season finale against the Indianapolis Colts on December 31. Lemon played fairly well against the eventual Super Bowl champions, completing 18 of 36 passes for 210 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also led the team to 10 fourth-quarter points as the Dolphins fell just short, losing 27-22.Lemon, who was a restricted free agent in the 2007 offseason, was tendered a one-year, $1.3 million contract by the Dolphins on March 3. He signed the tender on May 29. New head coachCam Cameron was offensive coordinator for the Chargers during Lemon's entire tenure there.


With Joey Harrington moving on to the Atlanta Falcons, Lemon became backup to the newly acquired Trent Green. With an injury to Green in Week 5, Lemon was named the starter for the Dolphins' away game against Cleveland. After shaking off some early rust, Lemon led the Dolphins to near victory against the Browns with several successful drives (including a drive where the Dolphins lost 20 yards on penalties that was capped with a 4th and 1 touchdown). Showing amazing determination, Lemon brought victory within their grasp, with his two touchdown rushes, two touchdown passes, and an impressive 107.3 QB rating, but the Dolphins' defense could not stop the Browns. His next start was in Miami's 49-28 loss to New England, going 24 for 37, with 1 rushing touchdown and 236 passing yards. But in Week 11, Lemon was replaced by rookie quarterback John Beck. Lemon was renamed the Dolphins' starting Quarterback in Week 15 against the Ravens. He threw a game-winning touchdown to Greg Camarillo in overtime to beat Baltimore 22-16, giving Miami their first (and only) win of the season.

I assume this was written by his mom, since "playing fairly well" is a 65 QB rating and he showed "amazing determination" in a loss against the Browns.

[Smedsthejet]

I was blessed that my first live NFL experience was a titanic QB duel between Cleo Lemon and Eli Manning!

If you look at the list of QBs playing where those out the league used to start, it's remarkable how many are first rounders - Stafford, Ponder, Weeden, Gabbert, Ryan, Tannehill, Freeman, Sanchez, Flacco, Ryan, Bradford, Newton, Locker, Griffin, Luck... Add to that Tim Tebow, who was starter in Denver most of last season.
There seems to be a greater trend in favour of throwing first round picks in at the deep end, rather than have them sit and learn behind a steady veteran (your Jason Campbell-type QBs). You could argue that it's paid off to varying degrees for the Lions, Falcons, Ravens and Jets. The Bengals' even gambled on starting Dalton from the outset - it resulted in them reaching the playoffs last year, but was certainly a risk - while Russell Wilson is starting for the Seahawks over Matt Flynn, who was being tipped as the next Matt Schaub.
Teams certainly seem more willing to reach for a QB too, with players such as Ponder, Gabbert, Tannehill, Weeden and Locker all selected above where they arguably should have been.

One prediction I would make without looking at the evidence is that teams are no longer as interested in having a veteran backup, preferring instead to go with second or third year pros who were mid round selections. Can't be bothered to compare depth charts from this year and back in 2007 though!

[A1elbow]

I think the trend in throwing guys out there is that a lot of the guys starting in the early part of the decades were scrubs. Harrington? Lemon? Huard? There isn't a lot of guys on that list that retired jest because of age. Favre, McNabb, Garcia, Warner. But mostly, the guys teams had starting before they started turning to younger guys were bums and busts. I really think teams have been forced into starting younger guys because a lot of guys taken before that were busts.

Its subjective, but I think if you compared the bust rate of QBs taken in the first round (or two) in the mid to late nineties and early part of this decade it is disproportional to the history of the NFL in general.