Rumors are swirling that after the acquisition of Donovan McNabb by the Washington Redskins that as many as 5 teams are interested in now back-up quarterback and restricted free agent Jason Campbell. Those 5 teams appear to be the Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and an unnamed team. While it shouldn't be too much of a shock there is this much interest in Jason Campbell, it is interesting as to how many quarterbacks the Jaguars have been linked to this offseason. Is it a bit of foreshadowing?
Today I had originally planned to write about how the trades recently made by the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns helped Jacksonville's chances of either landing Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen or trading down, this certainly changes things. It's likely nothing happens with Jason Campbell until draft day, as a couple of the teams interested have a shot at draft a quarterback early. There is a nice situation that could occur for the Jaguars however, if their interest is serious.
The first question you have to ask when looking at their interest in Jason Campbell is; Is he better than David Garrard?
I don't think you can give anything more than a "maybe". Sure, if you were to just ask people and not show them the numbers, most would say absolutely lot. I like to look into the numbers, though. We'll compare the last two seasons of Jason Campbell and David Garrard and see just how far apart they are. I understand that in 2007 Garrard would dwarf Campbell, but 2007 was essentially Campbell's first full-time season starting.
David Garrard
Comp |
Att |
Pct |
Yards |
Avg |
TD |
INT |
Rating |
Sacks |
314 |
516 |
60.9 |
3597 |
7.0 |
15 |
10 |
83.5 |
42 |
335 |
535 |
62.6 |
3620 |
6.8 |
15 |
13 |
81.7 |
42 |
Jason Campbell
Comp |
Att |
Pct |
Yards |
Avg |
TD |
INT |
Rating |
Sacks |
327 |
507 |
64.5 |
3618 |
7.1 |
20 |
15 |
86.4 |
43 |
315 |
506 |
62.3 |
3245 |
6.4 |
13 |
6 |
84.3 |
38 |
As you can see from the two charts, the difference isn't all that big, but tends to sway in the favor of Jason Campbell. Cambell improved in every statistical category from 2008 to 2009 while David Garrard improved in some areas while getting worse in others. You also need to consider the cast surrounding Jason Campbell is worse than what David Garrard has been working with (offensive line, receivers, and runningbacks), not to mention that Jason Campbell has literally had a different offensive coordinator each season he has been on the Redskins.
Campbell is also 4 years younger than David Garrard and would be substantially cheaper. The real issue here would be the compensation for Campbell and if the Jaguars front office feels he can be better than Garrard. If they think he can be better than Garrard and the compensation isn't ridiculous (currently speculated as a 4th or 5th round pick), I would say pull the trigger. The snag in all of this is that the Jaguars could be in position at pick number 10 to draft a future quarterback with the potential to be better than both Campbell and Garrard.
Here's the situation in which the trade could occur:
If Jimmy Clausen is gone by pick 10, the Jaguars could be working the phones looking for a team like Philadelphia to move up in the draft for someone like Joe Haden or Earl Thomas, as our very own Adam Stites suggested in a previous article. Say the Jaguars trade with the Eagles picking up pick 24 and pick 37. The Jaguars then pull the trigger for Jason Campbell for either a 4th or 5th rounder. You then enter training camp with Jason Campbell, David Garrard, Luke McCown, and a rookie of some kind. You have a legitimate open competition at the quarterback position and let the best man win. I'm not so certain the best man would be David Garrard, especially if you consider his contract. Fans need to remember David Garrard is owed no more guaranteed money by the Jaguars and can be cut without any penalty. As I've shown earlier, the statistical difference between Garrard and Campbell wasn't much, and Campbell was actually better in the 2009 season.
Many think with Jack Del Rio's job potentially on the line he would want to stick with what's familiar with David Garrard, but if my job were on the line I'd want to try something different than what hasn't worked the past two seasons.