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The Jacksonville Jaguars will be starting Chad Henne against the San Diego Chargers, as Blaine Gabbert is still out with a hamstring strain he suffered against the St. Louis Rams. If Chad Henne can put together another game like he did against the Denver Broncos, which is to say to be serviceable at the least, it's possible we could have seen the last of Gabbert starting as a quarterback for the Jaguars.
If that is the case, is Blaine Gabbert the worst quarterback drafted in the Top 10, ever?
If you don't include the burden of a contract, which typically forces a team to hold on to a player longer than they'd like, and if Gabbert has truly started his last game as a Jaguar, you can make the case that he's been one of the worst ever.
Since 1936, only 19 quarterback drafted in the Top 10 have less career wins. While "wins" isn't necessarily an indicator, that's still a staggering number. Since 1993, so in the last 20 years, only two other quarterbacks have fared worse... Akili Smith and Ryan Leaf, though Leaf had just one less victory in six less starts while Smith had two less in 10 less starts.
Tom Pidgeon - Getty Images Sport
It doesn't look pretty.
Games | Passing | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall Pick | Player | GS ▴ | QBrec | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
8 | Jake Locker | 15 | 7-8-0 | 280 | 491 | 3439 | 20 | 11 |
3 | Akili Smith | 17 | 3-14-0 | 215 | 461 | 2212 | 5 | 13 |
10 | Matt Leinart | 18 | 8-10-0 | 366 | 641 | 4065 | 15 | 21 |
2 | Robert Griffin III | 20 | 10-10-0 | 383 | 602 | 4648 | 26 | 10 |
2 | Ryan Leaf | 21 | 4-17-0 | 317 | 655 | 3666 | 14 | 36 |
8 | Ryan Tannehill | 21 | 10-11-0 | 396 | 666 | 4677 | 18 | 18 |
1 | Andrew Luck | 21 | 15-6-0 | 454 | 813 | 5720 | 30 | 21 |
3 | Heath Shuler | 22 | 8-14-0 | 292 | 593 | 3691 | 15 | 33 |
1 | JaMarcus Russell | 25 | 7-18-0 | 354 | 680 | 4083 | 18 | 23 |
10 | Blaine Gabbert | 27 | 5-22-0 | 414 | 777 | 4357 | 22 | 24 |
1 | Cam Newton | 36 | 15-21-0 | 683 | 1155 | 9047 | 49 | 34 |
1 | Sam Bradford | 48 | 18-29-1 | 1011 | 1730 | 10810 | 58 | 37 |
7 | Byron Leftwich | 50 | 24-26-0 | 930 | 1605 | 10532 | 58 | 42 |
3 | Vince Young | 50 | 31-19-0 | 755 | 1304 | 8964 | 46 | 51 |
1 | Matthew Stafford | 50 | 21-30-0 | 1264 | 2102 | 14579 | 92 | 58 |
1 | Tim Couch | 59 | 22-37-0 | 1025 | 1714 | 11131 | 64 | 67 |
5 | Mark Sanchez | 62 | 33-29-0 | 1028 | 1867 | 12092 | 68 | 69 |
2 | Rick Mirer | 68 | 24-44-0 | 1088 | 2043 | 11969 | 50 | 76 |
3 | Joey Harrington | 76 | 26-50-0 | 1424 | 2538 | 14693 | 79 | 85 |
1 | David Carr | 79 | 23-56-0 | 1353 | 2267 | 14452 | 65 | 71 |
1 | Alex Smith | 81 | 44-36-1 | 1412 | 2393 | 15610 | 88 | 66 |
3 | Matt Ryan | 82 | 57-26-0 | 1805 | 2855 | 20606 | 137 | 63 |
1 | Michael Vick | 107 | 58-47-1 | 1697 | 3021 | 21459 | 128 | 84 |
6 | Trent Dilfer | 113 | 58-55-0 | 1759 | 3172 | 20518 | 113 | 129 |
4 | Philip Rivers | 117 | 72-45-0 | 2430 | 3787 | 29738 | 203 | 98 |
1 | Carson Palmer | 127 | 57-70-0 | 2699 | 4331 | 30948 | 196 | 141 |
1 | Eli Manning | 141 | 78-63-0 | 2735 | 4686 | 33248 | 220 | 159 |
3 | Steve McNair | 153 | 91-62-0 | 2733 | 4544 | 31304 | 174 | 119 |
2 | Donovan McNabb | 161 | 98-62-1 | 3170 | 5374 | 37276 | 234 | 117 |
5 | Kerry Collins | 180 | 81-99-0 | 3487 | 6261 | 40922 | 208 | 196 |
1 | Drew Bledsoe | 193 | 98-95-0 | 3839 | 6717 | 44611 | 251 | 206 |
1 | Peyton Manning | 230 | 160-70-0 | 5260 | 8033 | 61666 | 458 | 211 |
Contract investment aside, as you can see comparatively over the last 20 years, Gabbert is one of the worst Top 10 picks at the position ever. Then, if you note that the Bengals used their natural draft pick to take Smith, rather than also trading picks to get in position like the Jaguars and Chargers did, it makes it that much worse.
I think Gabbert will probably start a game or two this season, why I'm not sure, but after the season is over I have a hard time seeing him stick around.
While this shows just how much picking the wrong QB can wreck your franchise, it also shows how much picking the right one helps.