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No brainers: Brady, Manning, Palmer. These 3 are the class of the league.
Next level: Brees and McNabb. Brees? Only 2 years older than Eli. I'll take Brees. McNabb has a the injury ? But he sure looked good again in preseason. 4 yrs older than Eli. But I think he has plenty left. I'd take McNabb.
That's 5.
Bulger? A better passer than ELi. But 4 yrs older. Tough call here. Bulger is better at this point. Still some upside as his play has improved. I think Bulger and the STL O has a big year with a more conservative approach with the play calling.
Hasselbeck? Better QB right now. Age another factor here(32 this yr). Plus, he isn't really a QB who can carry a team. No need to trade a young guy like ELi for Hasselbeck.
The young guys? My top young QB is Cutler. He's got the physical tools to join the top 3. I take Cutler right now over Eli.
JeMarcus Russell? $30 mill + guaranteed for this rookie? No thanks. A lot of uspide but no thanks.
Vince Young? Everybody loves him but I say no way. You think Eli has an accuracy problem? Young bounces balls all over the field. He shows no touch. Has problems leading WRs. He's good on broken plays and comebacks. That's about it right now. Long way to go for Young as a passer. Expect a soph slump because of his passing. He was awful in the last preseason game. Missed WR screens and wide open guys all day.
BR and Rivers? BR is over 1 yr younger. Rivers close to a yr younger. Close call on these 2. A toss up between Eli, BR, and Rivers. This one won't be settled for a while. Wouldn't surprise me if Rivers was the best. Eventually, I think BR comes in #3 in this race. This is a big year for BR. More weapons and they'll ask him to throw it more. We'll see if he can handle it.
Alex Smith and Losman showed massive improvement last yr. Right now, you don't trade Eli for these guys but both have plenty of potential. Smith has more weapons this yr. Smith will put up numbers and close the statistical gap on Eli. Losman doesn't have much to work with in BUF. His numbers won't match Eli right now. Losman is a very athletic guy. He has a big arm. He could approach the top 10 QB range very soon.
Tony Romo? I like his game. He can move around and throw accurately on the move. Quick release too. He's listed in some top 10 QB lists like the one in Lindy's preview(Eli not in top 10). Also, ranked higher in PFW. Less than a yr older than Eli. But not enough on him right now. Doesn't have the big time arm like Cutler so no to Romo.
Lienart? Pretty good rookie yr but not impressive enough to take over ELi. Amazing to me that PFW ranks him higher in their QB section of the 07 preview. Leinart lacks top physical tools. I still say he has the look of an avg NFL starter. IMO, will not be an elite QB in the NFL. Limitied ceiling on Leinart means a big no to any deal with Eli.
Grossman? Good arm but forget about it.
Right now? Only Brady, Manning, Palmer, Brees, McNabb and Cutler. Possibly Bulger. Things could really change after this year. Eli could move into the top 10 and higher. Plenty of talented guys in the same range as Eli. I think Cutler is a no brainer to jump into the elite. Guys like Rivers, BR, Smith, and possibly Losman could pass Eli this yr.
2. It has some truth to it(Eli is a QB)
3. It belongs on ExtremeSkins.com (because it sucks)
Personally for me, I would trade him for Peyton Manning, Brady or Palmer....that is it,
I would consider Brees or Bulger, but thats it for me.
I am hopeful that Eli is learning to fire it in there, like on Smith's TD. His accuracy concerns me still. Michael Jennings had running room on that play, instead he was hung out to make an awkward catch, and popped an Achilles (though if that's all it took to get injured, it was likely going to happen sometime)
I would not trade Eli for McNabb. McNabb is great, but part of being great is being healthy, and 4 of the last 5 years hes had a major injury, 3 of the last 5 years hes missed major time. His only real healthy season the last 5 years was in 2004. I wouldnt deal Eli for McNabb.
Brees- Career year last year, if you are asking me right now who is the better QB, the answer is Brees. But through a similar stage in their career, Eli blows Brees away. Ill take Eli's next 5 seasons over Brees next 5 seasons
Bulger is 4 years older, plays in a dome, I would not trade Eli for Bulger. Want to know how much those conditions and that turf help the Rams offense? Bulgers career on the road......... 34 TD 32 INT.
Hasselbeck is 32. No
Id take him over Ben
Rivers has only started 1 season, and the rest of the guys like Young, Leinart, Cutler, its simply too early.
I count 3 QBs who i would definitely trade him for. That doesnt mean hes the 4th best QB in the NFL right now, because he's not. But outside of the definite top 3 Ill take my chances with Eli's prime years vs the prime years of anyone else in the league outside of those 3
that said Brees became a much better QB. Eli should too. The career trajectory path of QBs in the NFL, 95% of the guys dont see their best play within the first 2 1/2 years of their career.
BB56---Wow..
Brees was on a far inferior team but matched ELi's play in the first 40+ starts.
Eli has been a slightly above avg starter. Nothing more. Brees was blown away by that? I disagree.
Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Carson Palmer
Not 100%, but YES:
Drew Brees
Marc Bulger
Toss Up, I'd rank them Rivers, Eli, Ben, Smith, Leinart in that order right now
Philip Rivers
Ben Roethlisberger
Alex Smith
Matt Leinart
Maybe, all have potential, but I'd take Eli
J.P. Losman
Tony Romo
Vince Young
There are older guys like McNabb and Hasselbeck who might be better than Eli right now, but they're going to be entering the downside of their careers. I might have forgot a guy or two.
Career at home: 61 TD 27 INT
Career on road: 34 TD 32 INT
That is simply WAYYYYYYY too much of a disparity to write off as some statistical abberattion
Eli DID NOT blow him away.
Eagles: McNabb - Yes
Skins: Campbell - No
Bears: - Grossman - No
Lions: Kitna, Stanton - No
Packers: Favre, Rodgers - No
Vikings: Jackosn - No
Carolina: Delhomme, Carr - No
Atlanta: Vick, Harrington - No
New Orleans: Brees - Yes
Tampa Bay: Garcia, Simms, Gradkowski - No
Rams: Bulger - No
SF: Smith - No
Seattle: Hasselbeck - No
Arizona: Leinart - No
Jets: Pennington, Clemens - No
Pats: Brady - Yes
Miami: Green - No
Bills: Losman - No
Steelers: Big Ben - Very close. I'll say yes
Ravens: McNair, Boller - No
Browns: Quinn, Frye, Anderson - No
Bengals: Palmer - No
Titans: Young - No
Jaguars: Leftwich, Garrard - No
Texans: Schaub - No
Colts: Peyton - Yes
Broncos: Culter - close, but no
Chargers: Rivers - No
Raiders: Russell - No
Chiefs: Croyle - No
That is 5 QBs that get the yes. Does that mean Eli is the 6th best QB in the NFL? No. But the flashes of greatness and room for improvement are enough to keep him over all but 6 of the QBs listed.
Those are numbers youd expect out of a rookie who was thrust into major action.
11 games, 57.6% completions, 11 TD 15 INT, 5.9 YPA QB rating 67.5
41 year old Doug Flutie
7 games, 54.5$ completions, 9 TD 4 INT, 6.6 YPA QB RATING 82.8
Im sorry, but through 3 seasons Drew Brees was not a pimple on the ass of Eli Manning.
You know that extrapolating linear results from prior history can be very fallacious, right?
You have the potential to grab Manning, but it's going to cost you dearly. You know, though, that at worst Manning will be a top-5 QB in the league. At best, he could end up competing with his brother to be the #1 QB overall. Do you make the trade?
Honestly, based on potential, and knowing there's a low floor to the trade, I think I'll take the unpopular position and say I'd still make it (and that's despite the fact that I'm no fan of Accorsi).
And I still don't understand the basic logic of this debate.
Secondly Fluties QB rating was 15 pts higher, he had a TD:INT ratio of better then 2:1 and Brees had a NEGATIVE TD:INT ratio. So on what planet are you doing to tell me Brees had a better year then flutie?
If you go by value, you'd have to put in anyone who has performed as good as Eli or better and done so for cheaper, which would be Rivers and Ben (system QB or not, BR has a Trophy which is what it's all about, and most people would give him the intangibles as Tiki did).
Based on performance and/or value, I think Eli falls middle of the pack, which means it is not unreasonable that you could find 10 QBs you might exchange for Eli. But, Eli is our guy, so let's hope he'll be fine.
As was EA's MO, He probably would of drafted MS in the 2nd round instead of the 3rd, but what if MS has a breakout season in Houston?
That's potentially a solid to above average QB that the Giants could of drafted in the 2nd round.
I'd consider guys like Bulger and McNabb. They're both better than Eli, but they're not going to improve much.
Then you have the unknowns. Rivers, Roethlisberger, and Romo have performed better than Eli at times. It's a tossup with those guys for me.
Then you have the complete unknowns -- Leinart, Young, Cutler, Smith, Campbell. There's a pretty good chance one or more of them will be better than Eli, but who knows which one? Not me.
Dan in the springs...thanks.
Gek - it's hard to compare to Schaub, only because he hasn't played a whole lot. He might be another name on the list for comparison not too long from now.
Admittedly I'm a huge homer, and I've been a huge Eli fan the whole way. This is the player I wanted before the '04 draft, and I'm still thrilled the Giants got him. He has the ability to be a top-5 QB, and I think he'll get there very soon.
Rivers has had 1 good year, but Eli hasn't even had as good a year as that in 2.5 shots at it, he's never even sniffed the pro bowl. So, how could we (dispassionately) say Rivers isn't potentially as good or better? In theory, Eli might never have as good a year as he had last year. Obviously, we hope for better. But, instead of giving up picks, they GOT picks for the Eli to Riviers trade so of course Rivers is a better value overall if they are even close to equally compensated. It's like a car, you have to consider initial cost and cost of upkeep vs. performance. Both are expensive to maintain, but Eli cost more up front.
That doesn't mean I'd trade Eli to get Rivers, but it does mean that I also wouldn't trade Rivers to get Eli.
We do know that the trajectory path of a QBs career most often does not have him playing the best football he would play within his first 3 NFL seasons.
So im looking at it as a virtual given that Eli has better football ahead. Of course anything can happen, but Ill take my odds that what we have seen from Eli is not the best he will show and Ill love my chances in doing so
Over the last 2 seasons, hes basically averaged 24 TDs, 17 INT, thrown for about 3500 yards. the comp % hasnt been great but it has improved over each of his first 3 seasons and before a bad 2nd half last year he was over 60% before Toomer got hurt for a while
Seeing seasons from Eli where hes tossing high 20's in TD passes (27+), a little lower on the INTs (14-15 or less), higher comp % around 60%, for 3500+ yards is totally doable. Thats not even a major improvement. Thats a modest improvement across the board for Eli. One that should 100% be expected if you follow the career trajectory path of QBs. And those are numbers that are franchise QB numbers, pro bowl type numbers. They arent Peyton or Carson Palmer numbers but theyre numbers just about any other QB would sign for year in year out
Eli is going to be a very good quarterback. Does he have moments that make you scratch your head? Yes. But he's got the talent, pedigree, desire, and intelligence to be great.