NFL's 'win now' environment hurts rookie QBs

ONCE UPON a time in the NFL, when patience hadn't yet become a dirty word and coaches usually could count on being given at least three years before needing to update their resumes, the preferred method for developing a quarterback was slow-roasting rather than two minutes in a microwave.

Back then, when you drafted a quarterback, unless he was one of those rare pass-throwing, ready-for-prime-time prodigies, you usually gave him a baseball cap and clipboard and had him watch and learn for a year or two before you put him in the line of regular-season fire.

But patience is a dirty word in the win-or-else NFL these days, and more young quarterbacks than ever are being rushed into battle, ready or not.

In the last seven years, 16 of the 19 quarterbacks taken in the first round of the draft have started nine or more games as rookies. The only three who didn't during that period: the Browns' Johnny Manziel in 2014 (two starts), the Titans' Jake Locker in 2011 (no starts) and the Broncos' Tim Tebow in 2010 (three starts).

"Teams don't have the patience," Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. "It's sort of a win-now mentality. If a kid is drafted in the first round, they want him to play right away. If you drafted a guy that high, it probably says you don't have a guy on your roster who can be that starter.

"Ideally, you'd love to have your starter in place and bring in a young kid that can sit for a year or two. Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre (in Green Bay) are a great example. Maybe (Jimmy) Garoppolo in New England. Guys like that who can sit and eventually take over is the ideal situation. But it doesn't always work out that way.''

If the Eagles don't re-sign Sam Bradford, they could find themselves facing a start-or-sit dilemma with a rookie quarterback of their own. Because if they don't re-sign Bradford, there's a very good possibility they'll be spending their first-round pick - currently the 13th overall - on a passer.

Trouble is, most scouts and draft analysts feel there is just one quarterback in this draft who is good enough and polished enough to step in as a rookie and not be a deer in headlights. That would be Jared Goff of Cal. And he's going to be long gone by the time the Eagles are on the clock.

The other three projected first-round quarterbacks - Carson Wentz of North Dakota State, Paxton Lynch of Memphis and Connor Cook of Michigan State - all are viewed as guys who, for one reason or another, are going to need a little time before the NFL light goes on for them.

Wentz hails from a Division 1-AA program. Lynch is the product of a spread offense. And Cook had a 57.5 percent career completion rate with the Spartans.

Should they start as rookies? No. Will they? History says that, for better or worse, one or two probably will.

The Bucs' first-year head coach, Dirk Koetter, was the offensive coordinator in Jacksonville in 2011 when the Jaguars selected Blaine Gabbert with the 10th pick.

He also was the Bucs' offensive lieutenant last year when they took Jameis Winston with the first pick. Winston was ready to play as a rookie. Gabbert wasn't. But the Jaguars were coming off three straight non-winning seasons and their head coach, Jack Del Rio, was on the hot seat. So Gabbert played.

He started 14 games as a rookie. The Jags lost 10 of them. Gabbert had a 50.8 percent completion rate, threw only 12 touchdown passes and averaged a puny 5.4 yards per attempt.

"Let's be honest. Nobody has patience anymore,'' Koetter said. "These guys that are getting drafted in the first round, they're drafting them to play them. Blaine is an example of a guy who maybe wasn't quite ready to be a starter in the NFL. He was a three-year college guy (Missouri).

"But every case is different. It depends on what type of team you have around him and what type of maturity that guy has, both physically and mentally.''

Pederson is a first-year head coach with a fairly patient owner. If they end up selecting a quarterback like Lynch or Cook in the first round, it's unlikely they would put him out there unless they were absolutely, positively convinced he was ready to play.

But that's easy to say now. Might be a different story in October if the Eagles are 1-4 and Mark Sanchez already has thrown 10 interceptions.

"Quarterbacks come from different college systems,'' Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "And when they come to the pros, it's a totally different ballgame. You're talking about defenses that are very multiple, do a lot of different things, (are) personnel-oriented.

"Some of these guys, when we talk to them initially, they don't even know the difference between a nickel and base defense. So you're starting from scratch. You have to be careful about throwing the kitchen sink at these guys and then throwing them to the wolves.

"I always tell these young guys, 'It's not your fault. It's not your fault. You've always been in shotgun. You never took a snap from under center. You never were in a huddle or called a play. In the National Football League, you're going to have to take a snap from under center.'

"So you're talking about teaching a 21- or 22-year-old guy how to take a quarterback-center exchange. That's an elementary skill in the NFL, but some of these guys have never done it. You have to give him time, and you have to bring him along at his own pace. He's got to put a lot of work into it and it can take a while.''

Two years ago, the Vikings didn't plan to play Teddy Bridgewater right away. They took him with the last pick in the first round. The plan was for him to back up Matt Cassel. But then Cassel got hurt and Bridgewater ended up starting 12 games.

Without Adrian Peterson to use as a crutch.

But Bridgewater played pretty well, the Vikings won six of his 12 starts, and he is developing into a pretty good quarterback.

"Teddy kind of got thrown into the fire a little bit,'' Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said. "But I think it was a great learning experience for him.

"He was a young quarterback who was mature enough to handle that. Because of his work ethic and mental approach to the game.''

"In a perfect world, you have to give a young player a chance to develop,'' Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. "Let the game slow down for them. They can handle themselves against air at the rookie minicamp. They can handle themselves in the OTAs and in the third or fourth quarter of a preseason game.

"Then, all of a sudden, the (regular-season) lights come on and it's hard. It's hard to play.''

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