Ten Trash QBs Getting Paid While Kaepernick And Newton Wait

It’s crazy that the NFL keeps finding a way to leave worthy quarterbacks out of the mix.

Its latest mess — the league’s official website wrongly labeling Colin Kaepernick as “retired” — left much of the Twitter world irate, including Kaepernick’s girlfriend, radio host Nessa Diab.

She blasted the NFL, calling them “cowards,” and said Kaepernick’s stats should earn him a job behind center. The quarterback has been blackballed by the league since taking a knee to protest police brutality.

NFL.com quickly changed Kaepernick’s status from “retired” to “unrestricted free agent” after the huge backlash on Twitter.

Almost four years after his protest, Kaepernick still finds himself without employment from an NFL franchise. As more mediocre QBs are scooped up this year in free agency, their worthier counterparts are once again on the outside, looking in.

Most notably, former MVP Cam Newton.

While Newton hasn’t been blackballed, there has been a questionable reluctance to sign such a serviceable player, especially as franchises continue to sign quarterbacks with far less talent and production.

On Friday, the New York Jets signed Joe Flacco, 35, to a one-year deal for $1.5 million, with $3 million more in possible incentives. Flacco was a fine quarterback in his prime, but he’s older than Kaepernick (32) and Newton (31) and is coming off neck surgery in April after a herniated disc derailed his 2019 season.

Newton and Kaepernick are both multidimensional offensive threats, with over 300 combined career touchdowns.

Many of the quarterbacks signed this year could only dream of those numbers.

So while Newton lays in wait, and Kaepernick continues to be blackballed, let’s take a look at some of the other quarterbacks inexplicably signed before these two.

Keenum is the NFL version of a one-hit wonder. After his breakout 2017 season with Minnesota, Keenum was given the starting job in Denver the next season, and flopped miserably. He threw nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns, leading the Broncos to a 6-10 record. In 2019, Keenum started eight games with Washington, winning only once.

Mariota has failed to throw over 15 touchdown passes in any of his last three seasons. He has a losing record as a starter, and 2016 is the only year where his statistics justified the Titans taking him second overall in the previous year’s draft. He was benched by head coach Mike Vrabel in 2019, and replaced by Ryan Tannehill, who led the Titans to an AFC championship appearance.

Daniel has thrown only seven touchdown passes in his 10-year NFL career. He has only started five games in that time, and has a losing record in those games. He averages 22 yards per game over his career.

Driskel has won only one game in his two-year NFL career, with a completion percentage south of 60 percent. In 2018 he had a QB rating of 31.1, and in 2019, he threw as many interceptions as he did touchdowns.

McCoy, 33, has lost three times as many games as he has won in his NFL career. He has a completion percentage barely above 60 percent, and has thrown nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns. In his last five seasons with Washington, McCoy has won only one game. His last win as a starter came in 2014.

Gabbert is arguably one of the biggest first-round quarterback busts in recent memory. In 2011, Jacksonville selected Gabbert with the 10th overall pick in 2011. Since then Gabbert has a 56 percent career completion rate, a nearly 1-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio, and he has won only 27 percent of his games as a starter.

Hoyer did lead Cleveland to a winning record in 2014. Given how terrible the Browns have been in recent memory, that counts for something. But Hoyer also has a career completion percentage under 60 percent and a losing record as a starter. He completed 1 pass in 2018.

Hundley has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in his career and has lost twice as many games as a starter than he has won. He had an opportunity to show his skills in 2017, after Aaron Rodgers went down with a collarbone injury, but he wasn’t able to produce. Hundley’s passer rating that season was a meager 70.6.

Bray literally has zero completions, zero yards, and zero touchdowns over his five-year NFL career.

Fales has thrown one touchdown pass in his career and has accumulated just 287 passing yards across a total of five games through six NFL seasons.