The 49ers Traded For A Historically Awful Quarterback

Sure, you know that Blaine Gabbert had a very bad season last year. But just for anyone who managed to forget, he was unbelievably bad, doing more damage to his team in just three games than anyone else managed in a full season.

From our year-end wrap-up on NFL offenses:

We say this every single time, but oh my god Blaine Gabbert. Despite playing just three games this season, he led the league in negative DYAR with -434. Brandon Weeden played in eight games and was second with -429. These are remarkable numbers, given that DYAR is a counting stat.

The above chart is a collection of the worst positions by production in the league. The Jaguars, with their combination of Chad Henne and Gabbert, were last in the league. DYAR is a that wraps up yards, turnovers, first downs, touchdowns, and the like into one cumulative stat; so unlike a rate stat like the NBA's PER, you usually won't find a guy who's only played a few games leading the league in it, in either direction. Our graphic here is scaled to league average; here's a GIF that goes from best to worst in the league at each position, for a sense of how bad the Jags were at QB:

This makes Jaguars' GM David Caldwell's comments to ESPN remarkable:

"I know you guys [in the media] are hard on him at times, but he's been great for us," Caldwell said. "In my time here he's been a great teammate. His teammates like him. Our coaches liked him. I liked him. I have nothing but respect for Blaine and how he went about his business this year and how he worked and how he competed."

Sixth-round picks don't go as far as they used to.