A few weeks ago N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell warned some of the elite college sophomore and junior quarterbacks to think long and hard before declaring for the draft, because he noted almost all of the top quarterbacks in the N.F.L. today stayed in school until they were seniors. He also mentioned that most of the quarterbacks that declared early over the last several years were busts. Yesterday, an angry Pete Carroll reiterated this when he told the media how disappointed he was that
U.S.C. quarterback Mark Sanchez was leaving early.
Were commissioner Goodell and U.S.C. head coach Pete Carroll needlessly exaggerating just to scare these youngsters off? We put together a list of
Quarterbacks that have Declared Early since 1989 and it does seem like the vast majority of these signal callers were/are very mediocre or are downright draft busts. If history is any guide, Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez, Josh Freeman and Nate Davis better prepare themselves for a very bumpy ride going forward.
DD.comment: We did our best to come up with this list, but it's tough because we couldn't find an official list anywhere and had to do it by memory. We think we have all the key names, but if any of our readers see any omissions, please contact us and tell us who we left off. We are looking for any notable quarterbacks that entered the draft early (via the regular or supplemental draft) since 1989. We are only listing prospects that were drafted or felt they had a strong chance to be drafted when they declared, not long shots who only declared because they were failing out of school or just wanted to quit school and were looking for their five minutes of fame.
*** L.A. Times writer Bill Plaschke blasts U.S.C head coach Pete Carroll for his demeanor at
Mark Sanchez's press conference yesterday.
DD.comment: All our sources tell us Sanchez should be a first round pick, but it's real early in the process and who knows what will happen. Also, with all due respect to Mr. Plaschke, we'd love to know who has ranked Sanchez as the 10th best prospect in the draft? It can't be the N.F.L. Draft Advisory Committee, because they only dole out round projections (1st round, 2nd-3rd, 4th-7th and free agent). We are left wondering if Bill got that gaudy projection from the same notable pair that had Andre Woodson projected as a future #1 overall pick throughout the spring, summer and fall of 2007?