Recent decisions by coaches to go with veteran quarterbacks such as Kerry Collins (Tennessee), Gus Frerotte (Minnesota), Trent Green (St. Louis) and others have suddenly made the NFL look like it did in the late 1990s when Peyton Manning revitalized the quarterback position. If Kansas City coach Herm Edwards goes with 35-year-old Damon Huard, seven teams will have starting quarterbacks who are 35 years or older. Green and Brett Favre are the oldest at 38. Kurt Warner of the Cardinals and Frerotte are 37. Collins, Huard and Jon Kitna of the Lions are 35. The recent changes have added more than a year to the average age of the starting quarterback, which will be 29.5 if Huard gets the start Sunday.
Money matters: What's also interesting about the quarterback position is how much money moved to the bench or the training room because of benchings or injuries. If you combine the contracts of
Tom Brady,
Jeff Garcia,
Vince Young,
Brodie Croyle,
Tarvaris Jackson and
Marc Bulger, there are $189.5 million of contracts doing nothing. Bulger has a six-year, $65.1 million contract. Brady has a six-year, $68.75 million deal.
Vince Young's deal is currently six years, $43.9 million.
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John Clayton
