2020: Is the Golden Era of QBs over?

It's not just about how long Brady is going to play - he might outlast most of the passers on the list below.

• Eli Manning - New York Giants - 2017 Player Profile -
• Rotoworld.com (Drew Brees)
• Giants expect 2-3 more years from Eli Manning
  
• Carson Palmer is nearly done
• Many think Big Ben has 2-3 years left
• Tony Romo
• Phillip Rivers is 34

So around 2020, few of these QBs will be playing at a high level. Will the level of QB play go down a couple of notches? If so, this will be bad news for the NFL.

There are a few "younger" QBs who are playing reasonably well, and well enough to provide the illusion of continued good QB play:

Aaron Rodgers
Russell Wilson
Matt Ryan
Andrew Luck
Derek Carr
Matthew Stafford

You have up-and-comers Marcus Mariota and Dak Prescott, though the jury is still very much out on them. Of course, Garoppolo could catch on somewhere and do big things.

But I agree with the overall premise that we're likely watching the autumn years of the Golden Age of QBs. There will be a statistical windfall as JAG QBs are going to put up numbers similar to what TFB and Manning were putting up in 2001-2004, but no one will be fooled into thinking someone like Kirk Cousins is really a better QB than those two.

Combined with the decline in overall quality, oversaturation, and fan frustration with the league office, it could spell some problems for the NFL. Tom Brady's retirement will, whenever it happens, mark the end of an era, much like Jordan's did for the NBA and Gretzky's did for the NHL.

No real point to all this I suppose, except that the NFL is vulnerable.

Nikolai said:

There are a few "younger" QBs who are playing reasonably well, and well enough to provide the illusion of continued good QB play:

Aaron Rodgers
Russell Wilson
Matt Ryan
Andrew Luck
Derek Carr
Matthew Stafford

You have up-and-comers Marcus Mariota and Dak Prescott, though the jury is still very much out on them. Of course, Garoppolo could catch on somewhere and do big things.

But I agree with the overall premise that we're likely watching the autumn years of the Golden Age of QBs. There will be a statistical windfall as JAG QBs are going to put up numbers similar to what TFB and Manning were putting up in 2001-2004, but no one will be fooled into thinking someone like Kirk Cousins is really a better QB than those two.

Combined with the decline in overall quality, oversaturation, and fan frustration with the league office, it could spell some problems for the NFL. Tom Brady's retirement will, whenever it happens, mark the end of an era, much like Jordan's did for the NBA and Gretzky's did for the NHL.

No real point to all this I suppose, except that the NFL is vulnerable.

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There will never be another tommy. Pure pocket passer. One of the most competitive player in any sport. His drive to win reminds me of jordan in basketball. I just don't see that greatness in any of these young quarterbacks i see now.

Once Brady,Bree's, rothelisberger, Rodgers retire the league will suck.. A real parity in the league

For now. It ebbs and flows.

Some good young players in Prescott, Carr, Mariota, Winston, Wilson. Maybe Luck, Wentz and Jimmy G too.

Also next year we could have an infusion of good young QBs into the NFL not unlike the 2014 class. Too bad Bridgewater got hurt.

RecoveringCowboy said:

It's not just about how long Brady is going to play - he might outlast most of the passers on the list below.

• Eli Manning - New York Giants - 2017 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com (Drew Brees)
• Giants expect 2-3 more years from Eli Manning
  
• Carson Palmer is nearly done
• Many think Big Ben has 2-3 years left
• Tony Romo
• Phillip Rivers is 34

So around 2020, few of these QBs will be playing at a high level. Will the level of QB play go down a couple of notches? If so, this will be bad news for the NFL.

Click to expand...

Just noticed Drew Brees wasn't on the list, so I guess this is on topic. Brees was drafted a year after TB12 and threw for over 5,000 yards in 2016. Is the media predicting when he falls off a cliff like they do Brady? Maybe he's out of the spotlight not being on a winning team recently.

Edit: oops, I see Brees sort of mixed in with the first bullet point with Eli.

About the same or maybe a little worse. There has always been a few QB's that rise to the elite level in each decade. Maybe not to the TB or Montana level but definitely a few that will set themselves apart.

One thing I am not sure of is the effects of CTE, Goodell, etc.. will have on the game as a whole.

Oh come on!

Yes, we're unlikely to see another Tom Brady in our lifetimes, but people have been saying things like this since the days of Otto Graham and Norm Van Brocklin and then the days of Bart Starr and John Unitas and then the days of Staubach, Marino, Montana and Bradshaw. Troy Aikman, Big Ben and Peyton took up the slack pretty well, though not at the level of some of their predecessors.

The truth is we don't know who, whether playing or not, will evolve into a truly great QB. Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson are only 27 and 28 years old; Prescott is 23.

Who knows, the next Tom Brady might be playing at a High School we never heard of or in a Pop Warner League somewhere.

i think because of the rookie contract changes, more teams are throwing money at younger guys, this leads to poorer play.

Oh we just drafter a guy rnd1, but since were paying him peanuts we dont have to worry about ****ing him up if hes good great, if not well get a new one next year.

tasmlab said:

Just noticed Drew Brees wasn't on the list, so I guess this is on topic. Brees was drafted a year after TB12 and threw for over 5,000 yards in 2016. Is the media predicting when he falls off a cliff like they do Brady? Maybe he's out of the spotlight not being on a winning team recently.

Edit: oops, I see Brees sort of mixed in with the first bullet point with Eli.

Click to expand...

I did not straighten out my list, so Breese was there but kinda hidden. Fixed.

2020? Tommy going longer than that!

Nikolai said:

There are a few "younger" QBs who are playing reasonably well, and well enough to provide the illusion of continued good QB play:

Aaron Rodgers
Russell Wilson
Matt Ryan
Andrew Luck
Derek Carr
Matthew Stafford

You have up-and-comers Marcus Mariota and Dak Prescott, though the jury is still very much out on them. Of course, Garoppolo could catch on somewhere and do big things.

But I agree with the overall premise that we're likely watching the autumn years of the Golden Age of QBs. There will be a statistical windfall as JAG QBs are going to put up numbers similar to what TFB and Manning were putting up in 2001-2004, but no one will be fooled into thinking someone like Kirk Cousins is really a better QB than those two.

Combined with the decline in overall quality, oversaturation, and fan frustration with the league office, it could spell some problems for the NFL. Tom Brady's retirement will, whenever it happens, mark the end of an era, much like Jordan's did for the NBA and Gretzky's did for the NHL.

No real point to all this I suppose, except that the NFL is vulnerable.

Click to expand...

From stats like Yards, TD to INT.. completion percentage, hate to break it to eveyone but these are always going to better than they were in the past.. just as Brady and Manning were better (statistically) as they went along. Matt Ryan put up Brady numbers this year. Luck usually does. In the early days Brady regularly through 12-14 INTs, and it was considered pretty good. We would kill him if he did that now unless it was accompanied with close to 40TDs. The trick is going to be not letting people say these new QBs with the same and evwentually even better stats are not actually better than Brady.

The problem with the next generation of QBs is that they all try to run, and therefore have all sustained more significant injuries.

You look at Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Phillips Rivers.... Very few injuries between those QBs.

Then you look at the new age QB that scrambles and runs more, Aaron Rodgers (concussions), Cam Newton (ribs), Andrew Luck (shoulder), etc. I doubt any of those guys lasts to age 40 in the NFL.

I think Rodgers will be king for a couple years if he can stay on the field. After that you might have alot of parity.. no more Peytons.. or Brady's. I don't really know what to make of Drew Bree's.. but thats another topic.

I think you might have good QB play around the league but not legendary guys. But who the hell knows. Everyone's passing stats are going up so throw those out the window.

This goes in cycles. After Elway, Marino, Montana, Young there was a period where it was Brett Favre (who I don't consider in the former class) followed by maybe Drew Bledsoe, Mark Brunnell, Kurt Warner. Then along came this group.

deroc5050 said:

I think Rodgers will be king for a couple years if he can stay on the field. After that you might have alot of parity.. no more Peytons.. or Brady's. I don't really know what to make of Drew Bree's.. but thats another topic.

I think you might have good QB play around the league but not legendary guys. But who the hell knows. Everyone's passing stats are going up so throw those out the window.

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I think mastermind BB drafts the next Peyton/Brady before Brady retires

I would like to see Luck and Carr with more balanced teams with a defense who could stop someone i believe they could both get much better, Cowherd showed a stat that Luck is 25-0 when his defense gives up 19 or less.

I think Carr has amazing talent and is only just stratching the surface and some of Lucks turnover/careless throws problems would be fixed if he didn't have to score 30+ a game to win.

A lot of it will be determined by the front office of the NFL. The rules FAVOR QBs right now like never before.

They could swing back the other way - take out the 5-yard contact rule, for example...or use out of the box, unprepared footballs.

Brady is the GOAT, so this isn't a shot at that, but I think many of the older QBs, who never had the stats of many of today's QBs, were far better. Marino over Brees? Bert Jones over Stafford?

PatsFanSince74 said:

Who knows, the next Tom Brady might be playing at a High School we never heard of or in a Pop Warner League somewhere.

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That will mesh nicely with Tom's final Pats contract (2022). Then, BB will draft the next Tom Brady!

I haven't seen a lot of love for Russell Wilson, but I think he might be the best of the young QBs. He's the only one to go to multiple Super Bowls, he's mobile but prefers to pass first, and he knows what it takes to win it all.

Of course the Seahawks need to protect him a bit better. Their former 1st round OL James Carpenter signed with the Jets and got paid more last year than the entire Seahawks starting OL combined. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him win one or two more.

But I don't think we'll ever see another Tom Brady. You will see great QBs down the road, multiple Super Bowl winners, but never another Tom Brady. Which is why I am still pissed we lost 4 games of his career to that ridiculous ******** suspension. It all worked out in the end I guess, but still, those are 4 games we all lose of the greatest of all time.