Gerrard to start over Leftwich

[prof22693]

I have been hearing this around alot, and today NFL Live also reported that David Gerrard will be starting over Leftwich, who will either be traded or cut. Here is an article from ESPN's website providing some info:

Sources: Garrard to be starting QB; Jags to trade or release Leftwich

ESPN.com news services
Updated: August 31, 2007, 4:49 PM ET
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The Jacksonville Jaguars will name David Garrard their starting quarterback for the 2007 season on Friday, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported.


Garrard

Leftwich
Team and league sources said that former starter Byron Leftwich will likely be traded or released.

Leftwich missed 15 games the last two seasons because of an injured left ankle. He had surgery last November, more than a month after coach Jack Del Rio benched him in favor of Garrard.

The Jaguars have been actively calling teams around the league to gauge interest in Leftwich, who is in the last year of his contract. He had been designated as the starter in the offseason by Del Rio.

Team sources said Garrard's continued development in training camp and preseason convinced Del Rio that Garrard was the right quarterback for the team.

The Jaguars are also trying to acquire a veteran quarterback to serve as a backup and may turn to former Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell.

Garrard went 145-of-241 for 1,735 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season, with a passer rating of 80.5.

Leftwich was 108-of-183 for 1,159 yards, seven TDs and five interceptions last season, with a passer rating of 79.0.

I also heard from ESPN the Hawks are interested in Brunell, if I find that article later on I'll probably post it.

[moklerman]

I think I'm glad I'm not a Jaguars fan. Neither of those qb's are the answer in my opinion and Jacksonville should get a bonified qb before their "window" completely closes. Andrew Walter is rumored to be a target for them if he get's released and would ben an interesting prospect given his history with the OC but they have a good enough team that they could do some real damage with a good qb.

I wonder if it's just coincidence that Jacksonville has 3 black qb's on their roster? I don't care one way or the other but it's pretty unusual. There are so few black qb's in the league at all that it makes me curious about Jacksonville having 3.

Why are black qb's so rare at the NFL level? I wonder how much of it is opportunity and how much is college skills not translating to NFL success. It seems like there are a lot of black qb's in the college ranks, but I wonder if that number is still about the same percentage that makes it to the NFL? About 10% or so?

[moklerman]

I got curious and had to look up how many black qb's are in the league right now. It didn't take much effort since there's a site devoted to it (http://www.bqb-site.com/bqb.htm).

Right now there are 26 black qb's in the league(well, 25 since Vick was suspended) and 7 of them are starters. That's actually a higher percentage than I thought. 6-7 of them are solid #2's.

I have the impression that there is still a feeling of unequal representation of blacks at the qb position but 22% of starting qb's in the NFL are black. If the black population is approsimately 10%(I think) of the U.S. population is it possible that the perception, based strongly on what's happened in the past, is skewing reality? Does anyone ever complain that there aren't enough white rb's in the league? Is anyone as foolish as me to start a race related topic on a message board?

[prof22693]

Does anyone ever complain that there aren't enough white rb's in the league? Is anyone as foolish as me to start a race related topic on a message board?

Hhmm interesting. I see your point about white RBs, whenever I see a Brian Leonard video on youtube this topic arises and people doubted him because of his skin color. Brian was a great college player, alot of people thought he would go at the end of the first round to the Giants. Alot of people I've talked to say he could've gone higher than the second round if not for peoples' bias over skin color. It's ridiculous.

[laram0]

Back to the Garrard over Leftwich issue, or is it Releasedwich.

I think it came down to a personality conflict between Del Rio and Leftwich. Del Rio gave him plenty of chances and the "RUMOR" I've heard is that Del Rio likes Garrard alot.