The Mobile QB Misunderstanding

Until now the mobile QB was thought to be a curse. Games where won from the pocket so if your QB couldn’t win by taking three step drops and taking hits from opposing lineman then you didn’t have your franchise QB yet. The problem with that mindset was not that mobile QBs couldn’t win games but they couldn’t win games with the teams they were surrounded with and how they were being used. Let’s use Michael Vick as an example during his playing career he most often played in a west coast offense on a run dominant team, that deployed a mediocre at best offensive line and less than average wide receivers. Vick never got a Marvin Harrison like Peyton Manning or a Randy Moss or anyone of that level that would propel him to Super Bowl success. Look back to Dante Culpepper who was one of the first mobile QBs to have a great wide receivers core and good offensive lineman. His team was an NFC title game team within the first three years of his career. Talent wise Vick was much better than Culpepper. Unfortunately for Vick he spent much of his prime dodging defensive lineman as if he was Barry Sanders before making any throws. This was a time in the NFL where prototypical QBs where around 6’5 and teams would draft their pocket passer then spend the next three years drafting Offensive lineman and wide receivers to take the pressure of that QB. The teams that did go the mobile QB route would spend the most of their next draft picks on defense and play a ball control offense that lead to many successful playoff runs but only a couple Super Bowl wins from Russel Wilson and Aaron Rodgers.

Mobile QBs Unleashed

In the last few years mobile QBs have been unleashed in ways we have never seen before. From Patrick Mahomes, to Deshaun Watson, to Dak Prescott, and Lamar Jackson, it is very evident a new era is among us. These QBs are playing the game and putting up numbers in ways we have only seen in video games. Teams are now drafting mobile QBs and surrounding them with the offensive line and wide receiver talent needed to win Super Bowls. Tom Brady has been the gold standard of QBs for recent years and his game relies on getting the ball out quickly and making the defense play the whole field while trying to stop 5-yard completions. Dak Prescott’s game is eerily similar except that when the play breaks down, he can turn that play into a 20-yard run. If you look at Patrick Mahomes you see a QB with a game that resembles Brett Favre but even more athleticism. Then there is Lamar Jackson who looks like a right-handed Michael Vick but with a little more accuracy. Lastly you have Deshaun Watson who has turned the Houston Texans into a playoff team and has teamed with Deandre Hopkins to create one of the more dynamic duos in the league. In the next 5 years one or more of these QBs will have a super bowl to their name and will be the new gold standard of NFL QBs.