Coming into the season there were high expectations for 2006's rookie QBs - Arizona's Matt Leinart, Denver's Jay Cutler and Tennessee's Vince Young. Whether it was a gunslinger's arm (Cutler), a stable of skills players (Leinart), or skills and intangibles (Young), there were reasons to expect improvement over their 2006 debuts. Even Pro Football Prospectus chimed in with some analysis that QBs improve the most in their second years. This set-up high expectations for all three QBs.
After seeing Arizona QB Matt Leinart benched this past Sunday and seeing the Broncos struggle to score points, I wanted to compare the three season-to-date. While nothing negative has happened with Young, he did have a sub-100 yard passing game. However, his running ability generally lessens the blow from his poor passing stats.
Using a typical scoring system for yardage (1 pt per 25 passing and 1 pt per 10 rushing), Vince Young has been the most productive QB so far. Using MDC's 9/4/07 ADP report, all three QBS were taken in the same area - 99th for VY, 100 for Hollywood Matt and 103 for Cutler (12th, 13th and 14th QBs selected respectively). While I don't recall Young lasting that long in any draft (8th round), the final ADPs seem reasonable for the production of the trio.
| Player | Comp | Att | Yds | YPA | TD | INT | Pts |
| Matt Leinart | 46 | 85 | 454 | 5.3 | 2 | 3 | 24.16 |
| Jay Cutler | 62 | 95 | 795 | 8.4 | 3 | 4 | 41.8 |
| Vince Young | 42 | 67 | 426 | 6.4 | 3 | 2 | 31.04 |
| Player | Att | Yds | TD | Pts | Total Fantasy Points |
| Matt Leinart | 8 | 33 | 0 | 3.3 | 27.46 |
| Jay Cutler | 8 | 15 | 0 | 1.5 | 43.3 |
| Vince Young | 21 | 96 | 1 | 15.6 | 46.64 |
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