John Gruden Hearts Quarterbacks

How many quarterbacks does one team need? Apparently they need as many as they can possibly draft, sign, or trade. If you look on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers website, they have seven QBs listed on their roster. They might actually have one more that is not listed. They drafted one new QB and invited another undrafted free agent to try out in rookie mini-camp. In addition, Chicago was interested in acquiring Chris Simms but they wouldn’t give him up. Jake Plummer is listed on the roster but he’s pretty much retired. Any way you slice it, the Bucs are loaded at the QB position.

What good will it all do? Jeff Garcia has the most heart of nearly anyone else in the league but is getting to the twilight of his career. Chris Simms started coming into his own and then had the spleen incident against Carolina. Bruce Gradkowski had some nice plays here and there and is close to being the real deal. Luke McCown needs more experience. Brian Griese is also starting to get long in the tooth. Josh Johnson has never taken an NFL snap but had a respectable college career at San Diego. The other QB not on the roster is Sam Keller who will go to the Arena League if he can’t seal the deal in Tampa.

I can’t recall a time where a team was so stacked at the QB position. This is arguably the most important position on a football team but you still need other players in order to make it work. Just because you have an exceptional engine with many spares, you still need tires on the car or else you can’t drive it anywhere.

Speaking of QBs, another has inhibited his chances of a prosperous future. Ryan Perrilloux has had a college career at LSU that has been “marked by legal and disciplinary problems”. Fans everywhere know what a waste of talent this is. I too am saddened by this story. My wish for Perrilloux and other young athletes in his position is that they get their heads on straight and be the success they could easily be. Not everyone gets the right set of circumstances to be on a top college team so don’t waste the opportunity. It may be too late here...

Speaking of trouble, did you see the news about Marvin Harrison? Someone was shot outside of a club he owns with a gun registered to him. In addition, Harrison told the law that the gun never left his home but it was then found at a car wash he owns. Talk about odd – Harrison is one of the “nice guys” in the NFL. We’ll see what unfolds in the next few days…