2009 The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: The Ugly QBs  | read this item

2009 The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: The Ugly QBs

February 8, 2010   ·   admin   ·   Jump to comments

Fanz Sports

It’s time to take a look at THE UGLY quarterbacks from 2009. You know the guys that either made you bring out the pepto every Sunday or fire your remote control at the television in disgust. Remember, THE UGLY quarterbacks are those that did nothing but disappoint throughout the 2009 season. The majority of the guys who made this list either lost their starting job or failed to take advantage of an opportunity to claim a starting job. However, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler makes this list because he led the NFL in interceptions and was nothing but a fantasy football nightmare throughout the 2009 season.

1. JaMarcus Russell (Oakland Raiders) — For whatever reason the Oakland Raiders continue to stand by quarterback JaMarcus Russell. At this point pretty much anybody would be better than Russell. Last season for the Raiders he threw for 1,287 yards with three touchdowns and 11 interceptions while completing 48.8 percent of his passes. Think about those numbers for a second and you realize just how bad of a quarterback he is. He was benched in favor of guys like Charlie Frye and Bruce Gradkowski. Combine that with the fact that Russell doesn’t believe he needs any extra work and doesn’t work out in the offseason and you see why Russell tops the list of Ugly Quarterbacks for the 2009 season.

Is it going to get any better for Russell? Well, it certainly can’t get any worse. The Raiders have hired Hue Jackson as their offensive coordinator, hoping he can work his same magic with Russell as he did with Joe Flacco. Described as a QB guru, Jackson will have his work cut own for him as Russell has never displayed any amount of consistency or progress as a quarterback. Russell will have his receivers back as well as a solid group of running backs, but he’s got a long way to go to make good on his potential.

2. Jay Cutler (Chicago Bears) — Jay Cutler got his wish in the offseason when he was traded from the Denver Broncos to the Chicago Bears. After that, he didn’t get much else. Cutler struggled to get going with the Bears the entire season, throwing for 3,666 yards with 27 touchdowns and a league-leading 26 interceptions. He had seven multiple-interception games, including a Week 10 loss the San Francisco 49ers where he threw five picks and no touchdowns.

Cutler struggled for a number of reasons, a lot of them his own fault, but not having a true No. 1 receiver hurt him badly. If the Bears were smart they would go out and get Cutler a top-flight target this offseason. As for next year, it’s tough to project a huge improvement for Cutler when signs of progress this year were always followed by Cutler taking two steps back. Cutler still holds some value because of what he’s done in the past and the amount of touchdowns he threw, but he is longer a large blip on the fantasy football radar.

3. Marc Bulger (St. Louis Rams) — The days of Marc Bulger being the starting quarterback for the St. Louis Rams are likely coming to a close. During Super Bowl week Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo told reporters that the team would consider other options at quarterback and it’s not hard to see why. Last season Bulger was just awful in the games he did play, throwing for 1,469 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions. Bulger’s only played in 16 games in a season once, and that was in 2006. That was also the last time Bulger threw more touchdowns than interceptions.

St. Louis does have a young quarterback in Keith Null that the Rams think has some potential. However, in just four games last season Null threw nine interceptions, which is why the Rams won’t completely rule Bulger out of the picture for now. But just because the Rams won’t doesn’t mean you should do the same. Bulger is no longer a fantasy football option.

4. Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo Bills) — Ryan Fitzpatrick has spent the last two seasons with two different teams and both times he has been a terrible quarterback from a fantasy football perspective. Last season with the Buffalo Bills Fitzpatrick threw for 1,422 yards with nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Making it worse is that he was sacked 21 times in just 10 games and completed just 55.9 percent of his passes.

The last two seasons we have been, uh, treated to long exposures of Fitzpatrick as a starting quarterback as both times he’s put up terrible numbers. Clearly he is not a starting quarterback in the NFL and if he ever gets the chance to play again you should avoid him at all costs.

5. Derek Anderson (Cleveland Browns) — As bad as Cleveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson was in the 2008 season, he was even worse last year. In eight games, seven of which were starts, Anderson threw for 888 yards with three touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 44.5 percent of his passes. It doesn’t help that the Browns have a poor offensive line, no running game, and no receivers that can catch the ball with any consistency. Still, Anderson’s stats tell most of the story here.

Don’t expect anything to change for Anderson in the future. He completes a low number of passes and throws a lot of interceptions. The Browns have Brady Quinn as well and they are still searching for answers at the quarterback position, but Anderson doesn’t figure to be a part of the equation, or at least one that you want a part of.

6. Jake Delhomme (Carolina Panthers) — In 2008 Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme started to break down and have some terrible games but he still finished with more touchdowns than interceptions. Last season that wasn’t the case. For the 2009 season Delhomme threw for 2,015 yards with eight touchdowns and 18 interceptions while completing 55.5 percent of his passes. All that together represented a career-worst season for Delhomme.

Just watching Delhomme you can see why he’s so bad. He threw some terrible passes, often throwing the ball into heavy coverage and other times just throwing balls up for grabs. Don’t expect it to get any better for the 35-year-old Delhomme, especially considering the Panthers are shifting to a run-heavy offense around running back DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

The Jury Is Still Out On (A look at those guys who were UGLY, but just didn’t play long enough to make this list): Josh Johnson (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Byron Leftwich (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) Keith Null (St. Louis Rams), Trent Edwards (Buffalo Bills), Chad Pennington (Miami Dolphins), Kyle Boller (St. Louis Rams) and Seneca Wallace (Seattle Seahawks)

2009 The Good:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  |  DEF

2009 The Bad:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  |  DEF

2009 The Ugly:  QB  |  RB |  WR |  TE |  K |  DEF

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By brunoboys.net