Time to go quarterback shopping?

I read something yesterday that reminded me that Brett Favre was 35 years old when the Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 NFL Draft.  At that point Brett was still “the man.”  He had just completed a season in which he threw for over 4,000 yards and led the Packers offense to the fifth ranked team in the lead.  The defense was bad (23^rd in the league); so, a lot of fans were disappointed to see Green Bay used their 24^th pick on a quarterback.  Well, that quarterback did not play during the entire time Brett Favre remained in Green Bay.  He was learning and developing into a NFL quarterback.  Two years after he finally played his first NFL game, he led the Packers to a Super Bowl Championship and earned Super Bowl MVP honors.

This led me to think about the top two “young” starting quarterbacks of the last decade.  Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are 33 and 35 respectively; both are not showing any signs of slowing down.  However, time flies.  For the last couple of years we have heard a lot about the “old” 40 year old Brett Favre.  It makes it difficult to believe that he was the same age as Peyton when Green Bay started preparing for his replacement.

I think that there is something truly valuable about having a new team member learn under one of the best at their job.  This training helps the new team member and organization succeed. 

Should the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts follow Green Bay’s lead and begin preparing for their next quarterback? 

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets®