Which NFL Season Had the Most Talent at QB?

[vcczar]

The lists only include Hall of Famers, likely Hall of Famers, near-Hall of Famers, and young QBs on the path to a HoF career. I exclude anyone that had an off year that year. That is, only the greats when they were greats. I also exclude great QBs if they were injured for most of that year. 

[vcczar]

Question #1 was hard for me, mainly because I have nostalgia for the late 1980s and 1990s football. I felt as if Montana, Marino, Elway, Kelly, Aikman, Young, Cunningham, Moon, and even some of the next tier -- Kosar, Krieg, Lomax, Esiason, McMahon, Everett, Hebert, Simms, Hostetler, O'Brien, Rypien were all amazing. It seemed as if there were few mediocre or worse QBs at the time. Maybe there was more depth. 

Question #2 might be biased. I was born in Dallas and I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan. Here are my thoughts on their QBs:

• Eddie LaBaron -- their first QB was an old vet that they got in the expansion draft
• Don Meredith -- first great DAL QB. Surprising retired early--like at age 30--when at the top of his game. 
• Craig Morton -- seriously underrated. His career was hurt by having to share a lot of time with Meredith and Staubach. Went to the SB was both DAL and DEN. He was kind of like Steve Young in the sense that he had to backup a lot under an even better QB. Could have been a Hall of Famer had started with another franchise. My dad didn't like him because he though Morton threw too many passes behind the line of scrimmage.
• Roger Staubach -- I was born the year of Staubach's last season. I had a Staubach jersey I inherited from my dad. My dad actually new him. Went to the same church. I have a Staubach autograph somewhere. Staubach didn't play until he was about 27 because of Naval duty. He had a short career but he was mobile and great. Went to like 5 Super Bowls, winning 2 of them. He's generally considered the greatest DAL QB. 
• Danny White -- my favorite QB because he's the first one I remember. Went to 3 straight NFC Championships but he lost all of them. Imagine if those had been 3 SBs? White was also the team's punter, which was unusual. He's another QB that lost a lot of time backing up Staubach. He was drafted in 1974 but played in the World League for 2 years as he didn't want to just punt. From 1976-1979, he accepted being the punter and backup QB. His career as the starting QB was from 1980-1987, getting benched a few times later in his career. In many ways, he was more successful than Tony Romo, however. 
• Steve Pelleur -- Sometimes took control of the team from Danny White. Pelleur was mobile but he was just overall terrible, in my opinion. First bad starting QB. 
• Troy Aikman --  I saw all 3 SB wins. Aikman was insanely accurate. The only drawbacks to him was, 1) he didn't throw very much. 2) He got injured a lot. He was actually initially very mobile but injuries in his first year or two put an end to that. For a Hall of Fame QB, his career at peak was rather short--just about 6 years. He wasn't great at all his first two season or last two season. 
• Quincy Carter -- worst Cowboys QB since Pelleur. Had a tendency to overthrow WRs. I remember being excited when he was drafted because we had never had a black starting QB. Shared some time with other QBs, including Ryan Leaf, because Carter was so inefficient. 
• Vinny Testaverde -- He was like 40 or 41. He actually did rather well. I was surprised he only stayed with us for one season. 
• Drew Bledsoe -- I really liked Bledsoe on the Patriots. He never lived up to expectations but I remember being excited that he joined DAL. His injury in NE gave way to Tom Brady. His injury in DAL gave way to Tony Romo. 
• Tony Romo -- He was a backup, often 3rd string, for like 4 years. I remember when Bledsoe was injured and Romo came in. I didn't think it would lead to anything despite Romo's effectiveness. Nevertheless, Romo became the best QB since Aikman. Despite his greatness in the regular season, I found Romo frustrating when the game was on the line. He seemed to make mistakes in clutch situations. Injuries saw him sharing time with other QBs late in his career.
• Dak Prescott -- My only complaint about him is that it doesn't seem like he can throw the ball deep. However, statistics show that he's one of the best deep ball throwers, so I'm probably wrong. I definitely trust Prescott more than I did Romo. I think Prescott could win a SB but it's got to be soon. He won't have the RB, WR, OL that he currently has forever, and this assumes they stay healthy. 

[SilentLiberty]

My reasoning for picking Dallas would be akin to picking the New York Yankees. Money talks.

 

(I realize Dallas hasn't always bought its players, but they are akin to the Yankees in that they absolutely could and have bought players)

 

(Tbh though I prefer Baseball...it's America's game and I just got home from the college world series. Love that it's home is here in Omaha)

Edited June 22, 2021 by SilentLiberty
Quick edit!

[vcczar]

8 hours ago, SilentLiberty said:

My reasoning for picking Dallas would be akin to picking the New York Yankees. Money talks.

 

(I realize Dallas hasn't always bought its players, but they are akin to the Yankees in that they absolutely could and have bought players)

 

(Tbh though I prefer Baseball...it's America's game and I just got home from the college world series. Love that it's home is here in Omaha)

You can't really buy players in the NFL. They're cap situation is a lot more restrictive. Every team gets the same amount. It's a lot harder to have a NY Yankee-like situation. 

[vcczar]

19 minutes ago, Patine said:

The CFL's even sterner on that rule.

What do you know of the differences between the cap situation for the NFL and CFL?

[vcczar]

1 hour ago, Patine said:

Not a lot in terms of details. I just hear a lot of CFL fans here constantly make the comparative statement I stated above.

I wonder how much they know and what they mean by being even stricter. I mean the NFL is the same for every team. The only thing I could see as stricter is if the cap was decreases for teams doing well. They may just be talking about the caps being smaller just because the league has less money. However, I wouldn't say that means it is less strict than the NFL for that reason. 

The cap for the NFL has only been around since 1994, however. Prior to that you'd have the same rosters for every team almost every year. As a kid, I kinda liked the familiarity of that.