In Week Nine of the NFL season, we saw an amazing number of veteran quarterbacks starting for their teams. Guys like Joe Flacco, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford and Geno Smith are all guys well past 30 who are bring called upon instead of a younger signal caller.
During the TV broadcast between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, color commentator and NFL legend Tom Brady offered up a great perspective on why teams are turning to veterans and young players aren’t able to get into or stay in starting lineups.
“They don’t play in college programs, they just play on college teams,” Brady said.
This was an excellent point by Brady that was probably missed by most. But the proliferation of the transfer portal and young quarterbacks moving between programs does nothing but stunt their development as quarterbacks. They might have all the physical tools in the world but there’s no consistency to their game and it shows when they are handed a far more complex NFL offense.
Looking at the 2025 NFL draft, we see some great examples of this. Miami’s Cam Ward has a crazy set of skills but has moved around. On the other side, players like Georgia’s Carson Beck has spent his entire career at Georgia. Most pundits have Ward ahead of Beck in terms of draft rankings but Beck might be able to come in and contribute at a higher level sooner in an NFL who doesn’t want to wait for players to develop.
