FanPost

The Myth of John Fox Preferring Veteran QBs

There is an oft repeated myth about John Fox preferring "veteran" QBs. I think it is safer to say he has been able to win with crappy quarterbacks or he prefers Jake Delhomme, but he has not ever had the quality he is getting with the Broncos. Delhomme is the only QB in nine years that could be considered NFL starter quality and middle of the road at best.

Here are the starting QBs during Fox's tenure as Carolina's Head Coach:

Season

Regular season

2010

Jimmy Clausen (10) / Matt Moore (5) / Brian St. Pierre (1)

2009

Jake Delhomme (11) / Matt Moore (5)

2008

Jake Delhomme (16)

2007

Vinny Testaverde (6) / David Carr (4) / Matt Moore (3) / Jake Delhomme (3)

2006

Jake Delhomme (13) / Chris Weinke (3)

2005

Jake Delhomme (16)

2004

Jake Delhomme (16)

2003

Jake Delhomme (15) / Rodney Peete (1)

2002

Rodney Peete (14) / Randy Fasani (1) / Chris Weinke (1)

Following a 1-15 season during which rookie QB Chris Weinke started 15 games, the Panthers hired Fox.

He started with the Panthers with long in the tooth, Rodney Peete. However, he backed him up with rookie Randy Fasani (5th round) and 2nd year Weinke (7th round). He didn't have much of a choice but to start Peete. Yet, he played Weinke in 6 games with 1 start and Fasani in 4 games with 1 start.

In 2003, Fox signed Delhomme as a free agent and retained Peete. Delhomme was the owner of 2 career starts and those starts were way back in 1999. In between were stints on practice squads and in NFL Europe. Anyone who would consider Delhomme to be a "veteran" QB at this juncture is an idiot. Yet, Fox replaced the "veteran" QB, Peete, at halftime of game one with Delhomme. Delhomme proceeded to start the rest of the season (and the following 4 seasons) and led the Panthers to the Super Bowl.

In 2007, Delhomme got hurt in the 3rd game and was out for the season. He was replaced by Carr (6 games, 4 starts), then Testeverde (7 games, six starts) and finally undrafted rookie Matt Moore (9 games, 3 starts)when the "veterans" were ineffective.

Since 2007, he has started Delhomme, Moore, Clausen (2010 rookie) and Brian St. Pierre.

Of the 9 different starting QBs he has used, 6 had started less than one season of games in the NFL; two were broken down stop gaps (Peete and Vinnie) and one was a reclamation project.

Can someone please tell me how this history shows he prefers "veteran" QBs?

All I know from this is that the Broncos QB competition is wide open. Just like the entire front office and coaching staff has stated.

Can Tebow win the starting job? Yes. Orton? Yes. Quinn? Yes.

They are arguably all equal or better than what Fox has used in the past. Let the best player win.

For the record, I am rooting for Tebow to get the job.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.