Trades Put a Twist on QB Situations
Wednesday October 19, 2005
On Tuesday, there were several quarterbacks who changed locales and put an interesting twist on the QB situations with their new teams. The first deal involved Tim Rattay, who the 49ers shipped to Tampa Bay for a late-round draft pick.
Associated Press reports say Rattay was brought in to back up young quarterbacks Chris Simms and Luke McCown after starter Brian Griese was lost to a knee injury. But most likely he will be given every shot to win the starting job once he gets acclimated to Jon Gruden's offense. And the Buccaneers just might end up far better off once he does.
Rattay struggled in four games as the starter in San Francisco before giving way to No. 1 overall draft pick Alex Smith. He has shown flashes of ability at times over his six-year career, but did not have much of a supporting cast with the 49ers. Gruden once did wonders with a guy named Gannon in Oakland and who's to say he can't work similar magic here. Perhaps he can give Rattay's career a boost and in doing so push the Bucs even higher up the NFL food chain. Or perhaps this reclamation project is less successful and Rattay eventually ends up carrying a clipboard on the sidelines.
The second deal saw the Chargers and the Dolphins swap backup signal callers with veteran A.J. Feeley and a sixth-round draft pick going to San Diego for Cleo Lemon, who has never taken a regular-season snap.
The Feeley acquisition is an interesting one for the Chargers, and could signal the looming departure of either starter Drew Brees or former first-round draft pick Philip Rivers. Feeley failed as a starter in Miami, but he's still a quality backup. However, it's unlikely the Chargers acquired him to be the third-string QB. Which means one of the other two guys is probably going to be used as trade bait during the offseason. But which guy will it be?
Rumors at this time (The Star-Ledger) indicate the Chargers will stick with Brees and trade the unproven Rivers if another team is willing to meet their asking price.
As far as Lemon goes, the Dolphins' Nick Saban is said to be very high on him and has him figured prominently in their future plans.
Associated Press reports say Rattay was brought in to back up young quarterbacks Chris Simms and Luke McCown after starter Brian Griese was lost to a knee injury. But most likely he will be given every shot to win the starting job once he gets acclimated to Jon Gruden's offense. And the Buccaneers just might end up far better off once he does.
Rattay struggled in four games as the starter in San Francisco before giving way to No. 1 overall draft pick Alex Smith. He has shown flashes of ability at times over his six-year career, but did not have much of a supporting cast with the 49ers. Gruden once did wonders with a guy named Gannon in Oakland and who's to say he can't work similar magic here. Perhaps he can give Rattay's career a boost and in doing so push the Bucs even higher up the NFL food chain. Or perhaps this reclamation project is less successful and Rattay eventually ends up carrying a clipboard on the sidelines.
The second deal saw the Chargers and the Dolphins swap backup signal callers with veteran A.J. Feeley and a sixth-round draft pick going to San Diego for Cleo Lemon, who has never taken a regular-season snap.
The Feeley acquisition is an interesting one for the Chargers, and could signal the looming departure of either starter Drew Brees or former first-round draft pick Philip Rivers. Feeley failed as a starter in Miami, but he's still a quality backup. However, it's unlikely the Chargers acquired him to be the third-string QB. Which means one of the other two guys is probably going to be used as trade bait during the offseason. But which guy will it be?
Rumors at this time (The Star-Ledger) indicate the Chargers will stick with Brees and trade the unproven Rivers if another team is willing to meet their asking price.
As far as Lemon goes, the Dolphins' Nick Saban is said to be very high on him and has him figured prominently in their future plans.
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