Aaron Rodgers
On Sunday, Aaron Rodgers tied a Green Bay Packers record by throwing for six touchdowns in one game. Whose record did he match? Yep, his former backup Matt Flynn, who did it in the final game of the season in 2011. At the time, it was something that hadn’t been done by any great Packers quarterback – from Bart Starr to Brett Favre.
Flynn’s single game opened the eyes of a few NFL teams looking for a new starting quarterback the next season. From one single performance, the Seattle Seahawks signed Flynn to three years and $19.5 million.
Today? Well, six weeks into the season, Flynn hasn’t played in a game yet for the Seahawks. He was beat out for the starting QB job by rookie Russell Wilson and the former Packer is back where he started – as a back-up quarterback.
It’s safe to say that the Seahawks wasted money for someone that they thought would be good. Now it isn’t fair to call Flynn bad, since he hasn’t had the opportunity to show what he can do as a full-time starter in the National Football League.
However, with Wilson striving as the Seattle play-caller, Flynn’s chance with his new team may have come and passed. In three years, we could see him on a new team fighting for a starting spot. For now, though Flynn can be publicly viewed as a bust.
With the recent failure of Flynn as a starting quarterback in the NFL, let’s look at a few other players in the same position. Along with Flynn is Kevin Kolb.
The Arizona Cardinals had the same philosophy as their NFC West rivals. Kolb was a back-up quarterback in Philadelphia for three years, getting a few starts in place of an injured Michael Vick or Donovan McNabb. In his five starts in 2010, Kolb threw for 1,197 yards and seven interceptions for the Eagles.
To the Cardinals, and other teams as well, this was enough to earn him a starting job in the league. Arizona gave Kolb a five-year contract worth $63.5 million in the offseason before 2011. That subsequent season, though, Kolb only started nine games for his new team as he lost his job a few times to John Skelton. He’s in the same boat as Flynn – not proving to his new team that he can be the starting quarterback they believed in and signed.
On the other hand, history is littered with successful quarterbacks who made the transition from backup to starter after changing teams. Favre went to Green Bay after his rookie season for the Atlanta Falcons was a disaster – not completing a pass while throwing two interceptions and a sack in only two games.
However, he went to Green Bay and, well, you all know how that turned out. He became one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game after disappointing as the backup in Atlanta.
Matt Schaub played behind Vick in Atlanta for three years; only seeing action when Vick sat out a few games with an injury. Contrary to Favre, though, Schaub had one career game as the starter with the Falcons by throwing for 298 yards and three TDs against the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots in 2005.
This performance was enough to put Schaub on the radar for the Texans – who traded for him in 2007. With his new team, Schaub has become the franchise quarterback. He led the NFL in passing yards in 2009 and made the Texans relevant in the league after a few dismal years in their short history.
For the most part, every quarterback starts out as a backup in the NFL – unless you are Robert Griffin III or Andrew Luck. The hard part for NFL teams is discovering the professional talent on the sidelines. For the Packers and Texans, success was found with a few gambles.
However for the Cardinals and Seahawks, their current situation is one that could’ve been avoided. Instead of a starting quarterback, they got a bench player and wasted money for making the wrong assumption. Not all quarterbacks are meant to start in the NFL, and maybe Kolb and Flynn belong in that category.
