Poor Rex

[flea]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4182092

[akshaz]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4182092

 

WOW! C'mon. Was he really that bad?

[bowlingtwig]

Wow, that is real shocker to me. I am surprised that no teams are interested in him as a backup at least. I understand not as a starter but geez.

[defiantgiant]

Wow, that is real shocker to me. I am surprised that no teams are interested in him as a backup at least. I understand not as a starter but geez.

 

This seems pretty brutal, even for a QB with his track record. Rex isn't consistent enough to be a reliable backup, however, and teams don't tend to keep unreliable backups around, even if they're talented (see Sage Rosenfels on the Texans or JP Losman on the Bills.) If your starter gets hurt, you don't want an erratic guy with upside, you want a steady, dependable player.

 

That said, I'm surprised somebody doesn't see him as a reclamation project. I'd think he'd be in that Joey Harrington category at this point: relatively young, still has plenty of potential, tons of mental mistakes. He basically needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, but it's not like he'd cost much to take on: he's only looking for the vet minimum.

 

What do you guys think would be the best landing spot for Grossman? If it were up to me, I'd say Carolina would be a good place for him. Jake Delhomme has a few years left, and if they could fix Rex, he'd be in an identical situation to 2006 Chicago: great o-line, two-headed power running game, stout defense. Plus, they have a receiver he's already worked with in Muhsin Muhammad, and the guy across from him isn't Bernard Berrian, it's Steve Smith. I think that the Panthers could have a shot at turning Grossman into a decent QB if they signed him.

[nfoligno]

First, let me just say, as hard as i was on him, I too am shocked someone has not picked him up. Often 1st round pick QB fail w/ their 1st team, but rarely do they not get another chance w/ another team. Someone always thinks they can do a better job of coaching a young talent, and will take the flyer on the kid.

 

Carolina? Yea, he would have Moose again, but how did that workout the first time? Seems to me, I recall Rex being among the QBs Moose threw under the bus.

 

I think Rex needs to go to a team w/ a well reputed QB/OC coach who can help him. The reality is, Rex still does things today which were viewed as flaws in his game coming out of college. Whether it is a matter of his not being capable of learning/developing/changing in those areas, a fault of the coaches he has worked under, or simply an inability to connect and work w/ those bears coaches. Whatever the reason, I think wherever he goes, he needs to find a coach who can help him.

 

 

 

This seems pretty brutal, even for a QB with his track record. Rex isn't consistent enough to be a reliable backup, however, and teams don't tend to keep unreliable backups around, even if they're talented (see Sage Rosenfels on the Texans or JP Losman on the Bills.) If your starter gets hurt, you don't want an erratic guy with upside, you want a steady, dependable player.

 

That said, I'm surprised somebody doesn't see him as a reclamation project. I'd think he'd be in that Joey Harrington category at this point: relatively young, still has plenty of potential, tons of mental mistakes. He basically needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, but it's not like he'd cost much to take on: he's only looking for the vet minimum.

 

What do you guys think would be the best landing spot for Grossman? If it were up to me, I'd say Carolina would be a good place for him. Jake Delhomme has a few years left, and if they could fix Rex, he'd be in an identical situation to 2006 Chicago: great o-line, two-headed power running game, stout defense. Plus, they have a receiver he's already worked with in Muhsin Muhammad, and the guy across from him isn't Bernard Berrian, it's Steve Smith. I think that the Panthers could have a shot at turning Grossman into a decent QB if they signed him.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Wow, thats awful. I never expected him to fall that far and I still think a team gives him a call.

[madlithuanian]

Poor Rex my @$$! Poor Chicago fans that had to endure his tenure here!

 

I do give him "A" for effort, but he just wasn't a very good QB. Good luck to you Rex, you'll need it!

 

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4182092

[lemonej]

Why are you guys shocked about a Florida QB not making it in the NFL?

Steve Spurrier,George Mira,John Reeves, Doug Johnson,Jesse Palmer, Danny Wuerful, Shane Matthews,Rex Grossman and Chris Leak. Whether its been the 60's, 70's, 80's 90's and now the Florida QBs and to some degree the WRs have had minimal success on the NFL level.

[madlithuanian]

No shock to me.

 

What was shocking was the blind loyalty to see him on the field from the higher-up's...

 

Why are you guys shocked about a Florida QB not making it in the NFL?

Steve Spurrier,George Mira,John Reeves, Doug Johnson,Jesse Palmer, Danny Wuerful, Shane Matthews,Rex Grossman and Chris Leak. Whether its been the 60's, 70's, 80's 90's and now the Florida QBs and to some degree the WRs have had minimal success on the NFL level.

[Connorbear]

Poor Rex my @$$! Poor Chicago fans that had to endure his tenure here!

 

I do give him "A" for effort, but he just wasn't a very good QB. Good luck to you Rex, you'll need it!

Don't blame Rex for that - blame management.

 

Peace

[madlithuanian]

I think it's apparent I blame management!

 

But, nor do I feel sorry for Rex. He's pocketed millions from his stint here.

 

Don't blame Rex for that - blame management.

 

Peace

[Mongo3451]

First, let me just say, as hard as i was on him, I too am shocked someone has not picked him up. Often 1st round pick QB fail w/ their 1st team, but rarely do they not get another chance w/ another team. Someone always thinks they can do a better job of coaching a young talent, and will take the flyer on the kid.

 

Carolina? Yea, he would have Moose again, but how did that workout the first time? Seems to me, I recall Rex being among the QBs Moose threw under the bus.

 

I think Rex needs to go to a team w/ a well reputed QB/OC coach who can help him. The reality is, Rex still does things today which were viewed as flaws in his game coming out of college. Whether it is a matter of his not being capable of learning/developing/changing in those areas, a fault of the coaches he has worked under, or simply an inability to connect and work w/ those bears coaches. Whatever the reason, I think wherever he goes, he needs to find a coach who can help him.

I still think Minny is the perfect fit for him. Great OL, AP, Berrian and now Harvin. Does he ever need to have any other dropback, but play action??

 

That being said, if the concensus of NFL execs think he's that bad, how much better are we going to be with Cutler? Or how bad was/is our coaching staff and JA for the blind faith they placed in Rex for too long?

[defiantgiant]

I still think Minny is the perfect fit for him. Great OL, AP, Berrian and now Harvin. Does he ever need to have any other dropback, but play action??

 

Personnel-wise, I think you're right. The Vikes have a killer O-line with the addition of Loadholt, they've got a great running game, and they now have three very talented receivers (I think Sidney Rice is in for a big breakout year,) one of whom Rex has worked with before. That could be an interesting place for Grossman, but I think there'd be too much of a chance that he'd be pressed into a starting role, given their situation at QB. If anybody signs Rex, it's going to have to be a team that has an established starter, so they can work on Rex for a year or two. Minnesota's got two inconsistent QBs on the roster already, Rosenfels and Jackson. They'd probably end up having to start Grossman before too long, and I'm not sure they could retrain him. Look at Tarvaris Jackson's development: he's a similar kind of project, and he hasn't really stepped up.

[madlithuanian]

That's the question of the day....

 

That being said, if the concensus of NFL execs think he's that bad, how much better are we going to be with Cutler? Or how bad was/is our coaching staff and JA for the blind faith they placed in Rex for too long?

[lemonej]

I still think Minny is the perfect fit for him. Great OL, AP, Berrian and now Harvin. Does he ever need to have any other dropback, but play action??

 

That being said, if the concensus of NFL execs think he's that bad, how much better are we going to be with Cutler? Or how bad was/is our coaching staff and JA for the blind faith they placed in Rex for too long?

Thats what is so puzzling to me. The 49ers have Shaun Hill and Alex Smith. Who's the backup at San Diego? Even New England has unproven backups behind Brady. I'm starting to get the feeling that there is something more to the story that we don't know about. If Shane Matthews could keep getting calls from teams why not Grossman? This is real weird since he did start on a Super Bowl team. I think Grossman is similar to Chris Chandler and Drew Bledsoe. Hell Charlie Batch is still in the league and even Byron Leftwich has gotten a call. If Grossman has an out of touch value of himself he should be humbled now since there is a team that is willing to court a 40+ QB that has an injured arm.

[nfoligno]

Agreed it is a tad baffling. While I don't think "that" much of him, I do think he has to be considered better than several other teams #2s, much less many other #3s.

 

The only thing I can think of is, Rex and/or his agent, are still thinking he has starter capability. They may not be telling teams he has to start, but may be looking to pickup w/ a team where a chance or opportunity may exist.

 

I know you talk about the humbling aspect right now, yet at the same time, at this point many veterans choose to wait until camps begin. At that point, injuries most always happen, and teams are left scrambling. Maybe it is a bit of a risk, but he may feel it is one worth taking. If he signs now, it would likely be a job with no chance of improving his status as he would be burried on the depth chart. If he waits, an opportunity may present itself which offers far more potential to actually see the field.

 

Thats what is so puzzling to me. The 49ers have Shaun Hill and Alex Smith. Who's the backup at San Diego? Even New England has unproven backups behind Brady. I'm starting to get the feeling that there is something more to the story that we don't know about. If Shane Matthews could keep getting calls from teams why not Grossman? This is real weird since he did start on a Super Bowl team. I think Grossman is similar to Chris Chandler and Drew Bledsoe. Hell Charlie Batch is still in the league and even Byron Leftwich has gotten a call. If Grossman has an out of touch value of himself he should be humbled now since there is a team that is willing to court a 40+ QB that has an injured arm.

[DrunkBomber]

I still wouldnt be shocked if we resigned him. We need someone, we cant go into the season with Hanie and the SIU guy as our back up quarterbacks.

[defiantgiant]

I still wouldnt be shocked if we resigned him. We need someone, we cant go into the season with Hanie and the SIU guy as our back up quarterbacks.

 

The coaching staff seems pretty dead-set on going into the season with Hanie and Basanez as the backups. If they are looking for a FA backup, though, it shouldn't be Grossman. Judging from last season, Rex is even worse coming off the bench than he is as a starter. The main argument I've heard against signing an FA quarterback is that anybody we sign will have to learn the system, and Hanie has a year of experience that those guys won't. The only exceptions are the two available QBs who have played here before: Grossman and Brian Griese (who's going to be released by the Bucs, from the look of things.) If we're going to get a veteran backup who knows the system, I'd WAY rather have Griese than Grossman.

 

Just for fun, I thought I'd stack Griese and Grossman's stats as starters against Orton's and Cutler's. The main metrics you look for in a starting quarterback are a positive TD-INT ratio (ideally at least 2:1,) a completion percentage north of 60%, and a YPA somewhere around 7. I think a good backup QB's not going to get all three of those, but he shouldn't be too far off. Look at Cutler's 2008 stats:

 

Cutler (2008): 62.3% completion percentage, 7.3 YPA, 25 TD, 18 INT (almost 3:2 ratio.)

 

...compared to Chicago's three most recent starting QBs:

 

Orton (2008): 58.5% completion percentage, 6.4 YPA, 18 TD, 12 INT (3:2 ratio.)

Griese (2007): 61.5% completion percentage, 6.9 YPA, 10 TD, 12 INT (5:6 ratio.)

Grossman (2007): 54.2% completion percentage, 6.3 YPA, 4 TD, 7 INT (4:7 ratio.)

 

Obviously stats don't tell you everything, but here's what I take from those numbers:

 

- Orton's stat line looks like that of a game manager-type QB. His completion percentage is somewhat low, but not egregiously so. His YPA, however, is very low, reflecting the fact that he was constantly checking down to Olsen or Forte. His TDs total is low, but his TD-INT ratio is good enough. Judging by the numbers, he's not a big producer on offense, but he's a safe starter.

- Cutler produces just like you'd expect a good starting QB to. His YPA is very solid for a starter, his completion percentage is good, and despite his 18 picks, his ratio of touchdowns to interceptions is almost as good as Orton's. If he cut down to 12 interceptions or so, he'd have an ideal stat line.

- Between Griese and Grossman, Griese's stat line looks far more like that of a starting QB. He completed better than 60% of his passes in 2007, had a YPA close to 7, and was closer than Grossman to a 1:1 ratio of TDs to INTs.

 

Comparing Griese to Grossman, I really don't think there's any question who would make the better backup. Also, Griese could be a good mentor to help Hanie develop: Orton said in an interview that a lot of his development was due to Griese helping him with film study and learning to read defenses. I don't think Grossman could teach anybody those things, even if he wanted to.

[madlithuanian]

I'd even be more shocked if we signed him than when we traded for Cutler!

 

 

 

I still wouldnt be shocked if we resigned him. We need someone, we cant go into the season with Hanie and the SIU guy as our back up quarterbacks.

[lemonej]

The coaching staff seems pretty dead-set on going into the season with Hanie and Basanez as the backups. If they are looking for a FA backup, though, it shouldn't be Grossman. Judging from last season, Rex is even worse coming off the bench than he is as a starter. The main argument I've heard against signing an FA quarterback is that anybody we sign will have to learn the system, and Hanie has a year of experience that those guys won't. The only exceptions are the two available QBs who have played here before: Grossman and Brian Griese (who's going to be released by the Bucs, from the look of things.) If we're going to get a veteran backup who knows the system, I'd WAY rather have Griese than Grossman.

 

Just for fun, I thought I'd stack Griese and Grossman's stats as starters against Orton's and Cutler's. The main metrics you look for in a starting quarterback are a positive TD-INT ratio (ideally at least 2:1,) a completion percentage north of 60%, and a YPA somewhere around 7. I think a good backup QB's not going to get all three of those, but he shouldn't be too far off. Look at Cutler's 2008 stats:

 

Cutler (2008): 62.3% completion percentage, 7.3 YPA, 25 TD, 18 INT (almost 3:2 ratio.)

 

...compared to Chicago's three most recent starting QBs:

 

Orton (2008): 58.5% completion percentage, 6.4 YPA, 18 TD, 12 INT (3:2 ratio.)

Griese (2007): 61.5% completion percentage, 6.9 YPA, 10 TD, 12 INT (5:6 ratio.)

Grossman (2007): 54.2% completion percentage, 6.3 YPA, 4 TD, 7 INT (4:7 ratio.)

 

Obviously stats don't tell you everything, but here's what I take from those numbers:

 

- Orton's stat line looks like that of a game manager-type QB. His completion percentage is somewhat low, but not egregiously so. His YPA, however, is very low, reflecting the fact that he was constantly checking down to Olsen or Forte. His TDs total is low, but his TD-INT ratio is good enough. Judging by the numbers, he's not a big producer on offense, but he's a safe starter.

- Cutler produces just like you'd expect a good starting QB to. His YPA is very solid for a starter, his completion percentage is good, and despite his 18 picks, his ratio of touchdowns to interceptions is almost as good as Orton's. If he cut down to 12 interceptions or so, he'd have an ideal stat line.

- Between Griese and Grossman, Griese's stat line looks far more like that of a starting QB. He completed better than 60% of his passes in 2007, had a YPA close to 7, and was closer than Grossman to a 1:1 ratio of TDs to INTs.

 

Comparing Griese to Grossman, I really don't think there's any question who would make the better backup. Also, Griese could be a good mentor to help Hanie develop: Orton said in an interview that a lot of his development was due to Griese helping him with film study and learning to read defenses. I don't think Grossman could teach anybody those things, even if he wanted to.

Do you remember how Griese left here? He felt like he wasn't given a fair shot at the job. He had some parting shots for the organization so I think it would be unlikely that he would be brought back here. Plus I believe Griese is like Jeff Garcia and thinks he should be a starter no matter what the situation is.

[defiantgiant]

Do you remember how Griese left here? He felt like he wasn't given a fair shot at the job. He had some parting shots for the organization so I think it would be unlikely that he would be brought back here. Plus I believe Griese is like Jeff Garcia and thinks he should be a starter no matter what the situation is.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying he left on good terms - I wasn't really taking that into account. I was just thinking that if we had our pick of Grossman or Griese to back up Cutler, I'd take Griese. Also, I'm not sure he's on Garcia's level at all. Everything I heard when he was here seemed to indicate that he was a great teammate. I can understand why he was mad after he left Chicago, though: he arguably did better than either Grossman or Orton in his last year, so I'm sure he felt like he didn't get a fair chance to win the starting job.

[chitownman]

I never thought that Grossman was that good in the first place and the rest of the NFL seems to showing that I must have been right in the first place. It was a bad pick when he was drafted and this does not surprise me. Someone else listed all the former Florida QBs that failed to have any semblance of a career in the NFL and Grossman while at times seemed to show some NFL style talent, he really sucked. Best thing that could happen to this money thief is that no one signs him and he just fades into the sunset.

[selection7]

Average to above average length career for an NFL'er, our team stayed with him through all those injuries, and he'll retire rich. Don't be too sorry for him.

[defiantgiant]

Average to above average length career for an NFL'er, our team stayed with him through all those injuries, and he'll retire rich. Don't be too sorry for him.

 

Sports Illustrated is reporting that, according to Drew Rosenhaus, Rex is visiting the Houston Texans on Thursday. Rosenhaus expects Grossman to sign a one-year deal.

 

I have to say, this makes some sense. The Texans have an injury-prone starter, and Dan Orlovsky is a significant downgrade from Sage Rosenfels. Rex definitely needs some rebuilding, but he's more talented than Orlovsky by a long shot. Maybe he can learn something from Schaub, who's consistently made good decisions with the football thus far in his career. Plus, Grossman could get away with a lot more of his throws into coverage if the guy he's throwing to is Andre Johnson.