Smith, listed at 6’2″ and 325 could be a great insurance policy if Shaun Rogers doesn’t make a full recovery, or even if he makes a partial recovery and can return in let’s say week 8.  Now carrying two guys to eventually play one position might not be the best move, but adding depth to a position that still has many question marks does make sense.

Here are Smiths combined stats for his career courtesy of NFL.COM:

Nov 8, 2009; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (left) and San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers talk prior to game at Giants Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Take a look at this brief off-season quarterback carousel just so that you can understand where I’m coming from:

• The Indianapolis Colts cut Peyton Manning so they can draft Andrew Luck.
• Peyton Manning signs with the Denver Broncos after putting the NFL on a three year waiting list. Wait, what? It wasn’t three years? Sure seemed like it.
• The St. Louis Rams got a fortune in return from the Washington Redskins so they can take RG3 right after the Colts select Luck.
• Matt Flynn signs with the Seattle Seahawks after being Aaron Rodgers’ backup.
• Jason Campbell leaves Oakland after having his starting job taken away and signs with the Chicago Bears to become Jay Cutler’s backup.
• Kyle Orton does the same thing and goes to backup Tony Romo in Dallas after starting for two teams last year: the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos.
• Denver Broncos’ third string QB Brady Quinn moves to Kansas City to become that team’s newest backup QB.
• Chad Henne left the Dolphins to challenge for the starting QB job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• The New York Jets brought in Drew Stanton to be Mark Sanchez’s new body double.
• David Garrard comes back to the league after a one year absence to join the Miami Dolphins.

We have backups becoming starters, starters becoming backups, rookies being drafted presumably to start from day, guys out of the league for a year and one of the greatest QBs to ever play in the NFL cut for a player to have never played a down of professional football before. Confused yet? That’s because it is confusing to keep track of which quarterback is on which team now in the new quarterback driven NFL.

With the signing of Manning to the Broncos there is now another starting quarterback that could be had for the right price: Tim Tebow for a 5th round pick, presumably. The two teams with a most glaring need at a QB, if the 49ers don’t bring back Alex Smith, that is, are the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins. You have to include Miami because a Matt Moore/David Garrard combo doesn’t scare anyone.

The Browns were never in the hunt for Manning but aren’t enamored with incumbent QB Colt McCoy and lost out on the RG3 sweepstakes. The Dolphins went all in on Manning but came back empty handed; then their second choice Flynn spurned them for the Seahawks. That leaves the potential of either one of those two teams signing Alex Smith, he of the 49ers, who has no idea of his job status thanks to the Peyton Derby, and the aforementioned Tebow.

Plus there are other potential first round quarterbacks besides Luck and RG3 that could be taken by the Browns or Dolphins like Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden, both of whom, if you ask me aren’t worthy of being selected in the top ten of the draft but might be taken that early because the Dolphins (picking 8^th overall) and the Browns (picking 4^th overall) won’t have any choice other than dangling a future first round draft pick in order to trade back into the latter part of the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft.

By my calculations we might have a total of 11 teams with a new starting QB/quarterback question marks entering next season:

-Redskins – RG3, Vikings – Ponder/Webb?, Jaguars – Gabbert/Henne? Or maybe even Tebow?, San Fran – Smith/Kaepernick/Josh Johnson?, Arizona – Kolb/Skelton? Cleveland – McCoy?, Seattle – Flynn/T-Jax? Titans – Locker/Hasselbeck?, Indy – Luck, Miami – Moore/Garrard? and Denver – Peyton Manning.

11! That is a ridiculous amount of turnover at the most important position in football.

Now you can see why I’m pretty happy that the Giants have Eli Manning and we didn’t have to put up with the Peyton circus and the revolving game of quarterback musical chairs that teams like the Redskins and Dolphins plus players like Tebow and Smith have had to put up with this offseason. Heck, the Giants are even keeping their back-up QB David Carr.

Last week we focused on the AFC Central

Indianapolis Colts: My Pre-Draft ranking of the Colts in Upward. Give the colts this much credit, they are doing what they need to do to get younger, faster, and better. They have cut ways with Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, and Peyton Manning to name a few. There are also rumors that the Colts are shopping Dwight Freeney too. As we all know the Colts have the number one overall pick and all assumptions are they that the Colts are going to draft Andrew Luck. The Colts are doing the best they can to free up cap space to put talent around Luck. It looks as if Luck will be the starter from day one too. After the horrific season the Colts had last year they can only go up. It may be a slow climb but they are one again on the right track.

Houston Texans: My Pre-Draft ranking of the Texans in NEUTRAL. The Texans took a huge step forward last year by making

October 09, 2011; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans outside linebacker Mario Williams (90) prepares for a game against the Oakland Raiders at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE

the playoffs and doing so without their starting QB. However, Mario Williams is a free agent and the two sides appear to be very far apart. This would love the Texans defense with a huge hole. Without Williams or an impact player like Williams the Texans will struggle to repeat the same success they had from last season. The Texans have the 26th overall pick in the draft. If they loose Williams look for the them to target defense (again). Questions are still floating around questioning if they have a QB/Coach combo that they can win the Super Bowl with? The bigger question, as I see it, is do they have a defense that can keep the other team off the board? With more question marks than answers, neutral is the best pre-draft rating I could give the Texans.

Jacksonville Jaguars: My Pre-Draft ranking of the Jaguars is Downward. What is there to say about the Jaguars? They reside in a market that does not care about football, they think they have a franchise QB, and free agents never want to go to Jacksonville. The Jaguars have the seventh overall pick in the draft and most mock drafts have the Jaguars looking for a OL (although some say a WR). If the Jaguars cannot protect their QB, they will not be able to win any games. However, the Jaguars have a bigger problem off the field. No body cares about football and unless the Jaguars can get some talent into the city to make the people want to go to football games that stadium will always be half empty. Maybe they should trade for Tebow? I would not be shocked to see the Jaguars to be the next NFL franchise to move, lets say to Toronto? Just throwing it out there….

Dec 11, 2011; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker (10) passes against the New Orleans Saints during the second half at LP Field. The Saints beat the Titans 22-17. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-US PRESSWIRE

Tennessee Titans:  My pre-draft ranking of the Titans is NEUTRAL. Does anyone know what the Titans are? Do they have QB (doesn’t that sound like a theme for the entire AFC South)? They have a good solid young coach but beyond that they have many questions. They should get some answers by drafting some secondary help and then looking to put some talent around Locker. The biggest advantage the Titans have is that they are playing in probably the weakest division within the AFC. Yes, I think the AFC South is worse than the AFC West. If the Titans can spend the cap room wisely during free agency they could push the Texans for division champions

My Pre-Draft prediction for Final AFC South Standings: 1)Texans 2) Titans 3) Colts 4) Jaguars (8-8 might win this division next year)

]]> http://gmenhq.com/2012/03/14/focus-on-afc-south/feed/ 0 http://gmenhq.com/2011/12/01/espn-experts-say-new-york-giants-fall-to-the-pack/ http://gmenhq.com/2011/12/01/espn-experts-say-new-york-giants-fall-to-the-pack/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:49:49 +0000 http://gmenhq.com/?p=9315 Well the picks are in, and most are in agreement that the Green Bay Packers will stay undefeated after their visit to Metlife Stadium. Given the well-publicized decline the Giants have seen these last few weeks I was surprised that three of our experts voted in favor of New York. But I see their point; [...]

ESPN Experts Say…New York Giants Fall to the Pack - GMEN HQ - GMEN HQ - A NY Giants Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

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