Does the height of a quarterback matter?
doubledragon
Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Interested to hear everyone's opinion, how important of a factor do you consider the height of a quarterback to be?
0
Comments
Look at Aaron Rodgers up there on that graph, giving me the stink eye.
Form follows function.
You have answered your own question by posting heights of existing starting NFL QB's. Nearly all over 6' tall.
They need to see and throw over 6'3 lineman. I would assume short QB's (less than 5'10) are "weeded" out by scouts and draft choices.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
A few other all-time greats and their height.
Tom Brady - 6"4'
Joe Montana - 6"2'
Peyton Manning - 6"5'
John Elway - 6"3'
Dan Marino - 6"4'
Drew Brees - 6"0'
Brett Favre - 6"2'
Of course height matters. The average height of the American male is five foot seven. If height didn't matter, then there would be several five foot seven(and some smaller) QB's in the NFL right now....and there aren't.
Brees stands out as the shortest very successful QB. Height didn’t matter to him but I’d be curious to know his # of batted balls compared to the average
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
This graph illustrates the batted ball rates of quarterbacks from 2019-2022, this is the most recent I could find.
The 5 worst batted ball rates from 2019-2022:
Player Batted Ball Rate Height
Baker Mayfield 3.10% 6'1''
Cam Newton 2.92% 6'5''
Kyle Allen 2.82% 6'3''
Jalen Hurts 2.79% 6'1''
Davis Mills 2.75% 6'4''
The 5 best batted ball rates from 2019-2022:
Player Batted Ball Rate Height
Tua Tagovailoa 0.83% 6'1''
Drew Brees 0.91% 6'0''
Aaron Rodgers 1.01% 6'2''
Tom Brady 1.08% 6'4''
Drew Lock 1.13% 6'4''
I would imagine the opposing teams do change their defensive schemes a bit to try and take advantage of a shorter QB. That's what worried me a bit when the Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts.
When Hurts injured his knee, but still played, however couldn't run or was afraid to run, it was of course a factor in the Eagles collapse this season. He became a sitting duck back there.
Height absolutely matters at the QB position. not only getting fewer batted balls, but being able to have a better look over the line.
if i am not mistaken, there has never been a < 6foot tall QB elected to the hall of fame.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
The only one I could find is Sonny Jurgensen at 5"11
Interesting, I would have lost that trivia question. Figuring that more of the HOF quarterbacks from the past century were under 6 feet.
I googled Fran Tarkenton: 6-0, 190lb
I wonder if Fran was really 5' something. and rounded it up to 6 feet. 😆
There are no below average height QB's.
It matters a lot, without a physical height advantage you cannot QB in the NFL.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
I usually prefer my quarterbacks to be at least 6"2', and they have to be cool looking, style is very important in a quarterback.
Looking at a guy like Drew Brees it's hard to say yes it is a must but in my opinion more height to see over the line doesn't hurt
He may not be 6"2', but I'll give Bryce Young credit, the kid grows a mean mullet.
What can I say, I'm just here for the Aaron Rodgers jokes. Thank you, you've been a lovely audience, be sure to pick up an Aaron Rodgers clown shirt at our gift shop.
I was surprised to see Fran was 6-0.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Height only matters to some extent. Being taller doesnt mean better. A 7 footer would be an atrocious QB just like a 5'4 one would be as well. Anything from like 5'10 to 6'6 maybe 6'7 is fine. The guys on the shorter side have already proven vision isnt a problem if they came from a major conference where all the linemen are NFL sized already.
The major concern with the smaller ones is injury. The bigger guys can generally take hits better though theyre a little more vulnerable to a knee injury
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
"The guys on the shorter side have already proven vision isnt a problem if they came from a major conference where all the linemen are NFL sized already."
Which 5-10 and shorter QBs have proven vision doesn't matter?
Robb
Young, Flutie, Breese, Wilson all under 6 feet even though Breese is generously listed at 6 feet. Theres clearly a minimum height where it becomes a problem. Modern big time programs have the same size linemen as the NFL. Vision isnt the issue if you can succeed in college with them regardless of what the NFL career turns out to be
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
how many times does aaron rodgers need to have 400 pictures and every google/post posted every day here. DD just send him a dm somewhere and ask him out and be done with it
Take a chill pill, here, have some fried chicken and relax.
I think being a frail QB is more damning than being around 6 feet tall................Once you get that first hard hit you're gonna be gun shy which ultimately throws your mechanics out of whack (scared to stay in the pocket).
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
It matters if he is too short. I think that held Doug Fluttie back for years.
Whoever was involved and all for drafting Manziel should never be allowed to have any say in football operations ever again, just complete buffoonery
every. single. day.
as far as i am concerned, however many memes of Arod DD posts, it is only 50% of the amount that needs to be posted
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Thats not entirely fair to Manziel. Would he have been successful elsewhere, probably not but we will never know. What we do know is the Browns have had over 20 QBs in the last 10 years alone. No organization has ruined more QBs than they have. The Jets tried to win that title and the Browns just keep saying hold my beer. Whoever was involved in drafting Manziel should be looked down upon not because of Manziel but because they are just awful at putting a good roster on the field.
They won 3 games in 2015 when Manziel started some games, then 1 game in 2016, and 0 in 2017, I doubt theres anyone that would have been successful with those rosters they put together
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
I don't care if it's fair to him or not, he was absolutely terrible with a punk attitude
Manziel's behavioral problems were clearly evident in college. It wasn't just one positive test for marijuana or whatever, it was an assortment of bizarre conduct.
Frankly, this was perhaps the most absolutely predictable QB example of a first round draft choice bust in NFL history.
The Browns GM must have been on drugs when he selected this guy.
I get not liking a guy, but 20+ QBs in 10 years and 30+ in 15/20 years is an organizational failure of ruining a ton of QBs
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
Totally agree about the Browns being a mess but let's be honest here, Manziel wasn't going to succeed no matter where he went, to take a chance on him where the upside absolutely did not outweigh the downside was ridiculous.
None of us know the guy personally I'm thinking so it's not a matter of "Liking the guy" or not
He probably wouldnt have succeed anywhere thats true, but he never had a chance by going to the Browns. Hes not the only party animal to ever be in the NFL and obviously had talent from what he did in college. That really wasnt a good QB class at all that year either other than Carr and hes not exactly elite. Baker looks like an NFL QB now that he got away from them. Who knows if that will last but guys were basically assured to fail being drafted as a QB by the Browns during that time frame.
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
Davante Adams along with Carr were both drafted after Manziel, that QB class was weak for sure but to put first round draft pick money on him in that position was still silly, he weighed in at 210 and I don't think he was that heavy to be honest, the Browns were an utter disaster for sure but the guy that wanted to pull the trigger on him was an idiot, go in any other direction and you do better
"Joe Pompliano
@JoePompliano
Johnny Manziel was given a team iPad where coaches could secretly track the amount of time he spent watching film.
But the problem was that Manziel didn’t watch any film. Literally not a minute."
"Sam Monson
@PFF_Sam
This Manziel thing is incredible.
Manziel's agent was gonna have his dad fake a heart attack so Manziel could dodge the drug test at the combine!!
He later discovered that Manziel only passed all his drug tests at A&M by having some 4th string QB piss for him 😂😂"
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Combine stats had him at 207 so 210 could just be a weigh in after a meal and drinking a bottle of water. Given the state of the Browns roster I think their front office was going to mess up pretty much any player no matter what they picked just like they had been for a long time. I would bet that Carr would be out of the league by now if they picked him, and probably Adams as well given he wouldnt have had a QB to throw to him and was fortunate to end up with Rodgers and be able to develop.
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
Weeds not even a penalty anymore its a fine. The majority of the league smokes weed and the testing for it is largely ignored with a high threshold. The only reason it hasnt been abandoned entirely like the NBA did is that the NFL wants it as a bargaining chip in CBA talks to get something in return for not testing for it anymore
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
Johnny Manziel is my favorite college quarterback of all-time, god he was electrifying to watch, a magician. I still remember when my Duke Blue Devils had them down 38-17 at the half in the chick fil a bowl, and he led them back to win the game 52-48, and made one of the most insane plays I've ever seen during that game.
Who said anything about weed? His drugs of choice were coke and alcohol. And of course women made his downfall a trifecta.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Coke and Oxy if youre referring to what he talked about in a documentary. That began after the 2015 season ended and he became suicidal when he was released shortly after that in the spring of 2016.
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
After devouring that bucket of chicken relax in your recliner
with a slice of pie.
That is a BIG statement DD!!
Manziel is legit your favorite College QB of all time?
No doubt, he was so fun to watch, they called him Johnny Football for a reason. As one NFL scout put it, it was like he had eight eyeballs, tremendous instincts. You never knew what was going to happen when the ball was snapped to him, balls to the wall type player. I still remember that play against Alabama, when he almost lost the ball and somehow got it back and just flicked it right into the end zone for a TD, Johnny Football was a wild ride.
He was a great College QB, I will give him that
It's ironic that Manziel won the Heisman trophy as a redshirt freshman in 2012, and his biggest game that year was the upset of number 1 ranked Alabama. During that game, he laid a stiff arm on an Alabama player and it turned out to be an iconic Heisman pose photo.
He was the opposite of a leader. that is a large part of what great QB's are.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Johnny Manziel's story is a sad one, he just had so much talent but threw it all away on drugs and a bad attitude. If you want to be a great quarterback, you have to live the lifestyle of a great quarterback, eat right, train hard, focus on football and being a leader, but unfortunately Manziel cared more about partying. He actually tried to commit suicide, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, but the gun malfunctioned and didn't go off. Here's what he said about it, "I had planned to do everything I wanted to do at that point in my life, spend as much money as I possibly could and then my plan was to take my life," Manziel said in the documentary, according to multiple reports. "I wanted to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made sense, and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me."
Manziel said he had purchased a gun "months earlier" with the plan to use it to carry out death by suicide, but when he pulled the trigger the weapon malfunctioned.
"Still to this day, don't know what happened. But the gun just clicked on me," he said. I don't how he's doing these days, I know he was diagnosed as being bipolar, hopefully he gets clean and gets his life right.
It's obviously a tough thing to hear when the details of what goes on off the field and camera are spelt out like this because at the end of the day he is still a kid/young man spoiled with a bad attitude or not, hopefully he has cleaned himself up and is doing good.
I can say I believe his gun malfunction story, it's probably not a lie for the documentary, I would be willing to bet he pressed the barrel against himself hard enough that it partially racked the slide causing it to not fire, he probably did that without realizing it.
Thankfully it worked out that way
"Young, Flutie, Breese, Wilson all under 6 feet even though Breese is generously listed at 6 feet."
Only two of those quarterbacks are 5-10 or shorter...which you know is the question I actually asked.
Young is not a success thus far, Flutie was not a success, Breese's combine height was listed at just over 6 feet so he doesn't even fit into your narrative.
"Vision isnt the issue"
You say this but provide no evidence whatsoever that it is true. We can go with the last 50 years of NFL history that only one sub 6 foot QB has been consistently good (Wilson) or we can go with your opinion...
Robb
Murrey is 5'10
The average height of SEC and B!G linemen is 6'5 which is the same as the NFL. If youre playing against linemen of the same size vision isnt the issue if you arent successful.
The real problem with the smaller QBs isnt vision, its that when 350 pound guys that weight twice as much as them are sacking them they are more likely to get injured. Thats not unique to them either with taller small framed QBs.
RBs ideal size is 5'10. These guys can see can have played with the height discrepancy in college already.
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007