So the Vikings have finally done it - moved Joe Webb back to WR.
Yes, yes, I am aware that Webb played QB in high school and in college, but let's face it - how many of the best football players played QB in high school merely because of their superior football smarts and playmaking abilities?
According to the US government's website, in 2009-2010 there were over 30,000 public schools in the US with secondary aged students. That is a LOT of high school football teams of about 60 players each (I believe my high school had 60 on the Varsity team). Then you have 32 NFL teams, with a final 53-man roster each, for a total of 1,696 NFL players per annum, not including the practice squads and hopefuls and CFL and arena players who take spots due to injury, arrests, etc.
So even with the occasional brilliant college walk on, the attrition of players from high school to pros is epic.
So, I'm postulating that Webb was high school quarterback simply because he's a good athlete and has a good head for football. Especially since a great deal of his time at UAB was split between QB and WR (something I don't like, with the exception of the occasional trick play), and when he worked out for the NFL it was AS a wide receiver. A football player knowing his limitations better than Childress? No, that can't be...oh...wait...
Childress-hating aside, I do think selecting him as a QB was the first step to ruining Webb's career, and I was unbelievably pissed that Frazier didn't immediately switch him back to WR. But it's done now, and I hope for his sake (not to mention the rest of the team!) that Webb will make a go of it.
On the con side, he's 26 now, which isn't terribly young for a football player, especially at a brutal position like WR. He's got to compete against a refreshed unit for playing time - he's not going to get the start ahead of people like Greg Jennings! Plus, we have a half-dozen TE's right now, and I can promise you after that Pro Bowl performance that Frazier is going to give Kyle Rudolph some decent looks or be pillaged by an angry purple and gold mob midseason. (Seriously. Frazier. PLAY RUDOLPH!!!)
The rest of the WR mob - Burton, Childs, Patterson, Simpson, Smith, Summers, Highsmith and Thielen - will sort themselves out in due course, and I can see Webb lining up with most of them. I do have high hopes for Childs, since he had a whole year to study the playbook while he's been in rehab, and our strength and training people had better have been all over him.
Here is hoping for the best for him as WR. I was one of the hopeful ones who thought he might work out long term as a QB - and I even heard some people say before the Vikes V. Pack playoff game that Joe Webb might give us an advantage [I was not amongst them], obviously none of that was to be. It would seem, as you said, that Webb understood that at an NFL level, he was better suited to WR - I hope he thrives. 26 isn't too old in NFL terms though, I mean we just handed a big contract to a soon-to-be-30 year old Jennings...
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not always too old to play, but it's hard to start over at that age. I definitely want him to show us what he's made of! Like I said, he's been loyal to us, and I hope it works out well for all concerned.
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