It's June, so a lot can change between now and the start of training camp in six weeks, but apparently the Buccaneers are thinking about giving the starting quarterback gig to rookie first-round pick Josh Freeman.
Before last season, I would have had a hard time supporting that plan, but Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco changed all that. Ryan led the Falcons, a four-win outfit in 2007, to the postseason; Flacco made it to the AFC Conference Championship game with the Ravens, a team that finished 5-11 the year before.
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version.
Was last season the year of the quarterback or what? You still had the old reliables like Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Donovan McNabb doing their thing, but a whole new crop of passers have elevated themselves. Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler led the way for the youth movement. You could have even waited toward the end of your draft and landed stud QBs in Matt Ryan and Tyler Thigpen (who would have been waiver-wire fodder). Team all that with Tom Brady's Week 1 injury, and we had a really interesting season. Let's see how they fall out presently for 2009.
Perhaps the best way to ease a young NFL quarterback into the starting job is to surround him with playmakers, the support of a suffocating defense, or both. That way, he's seldom in the position of having to win a game, but has the benefit of gaining experience.
The strategy worked for the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, and the Ravens and Joe Flacco and the Falcons and Matt Ryan last season. Pittsburgh was 15-1, Baltimore and Atlanta were 11-5. It helps to have most of the pieces in place before handing over the offense to a young QB, but it's not mandatory; the Ravens won five times the year before Flacco arrived, and the Falcons won four.
"You have to be a really unique person, not player, but person," Young told FanHouse on Friday. "You can be a phenomenal player, but you have to have an iron stomach. It's not going to be easy for him."
Before Young earned his spot in the Hall of Fame with the 49ers, he struggled trying to be the savior for the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, Stafford, the No. 1 pick in last month's draft, finds himself in that spot with the Detroit Lions.
Not all that long ago, the Dolphins took a shot on John Beck as their starting quarterback. The 40th-overall pick in the 2007 draft out of BYU, Beck entered the Miami lineup after the team's 0-9 start to 2007. Beck lost four straight, committing eight turnovers and throwing exactly zero touchdown passes in that stretch.
And just like that, Beck's initial chance to be a No. 1 guy in the NFL ended. His career in Miami ended as well earlier this offseason, and now Beck will try to latch on with Baltimore after reportedly agreeing to a one-year deal with the Ravens this weekend.
The plan was for Joe Flacco to spend his rookie season -- the first part of it, anyway -- on the sidelines. The Ravens' 2008 first-round pick came to Baltimore by way of Delaware, a Division I-AA school. And while he had the physical tools -- size, elusiveness, arguably the strongest arm in the league -- there's a huge difference between pummeling Monmouth on Saturdays and trying to slow down the Steelers on Monday night.
But training camp injuries to Kyle Boller and Troy Smith forced Flacco onto the field. In 2003, Brian Billick named then-rookie Boller the starter, and five years later, he was fighting for a roster spot (and Billick was out of a job).
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Jonathan Ogden retired last summer, leaving the Ravens with a young but deep group of offensive linemen to protect rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. Not surprisingly, Ogden's replacement, Jared Gaither (a former supplementary draft pick) was inconsistent, but occasionally flashed glimpses of big-play potential.
There used to be a time when teams would use a first-round pick on a quarterback with the understanding that he would sit on the bench for two or three years, learn the offense, and then assume the full-time gig. Recently, with the proliferation of the pro-style offense in college, and the out-of-control salaries top-of-the-draft quarterbacks now command, more is expected sooner.
During the NFL draft a lot of fancy buzzwords get thrown around by analysts, bloggers, fans and, well, pretty much anybody watching the annual selection meeting. Smoke screen, reach, tweener, value ... you get the idea. When it comes to smoke screens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers attempted to use one of their free-agent signings in an effort to hide their interest in eventual first-round pick, quarterback Josh Freeman. That is, if we believe Freeman.
Appearing in an NFL.com chat after being selected by the Bucs, Freeman claimed that the Tampa Bay front office informed him that its two-year deal with free agent quarterback Byron Leftwich was nothing more than a giant ruse.
With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.
In 2007, the Ravens finished a disappointing 5-11, stuck with an offense that created scoring opportunities about as effectively as a broken Brita filter cleans water. A draft later, the Ravens picked up lesser-known Joe Flacco, who fell into the job as starting quarterback and led Baltimore to the AFC Conference Championship, eventually losing to the NFL Champion Steelers. The Ravens filled holes at running back last year when they snagged Ray Rice in the second round.
Now, the Ravens know they can win even with a spotty offense, but it is something they need to focus on. Last year, only one wideout, Derrick Mason, caught over 700 yards, and he is 35.
It's June, so a lot can change between now and the start of training camp in six weeks, but apparently the Buccaneers are thinking about giving the starting quarterback gig to rookie first-round pick Josh Freeman. 
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version. 
Perhaps the best way to ease a young NFL quarterback into the starting job is to surround him with playmakers, the support of a suffocating defense, or both. That way, he's seldom in the position of having to win a game, but has the benefit of gaining experience. 
Not all that long ago, the Dolphins took a shot on 
The plan was for 
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 
There used to be a time when teams would use a first-round pick on a quarterback with the understanding that he would sit on the bench for two or three years, learn the offense, and then assume the full-time gig. Recently, with the proliferation of the pro-style offense in college, and the out-of-control salaries top-of-the-draft quarterbacks now command, more is expected sooner. 
During the NFL draft a lot of fancy buzzwords get thrown around by analysts, bloggers, fans and, well, pretty much anybody watching the annual selection meeting. Smoke screen, reach, tweener, value ... you get the idea. When it comes to smoke screens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers attempted to use one of their free-agent signings in an effort to hide their interest in eventual first-round pick, quarterback 
With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call 
