On Thursday, Kerry Collins finally called it a career after 16 seasons as an NFL quarterback. During his time as a professional, Collins posted impressive numbers, including 40,441 passing yards and 206 touchdowns. Though some might argue that Collins enjoyed productive career, most knowledgeable fans know that he was really a bust.

 

Drafted fifth overall by the Carolina Panthers all the way back in 1995, Collins struggled mightily with alcohol dependency and inaccuracy problems that led him to bounce from team to team. An average to disappointing player at best, Collins never really did much to earn an NFL roster spot; and the fact that he was able to stay in the League for 16 years is proof enough that the NFL is in serious need of talent at the quarterback position.

 

With elite rocket-armed signal callers, such as Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees breaking all sorts of passing records, the NFL may seem like it's sitting pretty in respect to the passing position. A crop of young, talented, up-and-coming players like Sam Bradford, Matthew Stafford and Joe Flacco only seems to bolster that appearance.

 

Unfortunately, the reality is that most NFL teams are deeply in need of serviceable quarterbacks. Last year, teams like Arizona and Tennessee started the likes of Derek Anderson, John Skelton, Max Hall and Rusty Smith; while other teams held tightly to washed-up players like Donovan Mcnabb, Brett Favre and Matt Hasselbeck. Somewhere in between, you have teams like the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos struggling to make pro quarterbacks out of incapable college players, Chad Henne and Tim Tebow.

 

In a further sign of desperation, several NFL teams wasted high draft picks on quarterback prospects that lack either the physical or mental attributes needed to play the most important position in the League. With Andrew Luck inexplicably choosing to return to college for his senior season, teams were forced to settle for questionable players, such as Cam Newton, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Mallett and Ricky Stanzi.

 

Perhaps one of these quarterbacks will ascend to the level of Rodgers, Manning, Brady and Brees; but don't count on it. More likely, they'll be lucky to post a mediocre career similar to Collins.

 

- Ryan Lawrence