Did Kordell Stewart play in the wrong era?

Even though I agree, I still believe that a Qb is the main reason You win , or lose in the playoffs.
I was always taught, and I believe it to be true from all that I've seen, that a HC will get You to the playoffs, and a Qb will get you to the promise land, the SB.

 

Yes, he played in the wrong era. Teams today are much more able to utilize the QB's legs on designed runs, and they are able to scheme ways to make that threat open up the passing lanes. He wouldn't have had to have been highly accurate. Complete 60% of passes (many tailored, easy throws off of rollouts), run a good bit, etc. He would've been a menace in the red zone today too. I don't think he would've been a super star, but he would've been an effective starter that could get hot and find a PB/AP a year or so in there, but be largely run of the mill when he's not hot. Think Jalen Hurts. High ceiling, but can be remarkably average for stretches too.

 

Can’t say he played in the wrong era, but he definitely played for the wrong coordinators.

 

I'm not sure he was willing to give up being a QB without an honest try. He was ok that 1st year with the "slash" role because it got him on the field. Guys like Ward and Randel El were far more aware that the path to the NFL was by switching to receiver and not QB. There have been a couple guys on offensive line that I think would excel at guard but got the idea that after a try a tackle they wanted that instead because more money. I remember Foster saying that to guys who were converted to tackles that they should stay tackles for the money.

 

Yeah, definitely. I remember thinking that while I thought he should be a RB, he'd never give up the QB role. But it would have been better for him and the team.

 

I think what you're describing is pretty much what Stewart was.

Starter for multiple years. > 3k passing 2x (I think this was harder back then, but I don't have stats on how many 3k passers there were then vs. now). One probowl.

Best year (2001) finished 4th in MVP voting (and comeback player of the year).
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/awards/awards_2001.htm

Maybe the biggest thing re: era that Steward would have benefited from was protections for QBs? Big concussion in 2002. Neck injury in 2003.

I think it's also worth mentioning that making the AP team for a QB is really, really hard. Ben was never a 1st team all pro (maybe not even a 2nd team?). And he should be a 1st ballot HoF player. Miles better than Stewart ever could have been.

 

There are similar numbers of 3k passers now as there was in 2000, but way more 4k passers now. The peak for passing was the early 2010's, and we're regressed from then in a passing capacity; but still ahead of Stewart's time.

I think he would've had more staying power in today's league. Statistically his rushing would be higher and probably his passing as well. Some OC would have found a way to utilize his strengths. AP likely would have been a bit easier in 2001 than in Ben's time simply because Ben played in the best QB era ever. Brady, Manning, Brees, Rodgers, Luck... Just studs everywhere in the league. There were good QB's in the late 90's but it was different. The league changed offensively because of how good the QB play was in Ben's era.

 

Thanks for the info re: 3k passers. That's interesting that the threshold for having 3k didn't seem to change when passing got easier, but getting to 4k did.

If I had to guess...maybe this tells us something like "it doesn't make it easier to process info fast enough to be a competent QB (3k yards), but for the guys who can do that well the increase in passing attempts and rules limiting defenses make it easier to get huge numbers (4k yards)"?

I think you're right about Ben and APs. Just really, really hard. Even to make the probowl since he was basically always in the league with Brady and either Manning or Mahomes.

His career in a modern NFL would certainly have looked different. He wouldn't have had to put in a couple years as "Slash" because he'd be a QB right away (so his career as a QB would be longer on the front end). There would be a lot more offenses in the league that would be willing to run around a guy like him. Defenses would have had more / better ways to deal with QBs like him. He'd have been more protected. And he'd probably have had more options as a backup after his prime starting years were done.

But in the end, I think his main issue was accuracy. So I think he would have had a longer career in today's NFL. But I don't know that he would have had bigger accomplishments than he already had (but maybe would have had more of them with more starting years).

 

Politics in a sports forum. Has always been one of my favorite things.