I think you can make a case that Geno's ascendance to 'reasonable starter' came from his time working as a backup. That said, guys who look unfit for the league who can even appear like an average starter later in their career might just be it's own, even smaller, variety.
Young was a star in the USFL, and then a starter for the Bucs, and in 88 when he came to the 49ers he wasn't a backup strictly speaking, as Walsh was playing a maddening 1A and 1B thing with him and Montana that just made everybody mad. I don't think he counts for this.
A few of the famous ones are square pegs. Young. Staubach out of the Navy. McNair out of Alcorn State.
Vick did sit until the end of his rookie season. Of course, lots of rookies "sit until something bad happens to the veteran," and that sometimes goes late in the season.
It's useful to turn the question around to see my point: look how many 1st round QBs in the 70s-80s played a LOT as rookies. It was rare for a team to have any better development plan than what they have now: "Hey, Brissett will be fine for a month or so."
That is the example that popped into my head as well. Maybe we just are avoiding talking about Rogers since he has clearly evolved into a nutter. XD
For the record, I'm a cheesehead.
Rodgers and now Love are also among the counter-exceptions. Steve McNair is another. We are up to 8 maybe? Across 50 years or so?
I think you can make a case that Geno's ascendance to 'reasonable starter' came from his time working as a backup. That said, guys who look unfit for the league who can even appear like an average starter later in their career might just be it's own, even smaller, variety.
Didn't Vick sit behind Chris Chandler until Chandler got hurt?
Steve Young?
Young was a star in the USFL, and then a starter for the Bucs, and in 88 when he came to the 49ers he wasn't a backup strictly speaking, as Walsh was playing a maddening 1A and 1B thing with him and Montana that just made everybody mad. I don't think he counts for this.
A few of the famous ones are square pegs. Young. Staubach out of the Navy. McNair out of Alcorn State.
Vick did sit until the end of his rookie season. Of course, lots of rookies "sit until something bad happens to the veteran," and that sometimes goes late in the season.
It's useful to turn the question around to see my point: look how many 1st round QBs in the 70s-80s played a LOT as rookies. It was rare for a team to have any better development plan than what they have now: "Hey, Brissett will be fine for a month or so."