In 90 NFL seasons, only 13 quarterbacks taller than 6'5" have ever played a down. And none of them...

In 90 NFL seasons, only 13 quarterbacks taller than 6'5" have ever played a down. And none of them has ever started 75 games or thrown for 100 TDs. If there were a Hall of Fame devoted to tall quarterbacks, the first-ballot selections would be 6'6 passers Derek Anderson, Scott Mitchell and Marc Wilson.

The latest ESPN the Magazine on a story on 6'6" – not 6'7" – Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett.

over 1 year ago Dan Kadar 16 comments 0 recs |

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Wow, interesting stat.

Not that it necessarily means Mallett will fail, but I had no idea so few “tall” QB’s manage to succeed.

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by Tempestuous Binary on Aug 28, 2010 11:38 PM EDT reply actions

They are simply stating an obvious demographic statistic, which is that there are not a lot of people 6-6 and over. You could make the same statements about every position on the football field, as well as baseball, hockey, golf, and bowling. There are not many tall players because there are not many tall people. And the taller you are, the more likely you were pushed into basketball.

At my Div III school, there were 15 6-3 guys cut from the basketball team. They were one in a million. No one 6-6 and over was cut. We were lucky when we had more than one.

by ct17 on Aug 29, 2010 11:12 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

That's a very good point.

"All the world's indeed a stage, and we are merely players."

"God I'm excited for those two to fail miserably." - SBNation writer Andrew Sharp on Josh McDaniels and Tim Tebow.

Quitter's People United Member #18

by Tempestuous Binary on Aug 30, 2010 2:09 AM EDT up reply actions

narrow the list even more – if you are that tall and you haven’t been pushed into basketball or volleyball or something else – you’re probably going to be told to put on weight and play DE or TE, and not QB. I think this is a pretty clear case of using statistics to say whatever you want about something.

by quantumuprising on Aug 30, 2010 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions

great shame

As a Knicks fan, I can always point to the Frederic Weis example.

Now I have to go beat myself with a baseball bat until that memory again fades.

by ct17 on Aug 31, 2010 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

somewhere Doug Flutie is laughing

by durst on Aug 29, 2010 11:09 AM EDT reply actions

We need a 7 foot tall QB, it’d be illegal to tackle him.

by Phantaskippy on Aug 29, 2010 11:38 AM EDT reply actions

I’d vote for Flacco

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by TheRealSlimShady on Aug 29, 2010 10:40 PM EDT reply actions

with his awesome collection of rings

yards and playoff legacy…

oh wait, he hasn’t been to a superbowl, he has basically thrown to Ray Rice 60% of his career and he has a career playoff QB rating of 47.222

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by Josh Roberts (ESGB) on Aug 30, 2010 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions

There are no words to respond to someone who thinks Derek Anderson is better than Joe Flacco.

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by UZ on Aug 30, 2010 3:18 AM EDT up reply actions

I didn't say that...

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If Troy, Harrison and Woodley are on top of their game, that is good for 9 wins right there, regardless of what is going on with their offense. - Mr MaLoR 28/6/10

by Josh Roberts (ESGB) on Aug 30, 2010 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

there really haven't been that many towers that play QB has there?

Mallet should get on that list, he may replace the illustrious Derek Anderson in Arizona.

by FreeBradshaw on Aug 30, 2010 6:46 AM EDT reply actions

also, is there some magical force of nature that makes one or two inches in height turn you into a terrible qb? if so, 6’4-6’5 peyton manning, carson palmer, phillip rivers, dan marino, tom brady, ben roethlisberger, eli manning, brad johnson, etc etc etc etc are laughing diabolically somewhere. Not that brad johnson is a good qb, but he won a super bowl.

in fact, this decade (since super bowl XXXIV), only three super bowl winners have been UNDER 6’4 – kurt warner and drew brees. how’s that for a statistic?

by quantumuprising on Aug 30, 2010 9:47 AM EDT reply actions