The Wide World of Dirt

There is no position in the game of American football held to the standards placed on quarterbacks.

Also known as a field general, the quarterback position has evolved over time.; in the early days of the game, they were just another guy that ran the ball.

With the implementation of the forward pass, pure pocket passers began to develop, with Colts QB Johnny Unitas pioneering the movement.

Guys like Fran Tarkenton, Bobby Douglass, Steve Young, and Randall Cunningham shook up popular opinion on what an effective QB can be, using their god-given speed to scramble out of the pocket and make plays with their legs.

At the turn of the millennium, the buzz around mobile quarterbacks began to simmer with Steve Young being forced into early retirement from injuries and the lack of success produced by recent draftees Akili Smith and Michael Bishop.

That all changed when the fastest QB ever hit the league in 2001.

1. Michael Vick – 4.33

Who else was it gonna be? Jesse Palmer?

Jokes aside, Michael Vick was one of the most electrifying athletes on Earth from his first game in Blacksburg for Virginia Tech.

Vick put on a clinic in his two-year Hokie career, both with his arm and legs. Like setting a cannon on Road Runner’s shoulders, Michael Vick had NFL general managers absolutely beside themselves.

They had no idea what to do with the guy, and his record-setting 40-yard dash at the draft only made him more of a spectacle.

Feeling bold, the Falcons traded for his rights on the day of the 2001 draft after the Chargers spent the 1st overall pick to grab the swift gunslinger.

Vick rose to superstardom in his six seasons with Atlanta. He took the team back to the NFC Championship game, got to be on the cover of Madden 2004, and was the first quarterback to ever rush for 1000 yards in 2006.

A dog fighting ring on Vick’s property earned him a two-year prison sentence that saw the Falcons cut him and put the rest of his once-storied career in jeopardy.

Vick hit the market again during training camp in 2009, and at the behest of Donovan McNabb, Eagles HC Andy Reid made the call to sign Vick after his reinstatement.

The now-29-year-old Newport News native played sparingly in McNabb’s shadow in 2009 before the veteran QB departed the following offseason, leaving Reid with a decision to make between Vick and the younger Kevin Kolb.

Kolb started the first four games of 2010 before injuries began to derail his career. Mike assumed the starting role in week 5 and never looked back.

Vick set new career-highs in passing yards, completion percentage, passing touchdowns, and rushing touchdowns and led the Eagles to a playoff berth.

The next three seasons saw the league’s most dangerous player decline slowly as nagging injuries and age in general began to catch up to him.

He lost his job in Philly to Nick Foles in 2013 and spent a year apiece with the Steelers and Jets before retiring after 2016.

Michael Vick still holds the all-time quarterback rushing yards record with 6,109 and averaged 7 yards per carry for his career, another record, but the first NFL record Vick set was one that might endure the longest.

2. Reggie McNeal – 4.40

An exceptional 2004 campaign put Reggie McNeal in the national spotlight, earning him first-team All-Big 12 honors.

Known for his creative playmaking, McNeal struggled to stay on the field at Texas A&M, but when he was healthy, he showed flashes of being a complete dual threat.

McNeal’s senior season was hindered by injuries, but the Aggie still had commentators interested coming into the 2006 NFL Draft.

McNeal left a lasting impression on scouts with a blistering 4.40 time in the 40, but concerns about his accuracy dropped him into the sixth round where the Bengals picked him up.

It wasn’t long before the project QB was converted by Marvin Lewis into a wide receiver, but Reggie wasn’t long for the league.

Despite a decent preseason showing, Reggie only recorded a single snap in his NFL career against the Colts on Monday Night, rushing from the QB spot for eight yards, giving Cincinnati a first down.

Soon after his 2007 release from the Bengals, the former QB signed a deal to play for the Toronto Argonauts where he spent a few years at receiver and showed flashes of brilliance before a serious back injury ended his career in 2012.

Reggie may not have gotten to show what he could’ve been as a quarterback, but at least he got to take his one NFL snap at QB and get a first down.

3. Robert Griffin III – 4.41

Robert Griffin III burst onto the collegiate scene for the first time in the spring of 2008, not as a football player but as a member of Baylor’s track and field team. The freshman runner helped the Bears to a 400m hurdle win in the Big 12 Championship.

The extra reps Griffin got in the spring led to him starting for the football team as a true freshman, and he lit the Big 12 world on fire. Despite a 4-8 record, RG3 was not the issue, completing 60% of his passes with a 15-3 TD-INT ratio.

Griffin also made moves with his world-class wheels by running for over 800 yards and tacking on an additional 13 TDs, but a torn ACL in the early weeks of his sophomore season threatened his future.

The absence didn’t phase the Texas native much as he returned for his redshirt sophomore season with a significant stat boost compared to his freshman year.

His 2010 season was just an appetizer for his junior season where he made significant strides as a passer.

Connecting on an absurd 72.4 percent of his passes for 4,293 yards and 37TDs, Griffin’s momentous growth became Baylor’s first Heisman Trophy winner and leading the Bears to an 11-3 record with an Alamo Bowl victory.

A meteoric rise on the field led to a similar rise in his draft stock, and at the 2012 NFL Combine, RG3 flashed his world-class speed by laying down a 4.41 40 time.

His combine performance inspired the Commanders to move up to the 2nd overall pick to select Griffin right after Andrew Luck.

The Baylor alum showed no signs of slowing down when he hit the league, gaining over 4000 yards of total offense alongside 27 total touchdowns.

From the 2nd overall pick in April, RG3 lifted the Commanders to the playoffs, but a knee injury right before put his health at risk.

The hefty knee brace on his knee didn’t provide enough stability, and Griffin tore his ACL and LCL on a botched snap early in the 4th quarter of their wild card game.

Although he tore his ACL once before in college, this time Griffin wasn’t so fortunate in his recovery as this injury appeared to take some of the spring out of his step.

He rushed back into action for week 1 in 2013, and it was to his detriment. The team went 3-10 over his 13 games behind center, and after another middling showing in his third year, the Commanders benched him for the entire 2015 season.

Having already signed him to a fifth-year option, Washington released RG3 in the offseason before signing with the Browns where he would spend one year looking like a shell of his former self.

Griffin spent the remainder of his playing career as a backup to a certain dynamic Ravens QB before retiring from playing in 2021 to take up a broadcasting career.

4. Brad Smith

A four-year starter at Missouri, Brad Smith was only the second Division I-A quarterback to ever throw for 2000 yards and rush for 1000 yards in the same year.

Smith would go on to set a high dual-threat standard for himself throughout his career at Mizzou, repeating that 2K passsing/1K rushing feat once more in his senior season before graduating into the NFL Draft for 2006.

Like Reggie McNeal, pro scouts were wary of Smith due to his style of play not translating into wins as well as being an average passer.

Even still, Smith put down what was the third-fastest 40-yard dash by a quarterback at the combine at 4.46, just a shade behind draft classmate McNeal.

Selected ahead of McNeal, the Jets took a flyer on the former Tiger in the 4th round and used him in various ways in his five years with the team.

He got to lineup under center on occasion throwing for 51 yards and a touchdown in New York while making his biggest impact in the returning and receiving game.

Smith nearly notched 1000 yards for his career receiving and rushing alongside 9 total TDs in his nine-year career that saw him suit up with the Jets, Bills, and Eagles.

His kick returning proved potent by taking four kicks back to the house in his career, all but one coming with the Jets.

5. Justin Fields – 4.46

Beginning his amateur career at Georgia, Justin Fields served his true freshman season primarily as the backup to returning starter and pocket passer Jake Fromm.

Mostly filling in for Fromm when games were out of reach, Fields exhibited immense quickness as well as a stellar (but unrefined) arm as UGA failed to repeat their performance from the previous season.

Knowing that Fromm still had time left in college and fit HC Kirby Smart’s system, Fields opted to leave his home state college for the greener pastures of Ohio State.*

Granted an immediate waiver to play at tOSU, Fields earned the starting job in camp and never looked back, throwing over 5300 yards and 63 TDs while only losing in 2 of his 22 games as a Buckeye.

Fields didn’t do much at the combine, but he was there long enough to tie Brad Smith’s 40 time with a 4.46 and considering how polished the Kennesaw, Georgia native had become as a passer, he was certain to be drafted in the first round.

The Bears were determined to get their next franchise QB and traded up to select Fields with the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Justin began his rookie season as the backup to veteran Andy Dalton before quickly assuming the starting role after Dalton got hurt in week 2. His rookie season was a bit of a mixed bag derailed by poor offensive line play and subsequent minor injuries.

Chicago made a coaching staff change in the offseason with new HC Matt Eberflus and OC Luke Getsy crafting an offense that better utilized Fields’ existing skill set.

The change paid dividends for Fields’ performance.

Minor injuries and poor offensive line play limited Fields’ availability, but in 15 games, he managed to become the third QB in history to rush for 1000 yards in a season, joining Vick and Lamar Jackson.

Fields also made strides as a passer, improving his completion percentage and passing TDs. He looks to helm the Bears next year as well though they have the number 1 overall selection in this year’s draft.

Odds and Ends

While there are many quarterbacks that appear fast on tape and outrun defenders with ease, a lot of them didn’t lay down an official 40-time at the combine.

Among them are Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Randall Cunningham, and Kordell Stewart. Some others did lay down a hot 40 but at other positions.

Jackson laid down a 4.34 time in the 40 at Louisville’s speed day in 2017, and Murray logged a (hand-timed) 4.38 at Oklahoma’s spring practices that same year.

Cunningham claimed to run an unconscionable 4.29 in high school on a rubber track while former Steelers coach Bill Cowher maintains that Stewart clocked in at 4.40 during training camp for his 1995 rookie season.

That brings me to…

The Verdict

Due to inconsistent data collected through the combine, I cannot say definitively that speed has a true link to success for quarterbacks.

Of the five QBs featured in this piece, Michael Vick was a Hall of Fame-caliber player, but Reggie McNeal and Brad Smith hardly threw a pass in the NFL.

RG3 could’ve set a new standard for gunslingers everywhere with his dynamite athleticism, but injuries sabotaged his promising career.

Then, there’s Justin Fields. In his first two years, he’s wowed observers with his speed and playmaking, but with injuries pulling him off the field, one has to wonder about his long-term outlook if the offensive line doesn’t get repaired soon.

Not only that, racism has sadly played a pivotal role in this data being incomplete.

Black quarterbacks struggled for several decades to establish themselves as elite signal callers with Warren Moon, a prototypical pocket passer, breaking the mold in the early 80s when the Houston Oilers signed him after an illustrious CFL career.

Why was Warren Moon, one of the most talented passers of his time, playing in Canada anyway? Well, among his accomplishments in college were a Pac-8 title for Washington and a Rose Bowl victory over heavily-favored Michigan.

So, you tell me why Moon had to go to the Great White North to fling the pigskin.

Lamar Jackson dealt with numerous talking heads demanding he make the switch to runningback in the pros, so he deliberately opted out of the 40 at the combine and his pro day.

Cunningham’s draft stock fell because coaches at the time had no idea how to approach an athlete of his caliber at the position.

We’re talking about two of the most talented players to ever play the position of quarterback, and because they can run a little bit, NFL GMs were terrified to draft them at their natural place under center.

I alluded to this earlier, but some college quarterbacks performed at the combine for other positions, making their results invalid for this exercise.

Among them are Hines Ward (4.55), Randall Cobb (4.47), Joe Webb (4.43), and Antwaan Randle-El (4.54).

Terrelle Pryor supposedly ran as low as a 4.38 at his pro day, but after a few seasons in the league as a subpar passer, Pryor moved to receiver where he experienced more consistent success.

With racism playing into how this position is evaluated, I think it’s unclear if general managers and front offices even want a fast quarterback, even if they’ve proven time and time again they’re just as effective (or even more so) than a pocket passer.

Time will help make this a bit more dense of a sample size, and though players like Murray and Jackson will forever be absent from the exercise, hopefully they are the forbearers of the next generation where mobile QBs are the norm.*

Next time on The 40, we’ll be talking about the fastest runningbacks to ever hit the combine, which will hopefully give us more definitive results.

Editor’s Note: I just saw the 40 times from this weekend, and Florida’s Anthony Richardson dropped a wicked 4.43. Maybe the future is now!