Quarterbacks

Who's on the Roster?
#14 Ty Detmer (6-0 189, 13th, Brigham Young)
#15 David Rivers (6-3 220, 1st, Western Carolina)
#8 Matt Schaub (6-5 237, rookie, Virginia)
#7 Michael Vick (6-0 215, 4th, Virginia Tech)

Starter: Vick
Top Backup: Detmer

Newcomers: Detmer (free agent/Lions), Rivers (free agent), Schaub (3rd round pick).

Last season the Falcons suffered through a 2-10 record mostly because of the shoddy play of the backup quarterbacks. They hope that there can be a few changes this year.

The Falcons lost Michael Vick in the second preseason game last summer to a broken fibula. At first, most experts were saying that the injury was similar to the one Donovan McNabb suffered late in 2002, and that Vick would only miss 6-8 weeks. But in fact, he missed the next fifteen weeks, and it was clear on his return in late November against the Houston Texans that he was rushed back and still not 100%.

But all indications say that Vick is healthy entering this summer and he should be ready to bounce back this season. There is little doubt that the success of the team rests mostly on the shoulders of Vick. Last year, in the 12 games without him the team went 2-10, and in his four starts, they managed a 3-1 record. The difference is clearly his ability to make plays and the confidence he inspires into players on both sides of the ball.

Vick's arm strength and mobility are still his most potent weapons. He's been improving his accuracy, touch, and decision making, but they still are not good enough to rank him among the best in the league.

This year he'll be learning the West Coast Offense and that offense requires quicker decisions and uses a lot more timing and short routes, the types of routes that Vick has the most trouble with. He's best when he's allowed to roam in and outside the pocket, buying himself enough time to go through all his progressions, and then making the right throw. Now he'll be asked to make quick decisions off three-step drops. It will be an adjustment, and if Vick is not taking as well as hoped, it's likely that new offensive coordinator Greg Knapp will allow him to "regress" into the style of play he's a bit more comfortable with. But there is not an expectation that Vick will not take to the new offense, but rather questions loom about how much time it will take for him to adjust. Typical wisdom states that quarterbacks get it either by their second or third seasons, but Falcons coaches are hoping that Vick is a quicker learner.

Helping Vick learn this new offense is veteran Ty Detmer. Detmer is entering his thirteenth season in the league, and he has spent the majority of his professional tenure on teams that run the West Coast Offense. Detmer played under Knapp in San Francisco in 1998, and has spent the past 3 years with the Detroit Lions under Steve Mariucci, who is probably the biggest influence on Greg Knapp's own offensive system. Not to mention a combined 6 years in Green Bay and Philadelphia, two more West Coast systems.

Detmer has been a career backup, and for his career has only 25 starts. The past two seasons he's been Detroit's third quarterback and hasn't thrown a pass since 2001. But the team's expectations for Detmer are that he will help teach the young quarterbacks on the roster the offense and should be adequate on the field if forced to play due to his greater understanding.

Detmer has lost much of his mobility due to age and has never been blessed with great arm strength, but he still has enough in both areas to be a good fit for this offense. He hasn't really played well since 1999, but to his credit he has played on some poor teams since then, none of which had the offensive firepower that the Falcons now field. The team hopes that the overall deficiency of his teammates was more of a cause of Detmer's poor play rather than his own talents.

Detmer will enter training camp as the No. 2, but he won't have the job locked up. He'll have to look over his shoulder at rookie Matt Schaub. Schaub was a third round pick out of Virginia, where he played in a West Coast Offense for two seasons. He was considered a consensus Top Five quarterback by most draft experts.

Like Detmer, Schaub too is not blessed with great arm strength or mobility, but what Schaub did display a lot of in college is good accuracy and smart decision making. The team hopes that will make him a fast learner. Although a rookie, the team is hoping that Schaub can make a push for the No. 2 job sooner rather than later. Although the team ran into problems with young quarterbacks last season in Doug Johnson and Kurt Kittner, the team still is interested in seeing how quickly and well Schaub is developing. Even if Schaub is not the official No. 2 quarterback, if Vick does go down for an extended period of time, he'll likely get the opportunity to play instead of Detmer.

The team has also brought in David Rivers. Rivers was with the team last summer, but was injured in NFL Europe and missed all of training camp as well. He was back in NFL Europe this past spring as a backup and played well in some playing time, and the team is willing to give him another shot. What Rivers has that the other backup candidates have is good arm strength. He's still pretty raw, but the team is hoping that if he plays well enough in the preseason, he can land on the practice squad. Now that the practice squad has expanded to eight players from five, it makes Rivers chances much higher. Since Detmer will be turning 37 this season, is not really expected to have a long tenure in Atlanta. Because of this, if Rivers can show something this summer, he might have a No. 3 job waiting for him next season.

The Falcons have thought about bringing in another veteran quarterback throughout the spring and early summer, but for now look content with the four guys they have. If Detmer struggles as well as Schaub, the team will probably look for another veteran to try to jumpstart the bench. But until the team sees both Detmer and Schaub struggling, it likely will settle with those two as the backup.

Salary Cap Sense

As mentioned in previous versions, the salary cap has little effect on the quarterback position. Teams try to keep their three best quarterbacks on the roster.

Roster Projection

1. Vick (starter)
2. Detmer (backup)
3. Schaub (backup)
4. Rivers (cut)