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Quarterback Drafting Rules: 26-27-60

Over the past few days, a couple of FanPosts and FanShots have brought up some different criterion that various football gurus have used when selecting a quarterback during the draft. I was going to try to combine them all into one FanPost, but after further review, I think they need to be looked at separately, so that's what we'll go with. Yesterday, NMVike brought us the "26-27-60" rule, which says that a quarterback should score at least a 26 on the Wonderlic Test that's given at the Combine, start 27 games in college, and complete 60% of his passes.

The folks over at Hogs Haven have done the "heavy lifting" when it comes to figuring out these quarterback numbers. . .well, at least the starts and the completion percentage rules, since the Wonderlic hasn't been given yet. They have given us SB Nation bloggers permission to use those numbers, so we'll put those after the jump for your perusal.

Jake Locker, 6'2" - 228 lbs - (FAILED COMPL % MISERABLY)

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

Washington

Pac-10

FR

QB

155

328

47.3

2062

6.3

5.1

14

15

105.0

2008

Washington

Pac-10

SO

QB

50

93

53.8

512

5.5

5.7

1

0

103.6

2009

Washington

Pac-10

JR

QB

230

395

58.2

2800

7.1

6.9

21

11

129.7

2010

Washington

Pac-10

SR

QB

184

332

55.4

2265

6.8

6.6

17

9

124.2

Career





619

1148

53.9

7639

6.7

6.2

53

35

119.0

 

Colin Kaepernick, 6'4" - 225 lbs - (FAILED COMPL %)

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

Nevada

WAC

FR

QB

133

247

53.8

2175

8.8

9.8

19

3

150.8

2008

Nevada

WAC

SO

QB

208

383

54.3

2849

7.4

7.8

22

7

132.1

2009

Nevada

WAC

JR

QB

166

282

58.9

2052

7.3

7.7

20

6

139.1

2010

Nevada

WAC

SR

QB

233

359

64.9

3022

8.4

8.6

21

8

150.5

Career

 

 

 

 

740

1271

58.2

10098

7.9

8.4

82

24

142.5

 

Ricky Stanzi, 6'4" - 230 lbs  - (FAILED COMPL %) - High Enough to Squeak Through, though

Year

Team

G

Cmp

Att

Comp %

Yds

Yd/A

TDs

Int

Sacked

Yds

2007

Iowa 

2

0

4

0.0

0

0.0

0

1

0

0

2008

Iowa 

13

150

254

59.1

1956

7.7

14

9

22

138

2009

Iowa 

11

171

304

56.3

2417

8.0

17

15

23

175

2010

Iowa 

13

221

345

64.1

3004

8.7

25

6

19

135

Career


39

542

907

59.8

7377

8.1

56

31

64

448

 

Christian Ponder - 6'2.5" - 222lbs - PASSED

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

Florida State

ACC

FR

QB

8

18

44.4

105

5.8

1.9

1

2

89.6

2008

Florida State

ACC

SO

QB

177

318

55.7

2006

6.3

5.3

14

13

115.0

2009

Florida State

ACC

JR

QB

227

330

68.8

2717

8.2

8.1

14

7

147.7

2010

Florida State

ACC

SR

QB

184

299

61.5

2044

6.8

7.0

20

8

135.7

Career


 

 

 

596

965

61.8

6872

7.1

6.7

49

30

132.1


Cam Newton - 6'6" - 250 lbs. -  (FAILED - ONLY 14 GAMES PLAYED)

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

Florida

SEC

FR

QB

5

10

50.0

40

4.0

4.0

0

0

83.6

2008

Florida

SEC

SO

QB

1

2

50.0

14

7.0

7.0

0

0

108.8

2010

Auburn

SEC

JR

QB

185

280

66.1

2854

10.2

11.2

30

7

182.0

Career

Overall

 

 

 

191

292

65.4

2908

10.0

10.9

30

7

178.2

 

Florida

 

 

 

6

12

50.0

54

4.5

4.5

0

0

87.8

 

Auburn

 

 

 

185

280

66.1

2854

10.2

11.2

30

7

182.0

 

Greg McElroy (ALA) - 6'2 - 222lbs  - (PASSED)

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

Alabama

SEC

FR

QB

8

9

88.9

73

8.1

10.3

1

0

193.7

2008

Alabama

SEC

SO

QB

8

11

72.7

123

11.2

8.9

1

1

178.5

2009

Alabama

SEC

JR

QB

198

325

60.9

2508

7.7

8.2

17

4

140.5

2010

Alabama

SEC

SR

QB

222

313

70.9

2987

9.5

10.1

20

5

169.0

Career


 

 

 

436

658

66.3

5691

8.6

9.2

39

10

155.4

 

Andy Dalton (TCU) - 6'2" - 213 lbs - (PASSED)

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

TCU

MWC

FR

QB

222

371

59.8

2459

6.6

5.8

10

11

118.5

2008

TCU

MWC

SO

QB

182

307

59.3

2242

7.3

7.3

11

5

129.2

2009

TCU

MWC

JR

QB

199

323

61.6

2756

8.5

8.8

23

8

151.8

2010

TCU

MWC

SR

QB

209

316

66.1

2857

9.0

9.9

27

6

166.5

Career


 

 

 

812

1317

61.7

10314

7.8

7.9

71

30

140.7

 

Ryan Mallett - 6'6" - 238 lbs. (37 games)  - (FAILED COMPL %)

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2007

Michigan

Big Ten

FR

QB

61

141

43.3

892

6.3

5.7

7

5

105.7

2009

Arkansas

SEC

SO

QB

225

403

55.8

3624

9.0

9.7

30

7

152.5

2010

Arkansas

SEC

JR

QB

266

411

64.7

3869

9.4

9.7

32

12

163.6

Career

Overall

 

 

 

552

955

57.8

8385

8.8

9.1

69

24

150.4

 

Michigan

 

 

 

61

141

43.3

892

6.3

5.7

7

5

105.7

 

Arkansas

 

 

 

491

814

60.3

7493

9.2

9.7

62

19

158.1

 

Blaine Gabbert - 6'5" - 235 lbs (29 games) - PASSED

Year

School

Conf

Class

Pos

Cmp

Att

Pct

Yds

Y/A

AY/A

TD

Int

Rate

2008

Missouri

Big 12

FR

QB

5

13

38.5

43

3.3

3.3

0

0

66.2

2009

Missouri

Big 12

SO

QB

262

445

58.9

3593

8.1

8.2

24

9

140.5

2010

Missouri

Big 12

JR

QB

301

475

63.4

3186

6.7

6.5

16

9

127.0

Career


 

 

 

568

933

60.9

6822

7.3

7.3

40

18

132.6

 

So, out of nine bigger name quarterback prospects, only four of them. . .Gabbert, Dalton, Ponder, and McElroy. . .passed according to the 26-27-60 standard (Wonderlic scores pending, of course). Gabbert is thought to be, possibly, the top quarterback prospect in the draft since he's declared early, Dalton and Ponder have been mentioned in the second or third round range, and McElroy has been bandied about as a mid-round prospect at this point.

I understand that these rules aren't the be all and the end all of drafting a quarterback. There are some quarterbacks that didn't meet these criteria that have gone on to NFL success. . .most notably Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, and Ben Roethlisberger (all of whom scored too low on the Wonderlic test). But it's a pretty good starting point, if nothing else.

In the next day or two, we'll measure these same quarterbacks by another set of quarterbacking rules, those set forth by one of the preeminent team builders of our time, Bill Parcells.