Nick Saban Blames the Unrealistic Expectations From Lowly Franchises for Failing Young QBs

While the NFL has become a passing league dominated by quarterbacks, there aren’t a lot of reliable ones these days. The NFL’s overall passer rating generally hovers in the low 90s, but it dipped below that number in both 2022 and 2023. There have seemingly been more draft busts at the position over the last few years than ever, but what’s causing this dip in form? Legendary college coach Nick Saban has a theory.

Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, Saban outlined his view on the current QB landscape in the NFL. In this age of instant gratification and short attention spans, the Alabama icon believes young signal callers are being thrown into the fire too quickly. He argued that they “lose their confidence” before they have a chance to “develop” properly as a professional.

“The number one reason there is such a failure rate with quarterbacks, even guys that are very high draft picks, is they come in with great expectations. They really don’t know, for sure, all the things they need to do to be able to play in the National Football League. They go out there and play before they’re ready, they lose their confidence, and bad things happen.”

Saban also spoke about the age-old tactic of sitting QBs for their first few years so they can learn. He used the classic Aaron Rodgers-Brett Favre example and also spoke about Michael Penix, who was able to sit and learn for the first three-quarters of the season before being thrust into the starting role.

“When these guys have a chance to learn and develop. I think they have a much better chance of being successful. Now, is it going to be instant? Maybe not, but I think a much better chance than he would’ve had if he’d have had to come in and start right off.”

The former Alabama head coach also spoke about the role impatient owners and fanbases can have on these processes. While some coaches and general managers might initially intend to bring on their shiny new QB prospect slowly, the guy with the checkbook will sometimes push for faster results.

“You get a lot of pressure from the owners, and everybody else, if you pick a guy 1, 2, or 3, we gotta play the guy. Well, he’s not ready to play. And then bad things happen sometimes… I think there’s a lot to be said about guys that learn how to be professionals, and have respect for development.”

The poor quality we’ve seen at QB has also led to unprecedented turnover at the position. In 2022, the league set a new record for most different QBs to earn a start in a single season, with a whopping 71. Only eight teams started the same guy under center for every game that year. That turnover has continued, as 67 QBs made a start in 2023.

Saban: Impatient Owners and transfer portal contribute to poor QB play

Saban, who left the college ranks in 2023 after decades of unparalleled success, believes this all begins at the NCAA level. With the new NIL deals and the less stringent transfer portal, young players are not facing down adversity. Instead, they’re transferring to greener pastures whenever they hit a bump. That attitude has had a negative effect on prospects when they reach the much tougher NFL level, as Saban argued.

“And that’s the one thing we’re losing right now in college football, is the mindset that if I don’t play right off the bet, I’m a failure. And then I wanna transfer and leave. So there’s never a commitment to doing the things you need to do to improve, to develop as a player, and I think that’s going to carry over in the NFL as well.”

Nick Saban isn’t the only one disappointed by the quality of QB play in the NFL in recent years. The man considered the greatest to ever play the quarterback position, Tom Brady, has also had some choice words on the topic. Brady believes that it’s the pro-offense rules changes and penalty calls that are sapping the standard of QB play at the highest level.

“There’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL. I don’t see the excellence that I saw in the past. The coaching isn’t as good as it was. I don’t think the development of young players is as good as it was. The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. The product, in my opinion, is less than what it’s been… We used to work on the fundamentals of those things all the time. Now, they’re trying to be regulated all the time.”

If two of the most successful people in football history believe there’s a problem, there might just be a problem.