Saturday 26 July 2008

Pennington and Garcia the odd men out?

An interesting part of the circus regarding Brett Favre's potential trading to either the Bucs or Jets, is the effect that may have on the current incumbent Quarterbacks at those teams.

Firstly, in New York, it's pretty likely that the aquisition of Favre would lead to Chad Pennington asking to be released or traded. The veteran is entering the autumn of his career, and in any case, it's unlikely the Jets would be interested in paying him $4m+ dollars to sit on the bench as a potential third string QB.

Where could Pennington land? Kansas City has been mooted for some time, and it would certainly make sense to reunite with former Jets coach Marvin Lewis. Perhaps another team interested could be Chicago, who have limited options at QB and where coach Lovie Smith has spent the last week emphasising the need not for players who can win games, but who don't lose them. Many pundits have considered this an endorsement of Kyle Orton over Rex Grossman, but the description fits Pennington equally well.

Heading down to Tampa Bay, it's hard to imagine Jeff Garcia being enthused about the team bringing in a QB the same age as him, but with a much higher profile. Unfortunately for Garcia, the team would like to keep him around at his low salary (the source of Garcia's ire this offseason) and ship off one of the many other QB's they have.

However, in the end, Garcia's value in any trade may hold the key. Again, teams like the Bears and Chiefs are looking for a veteran QB who will keep the offence ticking over. Garcia is also amongst the top signal-callers in the league when a play breaks down - something that is likely to happen all too frequently for both offences during the coming season.

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