By: Tim Durr
He sits on the bench, holding a clipboard, talking to everyone who will listen. He sits down with the starter and points out something he noticed in coverage earlier. It's all good. Then, the starter gets hurt and he has to take the field. The fans gasp, it's the worst backup QB in the league: Jimmy Clausen.
A bit harsh?
His numbers don't exactly deny that statement. After Clausen threw three touchdowns and nine interceptions in 10 starts in 2010 in Carolina, it seemed like he'd quickly join the ranks of immediate busts who wash out of the league, ex: JaMarcus Russell.
It didn't happen, though. It's been five years since that dreadful season and Clausen has only added two touchdown passes and two INTs to his career totals in six games with the Bears.
When the Bears released him a few weeks ago after he filled in for a game-and-a-half when Jay Cutler was down, it seemed like Clausen's career might finally be done. He's a young, well-spoken guy and there are 120 sports networks out there looking for "analysts", I was sure he'd be fine.
Instead of hanging up the jersey, Clausen got a call from the Ravens and could actually start this weekend against the Seahawks. It'd be his second start against Seattle this year. He went 9-for-17 for 63 yards in the first contest. Yes, 63 yards.
Why would a team take a chance on a guy like Clausen after he has been atrocious his entire career? He hasn't shown a glimpse or spark or anything to say he'll turn into a serviceable QB.
Let's stop and think about that. Ryan Mallett, Tim Tebow, Ryan Lindley, and Josh Freeman are all available options. All of those guys were with teams in training camp this off-season but now they're unemployed, and they continue to stay unemployed. Every year a swarm of great college QBs enter the NFL draft and most of them are gone before you even knew they had a chance.
Let reality sink in. The gap between the worst NFL QB and the next best available is larger than you realize. Plus, it isn't solely about what you can do on the field when you're being hired as a backup.
Clausen's career numbers are nothing special at all. He has a 53.2 completion percentage, which would have been phenomenal if this was 1978. In 2015, if you're under 60 percent then you might get the label of being slightly inaccurate, ex: Cam Newton and Eli Manning.
There doesn't seem to be any reason to give Clausen another chance in the NFL after six years of under-performing everywhere he's stopped. The chances keep coming because being a backup QB isn't strictly about on-field performance.
Clausen is a Notre Dame guy, which insinuates he's probably pretty smart. He also stays low-key for the most part. There are a ton of duties bestowed to a backup QB in the league and having a guy who can handle all of that helps out every position on the team.
Toss his 1-12 record as a starter aside, forget about his 60.1 passer rating, eight career fumbles, and the fact that he averages 103.4 yards/game in his career.
When you bash Jimmy Clausen, it's like making fun of the millionaire with the least money. He's done enough to make $1,000,000.01 so don't act like you're a better QB than Clausen from your armchair, you're not.
Even if you played four years at a Division I college and threw for a couple thousand yards, Clausen did that, too, in the eyes of the elite, that doesn't mean anything.
So, while we have the argument about which QBs in the NFL are elite, just remember, they all are.
The difference between my talent and Jimmy Clausen's happens to be the same gap between him and Tom Brady, though.
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