Who are ten quarterbacks that have profiled closest to Mitch Trubisky through three years?
In a recent post, we broke down the career arch that Mitch Trubisky was on through three years. We found ten players who have had a similar number of starts from their rookie season through year three and have had similar ups and down to Trubisky.
After seeing why Trubisky is so similar to this group, and where he ranks in comparison to them, we are now going to do a head-to-head look and see if Trubisky was in a similar situation, and how these quarterbacks were able to adjust after their first three years.
We are going to look at each quarterback from the first drafted to the most recent, starting with Byron Leftwich.
10. Byron Leftwich
Leftwich is an interesting comparison. Leftwich was a bigger armed quarterback with some movement ability. He got drafted in the top ten from a school that is not known for producing top ten picks at quarterback.
He was drafted to a team with a talented defense and had expectations put on him heading into his second year. After a strong second year, year three saw injuries and question marks that led into a make or break year four.
Here is how Leftwich compares to Trubisky through three years.
At first glance, the two have similar records and are very close in yards per attempt as well as adjusted yards per attempt. Here are their per-game stats.
Trubisky was a more consistent passer, although Leftwich brought some more splash with fewer sacks. Still, Trubisky threw more touchdowns, less picks, and was a much more impactful runner.
The Jags went 5-11 when Leftwich was a rookie and 9-7 the following year. The Jags changed offensive coordinators and went 8-3 through 11 games before Leftwich got hurt. However, that opened the door for David Garrard. Garrard helped them finish 12-4, but Leftwich came back for the playoffs, where the Jags went one and done.
After starting 3-3 in his fourth NFL season, the Jags moved onto Garrard and made the playoffs once again. That signified the end for Leftwich in Jacksonville. Leftwich only started 14 games in five years after his fourth NFL season. He bounced around to three different teams, starting no more than five games in a year.
That is the type of pressure that Trubisky could be under in his fourth NFL a season.