Redskins trade for Alex Smith

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by ethat001

I'm in support of the Alex Smith deal and hopeful, since he was quasi-elite or at least top 10 last year, and the Brady's / Brees's have lasted until age 40 recently. Also we probably had no real chance to sign KC. But by history you can see above link over a LOT of QBs reviewed, that the performance declines dramatically every year age>33... Crossing my fingers this $40 million was worth it..

The only thing I would argue on his approach is the sampling for qbs.

The first step in trying to measure the aging patterns of quarterbacks is to figure out a sample to analyze. I decided to look at all quarterbacks who entered the league since 1970 and have since retired. I further limited my sample to quarterbacks who had at least three seasons of above-average play based on this system. That brought us to a group of 77 quarterbacks, from quarterbacks like Jon Kitna, Jay Fiedler, and Dan Pastorini to Hall of Famers like Joe Montana, Brett Favre, and Dan Marino.

The protection rules have changed dramatically for qb's from 1977 to present, and his sample doesn't really account for that. I think we are seeing more and more qb's play longer, and at higher skills, because they don't take the same beating week after week.