A day after the greatest player to ever wear an Atlanta Falcons’ uniform, Brett Favre (even if it was only for one season) retired, another quarterback who spent one season with the Falcons is leaving…Atlanta, at least.

The Atlanta Falcons have released Joey Harrington, the third overall pick from the 2002 draft who starred at the University of Oregon prior to learning that football isn’t easy. Coming off a season in which he threw for 2,215 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions in 12 games (including 10 starts), Harrington will be forced to seek for a new team for the fourth consecutive off-season.

Harrington and #1 overall pick David Carr are the posterboys for what is likely one of the poorest quarterback classes in NFL Draft history. Along with Harrington and Carr, Patrick Ramsey also fits the bill as a first round draft bust from the 2002 draft class.

Combined the three quarterbacks selected in the first round in 2002 have completed just over 57 % of their passes for 176 touchdowns, but more importantly they have combined to toss 185 interceptions. They also are frequently with their backs on the ground as the trio has been sacked a whopping 464 times.

However, the mediocrity/poor talent did not just stick to the first round QBs. No, I found 18 quarterbacks selected in the 2002 NFL Draft. Of those 18 quarterbacks, I would say only three have had even moderate success, but two of those, Antwaan Randel El and Ronald Curry, are no longer even quarterbacks. They have found success at the wide receiver position instead. Therefore, there has been only one good quarterback from the 2002 draft class. 

And that QB is…(drum roll)…none other than David Garrard, the former backup to the other quarterback the Falcons released - Byron Leftwich.

While Brett Favre has thrown for over 3800 yards in each of the last four seasons before announcing his retirement on Tuesday, both Carr and Harrington have bounced around while struggling to produce the last couple of seasons, and now both are available unrestricted free agents. Ramsey hasn’t done any better as he currently serves as the backup in Denver to Jay Cutler.

So maybe it is time for those 2002 quarterback draftees (minus Garrard) to do the same as Brett. If they hurry up and retire now, they can at least bask in the limelight of Favre’s retirement…it appears it’s the only way they are going to be able to say they did anything as well as Favre.

Shotgun Spratling

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