A New Breed of NFL Quarterback

Dual-threat quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick are becoming more prevalent in the modern NFL.

(I wrote this paragraph shortly after Super Bowl XLVII.  It didn't fit into what I was writing then, but considering I haven't posted something new in a while and the NFL Draft is approaching, I felt it was appropriate to post now.)

Before Cam Newton, the mobile quarterback was becoming a dying breed.  Attaining one was looked at as more of a safeguard option than a championship plan, and passing was becoming the most popular way to win games.  After Cam's statistical success in the air and on the ground in 2011, teams reopened their playbooks to welcome this evolution of the most important position in the sport.  They devised new play formations, some already used at the collegiate level, and adapted them to fit in an NFL system.  Player personnel looked for athletic signal callers to lead their franchises.  Now, this new collection of play-makers is challenging the conventional QBs for a share of the title elite.  The latest high point of the scrambling quarterback came in the final game of the NFL post-season, where 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick challenged an underrated gunslinger in Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.  Using the pistol formation at its finest, thanks to offensive coordinator Greg Roman, Kaepernick went 7-3 in his first ten starts, and led a more than compelling playoff run to the Super Bowl.  While he failed to complete the final pass needed for a Niners championship, he helped cement the future of the mobile QB in the National Football League, and helped pave the way, along with Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, for hopeful newcomers like West Virginia's Geno Smith and Florida State's E.J. Manuel.  As these new competitors bring their specialized talent under center, the traditional play of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Aaron Rodgers will always be carried on, specifically by the Matthew Staffords, Andy Daltons, and Andrew Lucks of the league, leading to a truly intriguing future for the NFL quarterback.