It's all in the Numbers

[TheBayouBullet]

After observing the recent trend of QBs coming out of college and taking the # 7 (even if their college #s were different), I decided to do a little project to see if I could find any trends. The results I found were downright scary.

Actually, they weren't scary at all. But some of it is kinda cool.

The following list consists of jersey #s, the percentage of players who have those numbers (approximately), and the names of those individual players.

1: 1.4% - Adrian McPherson, D.J. Shockley

2: 3.5% - Aaron Brooks, Shaun Hill, Chris Simms, Tory Woodbury, Anthony Wright

3: 3.5% - Derek Anderson, Joey Harrington, Rob Johnson, Stefan LeFors, Bryan Randall

4: 5.6% - Todd Bouman, Brodie Croyle, Brett Elliott, Brett Favre, Jay Fiedler, Omar Jacobs, Mike McMahon, Dave Ragone

5: 7.0% - Brooks Bollinger, Casey Bramlet, Ken Dorsey, Quinn Gray, Gibran Hamdan, Kliff Kingsbury, Donovan McNabb, Preston Parsons, Quinton Porter, Bryson Spinner

6: 5.6% - Jared Allen, Lang Campbell, Kellen Clemens, Jay Cutler, Rohan Davey, Todd Mortensen, Dan Orlovsky, Charlie Whitehurst

7: 13.3% - Brock Berlin, Kyle Boller, A.J. Feeley, Jeff Garcia, Bruce Gradkowski, Darrell Hackney, Drew Henson, Tarvaris Jackson, Byron Leftwich, Matt Leinart, J.P. Losman, Travis Lulay, Ingle Martin, Erik Meyer, Jesse Palmer, Casey Printers, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick, Billy Volek

8: 8.4% - Shane Boyd, Mark Brunell, David Carr, Daunte Culpepper, Trent Dilfer, Rex Grossman, Matt Hasselbeck, Tim Hasselbeck, Jon Kitna, Matt Mauck, Matt Shaub, Marques Tuiasosopo

9: 7.0% - Josh Betts, Drew Brees, Timmy Chang, Charlie Frye, David Garrard, Steve McNair, J.T. O'Sullivan, Carson Palmer, Cody Pickett, Tony Romo

10: 9.1% - Corey Bramlet, Marc Bulger, Koy Detmer, Trent Green, Kelly Holcomb, Shaun King, Eli Manning, Jamie Martin, Drew Olson, Chad Pennington, B.J. Symons, Brian Wrobel, Vince Young

11: 7.0% - Drew Bledsoe, Jason Fife, Ryan Fitzpatrick, David Greene, Cody Hodges, Damon Huard, Doug Johnson, Patrick Ramsey, Alex Smith, Bradlee Van Pelt

12: 6.3% - Tom Brady, Gus Frerotte, Jared Lorenzen, Josh McCown, Luke McCown, Aaron Rodgers, Rod Rutherford, Jim Sorgi, Brian St. Pierre

13: 1.4% - Tim Rattay, Kurt Warner

14: 3.5% - Brett Basanez, Brian Griese, Brad Johnson, Joel Klatt, Kent Smith

15: 1.4% - Todd Collins, Seneca Wallace

16: 6.3% - Matt Baker, Charlie Batch, Matt Cassel, Craig Nall, John Navarre, Jake Plummer, Marcus Vick, Andrew Walter, Chris Weinke

17: 4.9% - Jason Campbell, Jake Delhomme, Cleo Lemon, Craig Ochs, Jeff Otis, Philip Rivers, Reggie Robertson

18: 2.1% - Peyton Manning, Kyle Orton, Sage Rosenfels

19: 0.0% - NONE



Total Quarterbacks: 140

As I figured, the #7 is the most common number, and definitely a younger trend, as a brief look immediately reveals a slew of young, highly touted / recruited QBs (Boller, Henson, Leftwich, Leinart, Losman, Roethlisberger, Vick). Considering that more than one out of every ten players chooses #7 when there are 19 available numbers for quarterbacks, that's pretty significant. So why is this? Elway syndrome? Or is 7 simply the universal lucky number?

Speaking of lucky numbers, I was surprised to see that only two quarterbacks had claimed the unlucky #13...Tim Rattay and Kurt Warner. The only other numbers with only two takers, and 1.4% of the pool, are the #1, worn by Adrian McPherson and D.J. Shockley, and the #15, worn by Todd Collins and Seneca Wallace.

Though I wasn't surprised to find that the #8 was popular, I was surprised to find it as popular as it is, and the third most popular number. There are quite a few big names to go along with it, too, in Brunell, Carr, Culpepper...well, read the list above for yourself. The only quarterback that you probably haven't heard of is the first one on the list, Shane Boyd. Apparently, if you want success (or at least your name in the headlines once in your life), #8 is the one that you want.

Speaking of #s that you don't want, is there any one worse than #3? It definitely wins the Insignificant Award. When the two most prominent #3s in the league are a first-round bust and a guy with the nickname of Robo-Sack, that's not a good sign. The brilliance of #3 ended when Bobby Hebert retired. There! I said it!

It was interesting that no quarterbacks in the NFL have taken 19. At first, I thought that perhaps 19 wasn't an eligible quarterback number anymore, but after doing a bit of research, I discovered that it still is. Whoever bites the bullet and takes it will definitely stand out from the 140-man crowd.

Speaking of standing out in the crowd, there are two sets of brothers who have taken the same number...Matt and Tim Hasselbeck with #7, and Josh and Luke McCown with #12. And while we're talking about brothers, there's a pair out there that you probably haven't heard of. That's Casey and Corey Bramlet, the young quarterbacks belonging to the Redskins and Patriots, respectively. Both hail from the University of Wyoming.

The Inexperience Award goes to #6, who (outside of Rohan Davey) consists of players who are either rookies, or with one or two years experience.

Anything else interesting that you noticed? Post and let us all know!

[Q-man]

I'm surprised that #10 is the second most picked number.
Good job as always Bullet.

[Cold Buc Fan]

Is 0 and eligable QB #?

Originally Posted by Cold Buc Fan

Is 0 and eligable QB #?

Don't think so....1-19

[AMERICAN MUSCLE]

Originally Posted by Cold Buc Fan

Is 0 and eligable QB #?

No














blah blah blah

[Corsair]

Wow, TBB that is alot of research.

Do you have writers block or something?

[TheBayouBullet]

Originally Posted by Corsair

Wow, TBB that is alot of research.

Do you have writers block or something?

What's writer's block?


(Ohhh yeah, that's a lot of blue there)

Originally Posted by Cold Buc Fan

Is 0 and eligable QB #?

Only if you're Gilbert Arenas.

[TheBayouBullet]

Bumping 'cause I'm proud of it!

McPherson took #5 last year

"The Inexperience Award goes to #6, who (outside of Rohan Davey) consists of players who are either rookies, or with one or two years experience."

Jared Allen?
Generally speaking, yes I get it.

[Clayton80future]

This is awesome Bayou, but I would be much more impressed if you did receivers!

[arizona480]

Originally Posted by TheBayouBullet

Bumping 'cause I'm proud of it!

So over half the QB's numbers that are chosen are between (including) 7 and 12?

[40Forever]

What # did Griese have while Brad Johnson was still with the Bucs. They couldn't both have 14.

[Clayton80future]

Originally Posted by 40Forever

What # did Griese have while Brad Johnson was still with the Bucs. They couldn't both have 14.

He was number 8. He switched back to 14 with Da Burs.

[Sortin]

You should take into consideration the availability of retired numbers though.

[TheBayouBullet]

Originally Posted by Clayton80future

This is awesome Bayou, but I would be much more impressed if you did receivers!

What are you trying to do, kill me?