Agreed. Schaub has had a good OFF-season & shown OFF the field leadership and this is encouraging. But, when I'm evaluating the team I ask myself how many of our players would be starting on other teams. If most of our players would NOT be starting for at least 50% of the other teams, then we will be a sub-500 team. Apply this to Matt Schaub ......... how many other NFL teams would trade starters with us? I would venture to say less than 50% which, at this point, puts our starting QB in the lower half of the league's QB's. He has alot to prove and the talent appears to be there but, we've got to see it on the field before declaring him Brett Favre.
OK, let's evaluate which teams would trade QB's and which wouldn't. Let's start in the AFC East. The Pats have Brady, The Jets have Penn, The Bills have Lohsman, & the Dolphins have Green. I'd say the Bills and the Dolphins would trade their QB situation with the Texans.
AFC South: Colts have Peyton, the Titans have Young, the Jags have Leftwich & Garrard. Of that group, only the Jags might trade. They are not sold on either of their guys, but both have more experience than Schaub. Schaub may be a better QB over the long haul than Young, but I don't think they'd trade right now. So the Jags are a team to add to the list.
AFC North: Bengals have Palmer, Steelers have Big Ben, Browns have Frye and Quinn, & the Ravens have McNair. No way the Steelers or Bengals trade. The Browns certainly would and you'd have to think the Ravens would considering the age and miles on McNair.
AFC West: Chargers have Rivers, Raiders have Russell, Broncos have Cutler, Chiefs have Huard. The Chargers & Broncos seem to be set. The Raiders would trade, because Schaub has had a chance to learn for a couple of years. The Chiefs most certainly would trade.
NFC East: Giants have Eli, Cowboys have Romo, Washington has Jason Campbell, the Eagles have McNabb. Washington would trade. The Cowboys and the Eagles wouldn't. Give New York a year and they might, but not right now.
NFC South: Panthers have Delhomme, Saints have Brees, Bucs have Simms/Garcia, Falcons have Vick. Panthers and Saints are set. Atlanta let Schaub go so they like Vick over Schaub (that might change after dog fighting investigation finishes). The Bucs would trade in a heartbeat.
NFC North: Bears have Grossman, Lions have Kitna, Vikings have Jackson, & the Packers have Favre. Favre is the best QB in that division, but he's on the downhill slide. If the Packers management could make a choice without fan pressure, they'd trade. With the other three, it would be a no-brainer....they'd trade QB's.
NFC West: Seahawks have Hasselbeck, Rams have Bulger, Cards have Leinart, & the Niners have Alex Smith. I really think none of those would trade QB's right now.
That puts my count at 13 teams that would trade their starter for Schaub straight up right now. That number might change after we see how he performs this year. It could go up or down, but still that's not too shabby. How many teams would have traded their starting QB for David Carr straight up? I would highly doubt it would be 13. David couldn't even come up with a team that wanted him to be their starter as an un-restricted Free Agent this off-season.
Go Texans