Quarterbacks, Quarterbacks Everywhere ...

There's still time to vote on the People's Pitstop lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol. While you ponder your votes and your brackets, it's time to ponder something football-related at the People's Pigskin.

First, some basic math. There are 32 teams in the National Football League. Let's take as a given that the typical NFL team has three quarterbacks on its roster: a starter, a backup and an emergency third quarterback. I think the teams that collect quarterbacks the way some people collect stamps (yes, I'm looking at you, Jon Gruden) are balanced out by the teams that use a wide receiver who played quaterback in high school as their third quarterback. That means that, in any given season, there are 96 quarterback slots available in the NFL.

Now let's look at college football. According to the NCAA, 630 teams played college football in one division or another last year. If you add the 111 teams that play NAIA football, then you have 741 college teams in all, each of which has a starting quarterback. I have no idea exactly how many of these teams had a junior, senior or fifth-year senior starting at quarterback this past season, but let's just say, for the purpose of this exercise, that two-thirds of them did. That would mean there are 494 quarterbacks who would be eligible for selection in next month's NFL draft.

Think about that stat for a moment, fantasy football fans. Hundreds of quarterbacks are coming out of college every year, and you would think at least a few of them are coming out with the particular skills that make them NFL-ready. Yet so many of the stories you'll read over the next few months are about quarterbacks who are considered "projects" (even prospective top draft picks) or are being told they need to make "ridiculous" changes in the way they play if they want an NFL job.

Think about these things the next time someone working on the personnel department of an NFL team is called a "genius."

And despite the steady flow of candidates for the QB slots, people still end up recycling such stellar passers as Rex Grossman, and performances like JaMarcus Russell's are tolerated...oh, wait, Russell's tolerated because this guy likes him. Never mind.

Anyway, the polls close Thursday night so we can get a lineup submitted in time for Friday's qualifying session. We'll be back Friday with a new poll.