Collins a worthy fit for Steelers

By David Martin Sports Central Columnist

Imagine that your favorite team employs an up-and-down 30-something quarterback coming off an uninspiring season. Now, imagine that your team's management has mysteriously promised this so-so quarterback more money when the funds are freed after June 1 cuts.

The team has just drafted its future at quarterback, presumably, so this guy's facing a maximum of two years with the team, and likely less in a starting role. The man has come from a decade of not playing in the league, and while he was a great story in his first comeback season, showed all the signs of what made him an insurance salesman rather than a 15-year veteran in the league.

Imagine now that not one, but two former Super Bowl quarterbacks are made available at the present time or in the relatively near future. Both lost Super Bowls, but both made the plays to move their teams that far. In one instance, one man has actually won a Super Bowl.

While both are victims of the fiscal responsibility applied by rule in the NFL, both are still reasonably legitimate quarterbacks. And at least one of them would easily outperform the guy your favorite team current team has listed number one on the depth charts. Likely, both would make your current team's starting quarterback look, to be fair, like a second-string quarterback.

This is exactly the situation in which my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, find themselves. Tommy Maddox's best days appeared to have occurred during the 2002 season, his comeback year. The Steelers first-round draft pick of Ben Roethlisberger in the 2004 draft assures Maddox that the 2004 season will likely be his last as a starter.

And then, Kerry Collins, formerly of the New York Giants, is cut. While he carried a giant-sized cap number for the 2004 season, there's no way that Collins would be an expensive pickup. He has a relatively assured (as certain as anything in the NFL is these days) two solid-to-good years left in him. Collins has proven time and again that he is a competitor, a strong leader, and a better-than-average NFL quarterback.

While Collins is beginning the downturn of a decent career, the fact remains indisputable that he is a better quarterback than Tommy Maddox. In fact, he's a better quarterback than a number of guys currently sitting in the top spot of their teams' depth chart at the position. Namely, Collins is an obvious fit for the San Diego Chargers, the Arizona Cardinals, the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Chicago Bears. Each of these teams employs a quarterback who would be unlikely to outperform Collins in a competition for the top spot on the team. All of these teams also happen to have on the roster someone they expect will be the team's future at quarterback, but with concerns about youth, having a veteran in the Collins' mold couldn't hurt, and would likely be beneficial in most instances.

Collins was drafted fifth-overall in 1995, the first pick made by the expansion Carolina Panthers. Collins came off the bench to take over the starting role for the Panthers. While the Panthers performed surprisingly well for an expansion club, Collins obviously struggled with the speed of the defenses and had an unremarkable rookie season.

In his second year, though, the Panthers competed for a Super Bowl berth faster than any expansion team in the NFL had. After the NFC Championship loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, the party seemed to just start, and Collins' career took a nosedive of embarrassing proportions.

The Panthers struggled through two more years with Collins quarterbacking the team, while Collins struggled through the development of an alcohol problem that stunted his potential earlier on in his career. A throw away year in New Orleans was followed by an off-season move to the New York Giants. In New York, under the watchful eye and careful keeping of coach Jim Fassel, Collins bloomed into the classic strong-armed, immobile quarterback.

As the Giants quarterback, Collins never suffered a year in which his passer rating dipped below 70, even in 2003, the team's worst with Collins at the helm. Of his career total 26,383 yards passing, Collins threw for 16,875 of them in a Giants uniform. His 81 to 70 touchdown-to-interception ratio isn't fantastic, but compares favorably to Maddox's uninspiring 39-to-34 TD-to-INT.

More to the point, Collins' problems have never thrust him out of the league. He's matured in the league, played through the personal failures. In 2000, he led the Giants to the Super Bowl and threw for over 4,000 yards. He had the misfortune of facing one of the best defenses of the last decade when he got there, though.

For my money, if the Steelers see fit to part ways with linebacker Jason Gildon, rather than pay more money to so-so starter Tommy Maddox, I'd rather Collins came on board to perform the role that Vinny Testaverde did for the New York Jets, that is: tutor the rookie MAC-schooled quarterback for a year or two, and provide the offense with the guidance and leadership that a 10-year veteran can.

But, that's just me...

Article courtesy of Sports Central.