Mike Glennon quarterback experiment. Get used to those words being uttered a lot. That's pretty much how most Chicago Bears fans and national media will view his signing. Even his contract structure proves it. Sure, it's a $45 million deal. That means nothing. The devil is in the details. Most of the guaranteed money in his contract will be gone after the first year. In essence the Bears could cut him with minimal fallout in 2018.
Basically 2017 will be a one, long audition for the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers backup. He has remained upbeat and confident in every interview. He gives off the aura of a man who patiently waited for this opportunity after years of being given the runaround by his former team. Regardless, GM Ryan Pace showed plenty of belief that Glennon can be the starter.
Should anybody believe him? It's been hard trusting this team with anything of late after seasons of 5-11, 6-10 and 3-13 over the past three years. Still, there remains an undercurrent of optimism about what the Bears might have planned. Much of it centers on some traits Glennon showed during his brief time as a starter.
Many Bears fans met the signing of quarterback Mike Glennon one of two ways: with a shrug or with a shake of the head. Either they think he's a decent option for a "bridge" quarterback, a veteran who can hold the reins for a bit, or he is a waste of time and money. Why not just start fresh with a young rookie and just build around him? That's supposed to be what teams with sustained success are about.
However, there is a strong undercurrent of experts who continue to explain why this signing should be taken seriously. That Glennon might be better than people realize. Andy Benoit of the MMQB actually cited a particular trait of his that could make this venture profitable, at least in the short-term.
This is one of the key traits that NFL teams seek in starting quarterbacks. Almost anybody can throw an accurate pass when they have a clean pocket and aren't pressured. It's entirely another when they can put the ball dead on the money with a defender in their face or actually hitting them at the same time of the throw. Greats like Brady, Manning, Rodgers and Brees have all done it. Tom Thayer of chicagobears.com backs up this assessment by Benoit with a breakdown for one of Glennon's most impressive plays. [video width="640" height="360" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Film-Review-Mike-Glennon.mp4"][/video] People can talk about arm strength and mobility. Those are fun and all. Yet neither really have everything to do with what makes the best quarterbacks. Being able to remain cool under fire is probably the most underrated quality needed. Glennon demonstrated that capability from from the very beginning in Tampa. In total he was sacked 56 times in 21 games. So he was dropped 2.66 times per game. For comparative reasons, here are the numbers for other quarterbacks around the league.
- Aaron Rodgers = 2.40 times per game
- Tom Brady = 1.78 times per game
- Drew Brees = 1.52 times per game
- Ben Roethlisberger = 2.46 times per game
- Andrew Luck = 2.22 times per game
