Earlier this week, SNYWhyGuys colleague Mike Salfino compared Mark Sanchez and Eli Manning’s QB ratings through their first three years and noted that they are an identical 72.3.  He had also tracked Sanchez’s stats at other points during the season and each time they showed a remarkable similarity to Eli.

Although Mike makes it quite clear that this does not mean Sanchez will progress along the same path as Manning, the comments on the post suggest that people are simply seeing this as a defense of Sanchez’s mediocrity.  And this is understandable when the only comparison given is to a guy who many now consider to be one of the elite QB’s in the league.  It would be helpful to look at the downside.

For the other side of the coin you don’t need to look any further than the other side of the Giants bench, and backup QB David Carr. His QB rating through his first three years is 72.5, also nearly identical to that of both Sanchez and Manning.  All these numbers really show is that young promising QB’s who are thrust into action are often pretty mediocre early on.  After three years the numbers would suggest Sanchez could go either way.  He could progress and become a franchise QB, or he could just as easily end up a journeyman/backup in a few years. Its just to early to make that judgement, and I think that’s what Mike’s point really was.