If there’s one thing we know about Michael Bennett, it’s that he is not afraid to speak his mind. On Tuesday, it was quarterbacks, specifically ones not in the top tier, who were squarely in the cross hairs of the Seahawks defensive lineman.
During an interview with 710 ESPN in Seattle, Bennett voiced his thoughts on the large contracts being signed by “mediocre” quarterbacks that aren’t reflective of their talent level. He mentioned a few by name, with Ryan Tannehill as an example.
“Quarterback is the only position in the NFL where you could be mediocre and get paid. At every other position, you can’t be mediocre,” Bennett said, according to ESPN. “If I was Ryan Tannehill and the most games I ever won was seven, how could you get a $100 million for that? I guess that’s the value of the position.”
Bennett also mentioned Sam Bradford.
“There’s some mediocre quarterbacks in the NFL that make a lot of money,” Bennett said. “You take a guy like Sam Bradford, he’s never played really in the last three years, but he’s made more money than most guys in the NFL.”
While Bennett went about it in a way that may appear harsh, his mentioning of the value of the position was valid. Each team searches for someone they can tab as their “franchise quarterback.” Everyone isn’t fortunate enough to have Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning.
While Ryan Tannehill isn’t on the level of those three quarterbacks, he has shown improvement over his three years in the league, enough that the Dolphins felt comfortable to give him a six-year contract extension worth $95 million. Sam Bradford signed a six-year deal worth $78 million as a rookie after the Rams selected him No. 1 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft in hopes he would be their quarterback of the future. Many scoffed at the lucrative deal the Bengals agreed to with Andy Dalton because of lack of success in the postseason, although they have advanced to the playoffs each year since Dalton became the starter in 2011.
Quarterback is probably the most important position in all of sports. With the demand so high, and a team’s success tied so much to their performance, prices for quarterbacks won’t be coming down anytime soon. He’s not mediocre by any means, but imagine what Andrew Luck’s next contract will be considering the amounts recently received by Dalton, Tannehill, and Russell Wilson.
