Bruce Arians doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s hanging in there with Drew Stanton as his backup quarterback, and that’s tough to understand. Stanton is an older, lesser quarterback with no upside.
But Arians says he’s settled on Stanton as his No. 2. He knows the system better than Blaine Gabbert. But just because he knows the offense doesn’t mean he can fill in adequately.
In each of the last two years, Stanton has completed under 45 percent of his passes in limited playing time (11 of 25 in 2015, and 19 of 48 last year). If the Cardinals need to rely on him for a month of two, the offense will be dead in the water.
Stanton doesn’t have the arm strength, accuracy or decision making. I’ll concede they’ve been able to go 6-3 with him as a fill-in starter since 2014, but he’s passed for under 170 yards in five of those games. As a pro he’s averaged 187 passing yards in 13 starts, with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He’s completed only 53 percent of his career passes.
The smarter move (I thought) was to go with Blaine Gabbert. A lesser quarterback, but one who’s at least been getting better. Maybe they’ll keep three quarterbacks and try to continue to develop him; he’s been more effective in the preseason games – doing a better job of driving the ball down the field. (Gabbert has averaged 2.5 more yards per pass play.)
I’m just finishing up Bruce Arians’ new book, THE QUARTERBACK WHISPERER. In that book, it’s apparent that Arians likes to have a close, joined-at-the-hip relationship with his quarterbacks (which have included Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck). Arians tends to treat his assistants and players like family, and I think that’s what we have going on here – he’s developed a relationship with Stanton and is comfortable with him. Maybe he likes the way Stanton helps out in preparations (making him almost like an assistant coach).
But Carson Palmer is 37, so the Cardinals need to start thinking about who’s going to be their quarterback in 2018 and 2019. It will not be Drew Stanton.
| DREW STANTON'S 13 CAREER STARTS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int |
| 2009 | at S.F. | L 6-20 | 11 | 21 | 52% | 130 | 0 | 3 |
| 2010 | Chi. | L 20-24 | 16 | 24 | 67% | 178 | 1 | 0 |
| 2010 | G.B. | W 7-3 | 10 | 22 | 45% | 117 | 1 | 2 |
| 2010 | at T.B. | W 23-20 | 23 | 37 | 62% | 252 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | NYG | W 25-14 | 14 | 29 | 48% | 167 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | S.F. | W 23-14 | 18 | 33 | 55% | 244 | 2 | 0 |
| 2014 | at Den. | L 20-41 | 11 | 26 | 42% | 118 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | Det. | W 14-6 | 21 | 32 | 66% | 306 | 2 | 2 |
| 2014 | at Sea. | L 3-19 | 14 | 26 | 54% | 149 | 0 | 1 |
| 2014 | at Atl. | L 18-29 | 24 | 39 | 62% | 294 | 1 | 2 |
| 2014 | K.C. | W 17-14 | 15 | 30 | 50% | 239 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | at St.L. | W 12-6 | 12 | 20 | 60% | 109 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | at S.F. | W 33-21 | 11 | 28 | 39% | 124 | 2 | 0 |
| Avg | --- | W-L: 8-5 | 15 | 28 | 54% | 187 | .85 | .77 |
—Ian Allan