Super Bowl a showcase for next generation of quarterback talent
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[February 06, 2023]
By Amy Tennery
(Reuters) - It's out with the old and in with the new as the
Philadelphia Eagles' Gen-Z talent Jalen Hurts takes on 27-year-old
Kansas City Chiefs leader Patrick Mahomes on Sunday in a Super Bowl
battle of fresh-faced quarterbacks.
With a combined age of 51 and 337 days -- just six years older than
newly re-retired Tom Brady - they are the first two quarterbacks
under the age of 28 to face off for the Lombardi Trophy in roughly a
quarter-century.
The next-youngest quarterback duo was Joe Montana and Dan Marino,
who faced off at Super Bowl 19 at a combined age of 51 years and 350
days, according to ESPN, in 1985.
In a league where elder statesmen once dominated, the young guns are
ready to shine.
"There's a brand new generation of really gifted quarterbacks,"
agent Leigh Steinberg, often credited as the real-life inspiration
behind "Jerry Maguire", told Reuters.
Whereas fresh talent used to need time to take hold, Steinberg said
the new generation has a "different progression than their
forebears", meeting with quarterback coaches and becoming masters of
their craft long before they begin studying for their SATs.
"Generally, what holds back a quarterback at younger age is the
ability to see the field clearly," he said. "Normally, the first
couple of years of a quarterback are bad interceptions, calling time
out inappropriately, lining up over guard instead of center.
"But this new group that we have... (is) much more ready to play
than their predecessors."
Hurts will become the first member of Gen-Z to start in a Super
Bowl, with Pew Research Center defining his generation as those born
in 1997 or later.
He has plenty of company among high-achieving young quarterbacks.
With Hurts, Mahomes, Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow and San
Francisco 49ers "Mr. Irrelevant" Brock Purdy, it was the first time
quarterbacks all aged under 28 started the AFC and NFC championship
games last month.
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Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes in
action. February 7, 2021. REUTERS/Eve Edelheit
And after 39-year-old Aaron Rodgers picked up
back-to-back MVP honors in 2020 and 2021, the four quarterbacks
among this year's Most Valuable Player finalists were all 27 or
younger.
It is a pattern that's bound to favor budget-minded franchises in a
league where established household names demand top dollar.
"To find some stability in that position is like finding a massive
gold nugget," ESPN analyst and retired twice Super Bowl champion Rob
Ninkovich told Reuters.
"With the current contract status, you have to make a choice: do we
pay $50 million annually to a quarterback and then lose other
pieces? Or, like a lot of these teams right now, we have somebody
under a rookie contract that expands our available money to go to
other places?"
The Kansas City Chiefs play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57
on Feb. 12.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed Osmond)
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