NFL commentator Mike Carlson joined Thursday's Off the Ball with the regular season coming to a climax.
The emergence of a number of young quarterbacks across the league has been one of the main talking points this season with Carlson telling Eoin Sheahan: "It's been a very strange one, in part, because you had a number of starting quarterbacks - quality starting quarterbacks - go down injured during the year and some of them lost for the year, like Carson Palmer (Arizona Cardinals) and they also lost their main offensive weapon, in David Johnson.
"You've had a couple of veteran quarter-backs reaching, what you might say, would be the end of the line but it's probably more a case of, like with Eli Manning, of a veteran Quarterback in a system that doesn't really suit him anymore and he's more limited in how he can adjust.
"You've had a few teams who don't seem to be able to make up their mind who they want to be their quarter-back, like the Cleveland Browns. Buffalo, for example, who benched Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Petermen, and had him throw 500 interceptions in 10 minutes!
"And then you've had the young quarterbacks getting their chances, most notably I think DeShaun Watson - didn't get the starting job in pre-season for the Houston Texans - came in at half-time in the first game when Tom Savage preformed exactly like everybody except the coach, O'Brien, knew he would - played really well in that second-half.
"His record was only 3-3 as a starter but he was exciting. He led the team to an amazing game in Seattle and then he was hurt and lost for the season," he added.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Image: (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Making the transition from College Football to the NFL can be a daunting prospect with the best draft picks often selected by the weakest franchises. Carlson explained: "With the young quarterbacks in the league, rookies and guys who are back-ups at New England this season, because both Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett were starting on other teams which, after being on New England's roster at the start of the year, but it's a learning curve for quarterbacks.
"It's one of the anomalies of the NFL is that the best quarter-backs from college wind up usually going to the worst teams which makes that adjustment to the NFL that much harder and we've seen that with a lot of guys this season."
The full discussion can be heard here:
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