A Brief History of Quarterback Trauma Under Herm Edwards

I'm not going to provide any guidance towards the theories behind the reasons for the following events, nor am I going to present an iron clad investigation as to the causes of this particular phenomenon. No, instead I'm just going to state some facts in chronological order as it pertains to the quarterbacks Herm Edwards has coached over the last five years.

2003-New York Jets: Emerging star quarterback Chad Pennington is hit in the fourth preseason game by linebacker Brandon Short. Pennington suffered a fracture-dislocation of his non-throwing hand. He missed six games, never returned healthy that season, and the Jets went 6-10.

2004-New York Jets: After rewarding Pennington with a 7-year, $64 million extension, the Jets seemed poised (aren't they always?) to take the future by the reins with Pennington at the helm. Oops. Week 9, torn rotator cuff that Pennington would never fully recover from, which is how four years later he ends up in Miami.

2006-Kansas City Chiefs: After a rather ugly divorce from the New York Jets during which the Chiefs send a 4th round pick as compensation for Edwards' services, Edwards inherits a loaded but aging group of players. His quarterback is two time Pro-Bowler Trent Green behind one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL, but it's on his decline due to age and a neglect of youth infusion by the previous regime in pursuit of a Super Bowl. In his first game as head coach of the Chiefs, Edwards watches as Green slides on a scramble and is (accidentally) plastered by Robert Geathers. Green suffers what is later termed a "very, very severe concussion" by General Manager Carl Peterson. Some would say Green never fully recovered.

2007-Kansas City Chiefs: Damon Huard takes the reins full-time for the traded Trent Green after filling in effectively if not impressively the season before. Huard has obviously taken a step backwards as has the entire offense, putting together one of the worst offensive seasons in Chiefs history as Huard struggles with an overmatched offensive line and an inability to throw deep. On November 11th, Huard suffers an injured shoulder following yet another in a long series of sacks. Brodie Croyle takes over the team for the remainder of the season. Croyle goes winless for the remainder of the season, and misses time after suffering a bruised hand. He does finish the season though, with high hopes for the following year.

2008-Kansas City Chiefs: In the first game of the 2008 season, Croyle suffers a bruised shoulder after a sack from Adalius Thomas. He is expected to miss two to three weeks.

To sum up, Herm Edwards has coached exactly one (1) healthy quarterback for the majority of the season, Damon Huard taking over for Trent Green in 2006. That's four injured quarterbacks in five years, with a total of six injuries causing more than one game of absence. There are a ton of contributing factors to consider and each injury occured in a different manner. There's no reason you can clearly and specifically point to as a cause for this phenomenon outside of bad luck. But it's still interesting to examine just how maligned the lives of quarterbacks have been under Herm Edwards in the last five years.