Was the 2013 NFL Draft worst ever for QBs?

With 2017 NFL free agency in full swing, it forces us to examine the quarterbacks on the move from the 2013 draft class.

That particular NFL Draft class produced a horrific crop of quarterbacks. Just take a gander at these names. Some of them are practically unrecognizable.

It is not at all shocking that their teams let them test free agency after their rookie contracts expired. Some never got that far to begin with.

Most embarrassingly headlining the list are E.J. Manuel and Geno Smith. The Buffalo Bills went all in on Manuel, selecting him 16th overall in 2013. As for Smith, at the time, it was a bit surprising to some that he slipped to the second round before the New York Jets drafted him.

The West Virginia quarterback had a terrible rookie year, throwing 21 interceptions compared to just 12 touchdowns. His next three seasons were even more unfortunate. He got injured in a childish locker room brawl in 2015 and tore his ACL in 2016. From 2014-2016, Smith started in only 14 games.

He is now the New York Giants’ problem to deal with.

As for Manuel, the Oakland Raiders thought he was a good player bring on to compete with Connor Cook as Derek Carr’s backup. Though, it’s worth pointing out his contract includes absolutely zero guaranteed money.

Manuel never lived up to his pre-draft hype. He played in 10 games in 2013 and managed four wins. He soon earned the undignified status as the team’s backup and played behind Kyle Orton and Tyrod Taylor throughout 2014-16.

Mike Glennon sits at No. 3 on the list and did okay for himself during his tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With Jameis Winston stealing the show, Glennon chose to test free agency. Surprisingly enough, the Chicago Bears were sold, quickly signing Glennon once free agency opened.

We will mention only one more quarterback on that dreaded list of disappointment, which is Matt Barkley. This poor quarterback will be playing with his third team after originally being selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round. His most noteworthy action came when he started in six games for the aforementioned Bears in 2016.

He recently resorted to a Twitter poll to ask which jersey number he should wear next with the San Francisco 49ers.

We won’t bore by covering the rest of the quarterbacks from 2013. It would be simply too grueling to even look them all up. But, we can thank NFL Network’s Anthony Siciliano for digging up this wretched stat on those 11 quarterbacks.

Not every quarterback shines in his rookie year. But in general, there are usually a couple of guys from each select draft class who perform well enough to show promise for the future. It was clearly not the case with the unlucky 2013 draft year when nary a franchise passer was to be found.

If there was a draft year that churned out an uglier class of quarterbacks than the guys covered here, we would love to hear about it.