Billy Volek is a free agent

It seems certain that the Titans will draft a QB fairly high. Maybe round 1, maybe round 2... whatever (I'll leave that discussion to the draft forum). It also seems pretty clear that none of the QBs in this draft class are ready to start from day 1. Locker and Gabbert both have pretty good upside, but I think everyone agrees they would be much better off sitting on the bench for 1-2 years.

The recent trend in the NFL has been for rookie QBs to start from day 1 (Bradford, Stafford, Sanchez, Flacco, Ryan). However, they say the NFL is a copycat league and we all just watched Aaron Rodgers (a guy who sat on the bench for 3 years) win the Super Bowl, so maybe things will flip around again. I firmly believe that a few years of development behind an established starter can be a great thing for a young QB.

Billy Volek is a free agent and I think he's a guy the Titans need to consider bringing in. We all remember the success he had here. He was run out of town by Fisher, but that regime is gone. He might welcome a return to Tennessee at this point. It's one of the few teams in the league that he could start for.

Volek has barely played during the past several seasons (Philip Rivers is rarely hurt and plays through injury when he is), but he has looked really good when he's been on the field. When Rivers (and LT) was hurt in the playoffs a few years ago, Volek came into the game and beat the Colts. Here's the video if you forgot about this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJsexUe-rhE
I think Volek's more than capable of running a decent NFL offense. He can't be worse than Kerry Collins, can he?

Since he's 35 and has been mostly a backup in his career, he is probably the ideal QB to have ahead of a developing rookie. He would be cheap and disposable. When the rookie is ready to step in, there probably won't be anyone demanding that Volek keep the job. Volek might be happy to slide back into a backup role at that point.

He would also come for free since he's a free agent. No need to trade a 2nd round pick for Kyle Orton or a 1st round pick for Kevin Kolb. Keep those valuable draft picks and use them to rebuild.

Getting Volek would mean the Titans are fully committed to rebuilding, but I think we all pretty much realize that that's the case anyhow. You roll with Volek for 1-2 years and then your rookie takes over when he's ready.

Thoughts? Even if it's not Volek, I think it makes much more sense to grab a FA QB to play while a rookie develops. It would be dumb to trade a high draft pick for a QB unless you're sure he is going to lead the franchise for the next 5-10 years.

 

I fully expect most people to disregard this, but I think it's a mistake to write off Volek's abilities just because we haven't seen him do anything for the past several years. The guy has been stuck behind one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

The only evidence of his abilities (the few times he's actually played) has shown that he can still play at a high level.

The Titans are going to have to sign someone to play QB. I'd rather have Volek than a guy like Jake Delhomme. I'm rational enough to realize that the Titans aren't going to have a star at QB next season and I'm trying to figure out the best possible (emphasis on possible) solution.