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Part II of the series. (Part I: 2022 Top 5 DBs) Anyone at any time should feel free to take on another position group!
Quarterback: the most glamorous and critical position on the field. The folks who play this position either get undying adulation...or unending grief. This year's group is an interesting one, though, as the OSFL finds itself in a state of flux. It is a year with all-time great Jay Nori out indefinitely, unknown upstarts performing at a high caliber level, and widely regarded stars struggling to get by. Hopefully, this list will generate some controversy and debate. A lota talented names left out.
It may all sort itself out by the end of the year, but where's the fun in that? A midseason look at the league's creme de la creme.
But first, a glance back into the early days of OSFL history, and some familiar names...
Top 5 QBs 2008
Top 5 QBs 2009
1. QB Randy Boone - 5 - 57/57
Utah Bees #4
Tried to avoid tootin' my own horn here, because there are many QBs more highly regarded by scouts and picked higher in the draft. But Boone's 120.8 rating through 8 games, and his 73.5% completion rate, so far outstrip the competition that there isn't any alternative. 15 passing touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 2 rushing touchdowns. It's the 10.55 yards-per-attempt that ices his case, though.
Boone is piloting a very talented Bees squadron, but halfway through the year, the single-season QBR record set in 2012 by Yuma's Jumbo Clements, is being put on notice as one that may fall. Boone did get sacked twice and fail to lead his team to victory in an overtime loss to Port City this week, though. His stock was even higher before that.
2. QB Frank Erickson - 6 - 47/47
Gainesville Gaels(Gators?) #9
Where'd this guy come from? Gainesville is obviously a QB factory of sorts, having thrown ridden the arm of forgotten veteran Burt Virola in recent years to the playoffs (dismantling some of the best teams in the league along the way), and Dixon Arseneault, I believe, before that ... but Erickson is an ex-first round pick, a washout with the Showboats in Ohio Valley in the middle of his career.
This year, he leads the league in touchdowns passed for with 20, and boasts a 2nd-best 109.3 QBR. Just 5-11 a year ago, the Gael's 22 resurgence can be credited to the man who has vaulted unexpectedly into the OSFL's elite. Way to pull an Alex Smith, only better. Erickson must be buying receiver Julio Strickland steak dinners every week!
Erickson is nursing a sore knee and some trainers are worried about potential instability. He may be sitting a few weeks out now, and we'll get a chance to see how bad Gainesville will miss him.
3. QB Casey Baumgartner - 5 - 79/79
Camden Cutters #10
The Cutters are a precision-cutting machine of a franchise, and Baumgartner is not far behind Boone with his 69.3 completion percentage. He has the league's third best rating at 108.1, and nobody else comes close - the next highest is fourteen points down.
He is the OSFL's Big Ben. Camden may be riding Burt Newman into the ground, but Baumgartner is an extremely smart, tough QB in his own right who can take charge of games when he needs to. Just this week, he went 23/33 for 281 yards and two scores in a 31-24 shootout vs Chicago's high-octane offense.
4. QB Robert McGettigan - 8 - 68/68
Punxsutawney Phils #15
A rock star talent since he entered the league, McGettigan has overcome his youthful struggles to become one of the league's best guns for for the better part of the last five years. His '21 campaign was cut short due to injury, but this year, he's eager to make up for lost time.
The 2018 first-team QB of the league, McGettigan has played an extremely smart game this year, posting 4 ints on a whopping 312 attempts - nearly 100 more attempts than Randy Boone and over that compared to Baumgartner. He has the Phils neck-and-neck with Utah in the race for first seed in the AC.
5. QB Bobby Tubbs - 9 - 72/72
Columbus Catfish #4
The hardest spot to pick. Tubbs has dominated this league silly for so many years, it's easy to argue he is resting on past laurels. But we're willing to chalk up a couple abominable early season performances to a leave-of-absence taken by his GM Nemesis, although his up-and-down year merits a lot of concern.
The thing is, when he's on fire, he reminds everyone of why he belongs on this list. Few guys in the league can put up the 26/30, 298 yard show he did this week against Las Vegas. Tubbs is 2nd in the league in yards, and he'll have the rest of the year to rack up the touchdowns he is used to doing. With the addition of Rico Lofton, the Columbus aerial attack should be the most deadly in the league.
Hon. Mention
Mel Beisel (#13, DEN) - two *really* bad days aside, Beisel is finally asserting himself as the premier QB he was thought to be upon entering the league.
Rico Whalen (#7, SFO) - old man Whalen's still got it, and is captaining one of the league's most dangerous teams up there in SF.
Britt Meyer (#14, MOR) - 3rd QB from the same division? Unsurprisingly, the NC South is the most hotly contested division in the league. Nobody ever believed in Meyer, but he's getting his shot and not disappointing. He'll have to contend with Tubbs and Erickson.
Austin Austin (#16, WAS) - Well, he was going to make Top 5, until the last two weeks. Was one of the highest performing QBs in the league before two days of 63.7 and 42.3, with 4 picks between them.
The 'What Happened To These Guys?' List
Roy Parrish (#11, DAK) - 14th year, 1.1 QB and the league's best young gun as featured in the 2009 list. Dakota is rolling, but Parrish is doing equal parts good and bad.
Herb Bowers (#18, LVS) - 3rd year, 1.03 pick was trending up before a very uninspiring '22 to date.
Eddie Castillo (#12, POR) - 11th year, 1.03 pick. One of the most talented QBs in the league, period. Seems to have never been the same since his depression, and just a 71.9 rating this year.
Note of interest
#4 is the only number cropping more than once in this article, and is an interesting connection between Randy Boone and Bobby Tubbs. Jay Nori also wears the #4 for Anchorage.
Quarterback: the most glamorous and critical position on the field. The folks who play this position either get undying adulation...or unending grief. This year's group is an interesting one, though, as the OSFL finds itself in a state of flux. It is a year with all-time great Jay Nori out indefinitely, unknown upstarts performing at a high caliber level, and widely regarded stars struggling to get by. Hopefully, this list will generate some controversy and debate. A lota talented names left out.
It may all sort itself out by the end of the year, but where's the fun in that? A midseason look at the league's creme de la creme.
But first, a glance back into the early days of OSFL history, and some familiar names...
Top 5 QBs 2008
Top 5 QBs 2009
1. QB Randy Boone - 5 - 57/57
Utah Bees #4
Tried to avoid tootin' my own horn here, because there are many QBs more highly regarded by scouts and picked higher in the draft. But Boone's 120.8 rating through 8 games, and his 73.5% completion rate, so far outstrip the competition that there isn't any alternative. 15 passing touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 2 rushing touchdowns. It's the 10.55 yards-per-attempt that ices his case, though.
Boone is piloting a very talented Bees squadron, but halfway through the year, the single-season QBR record set in 2012 by Yuma's Jumbo Clements, is being put on notice as one that may fall. Boone did get sacked twice and fail to lead his team to victory in an overtime loss to Port City this week, though. His stock was even higher before that.
2. QB Frank Erickson - 6 - 47/47
Gainesville Gaels(Gators?) #9
Where'd this guy come from? Gainesville is obviously a QB factory of sorts, having thrown ridden the arm of forgotten veteran Burt Virola in recent years to the playoffs (dismantling some of the best teams in the league along the way), and Dixon Arseneault, I believe, before that ... but Erickson is an ex-first round pick, a washout with the Showboats in Ohio Valley in the middle of his career.
This year, he leads the league in touchdowns passed for with 20, and boasts a 2nd-best 109.3 QBR. Just 5-11 a year ago, the Gael's 22 resurgence can be credited to the man who has vaulted unexpectedly into the OSFL's elite. Way to pull an Alex Smith, only better. Erickson must be buying receiver Julio Strickland steak dinners every week!
Erickson is nursing a sore knee and some trainers are worried about potential instability. He may be sitting a few weeks out now, and we'll get a chance to see how bad Gainesville will miss him.
3. QB Casey Baumgartner - 5 - 79/79
Camden Cutters #10
The Cutters are a precision-cutting machine of a franchise, and Baumgartner is not far behind Boone with his 69.3 completion percentage. He has the league's third best rating at 108.1, and nobody else comes close - the next highest is fourteen points down.
He is the OSFL's Big Ben. Camden may be riding Burt Newman into the ground, but Baumgartner is an extremely smart, tough QB in his own right who can take charge of games when he needs to. Just this week, he went 23/33 for 281 yards and two scores in a 31-24 shootout vs Chicago's high-octane offense.
4. QB Robert McGettigan - 8 - 68/68
Punxsutawney Phils #15
A rock star talent since he entered the league, McGettigan has overcome his youthful struggles to become one of the league's best guns for for the better part of the last five years. His '21 campaign was cut short due to injury, but this year, he's eager to make up for lost time.
The 2018 first-team QB of the league, McGettigan has played an extremely smart game this year, posting 4 ints on a whopping 312 attempts - nearly 100 more attempts than Randy Boone and over that compared to Baumgartner. He has the Phils neck-and-neck with Utah in the race for first seed in the AC.
5. QB Bobby Tubbs - 9 - 72/72
Columbus Catfish #4
The hardest spot to pick. Tubbs has dominated this league silly for so many years, it's easy to argue he is resting on past laurels. But we're willing to chalk up a couple abominable early season performances to a leave-of-absence taken by his GM Nemesis, although his up-and-down year merits a lot of concern.
The thing is, when he's on fire, he reminds everyone of why he belongs on this list. Few guys in the league can put up the 26/30, 298 yard show he did this week against Las Vegas. Tubbs is 2nd in the league in yards, and he'll have the rest of the year to rack up the touchdowns he is used to doing. With the addition of Rico Lofton, the Columbus aerial attack should be the most deadly in the league.
Hon. Mention
Mel Beisel (#13, DEN) - two *really* bad days aside, Beisel is finally asserting himself as the premier QB he was thought to be upon entering the league.
Rico Whalen (#7, SFO) - old man Whalen's still got it, and is captaining one of the league's most dangerous teams up there in SF.
Britt Meyer (#14, MOR) - 3rd QB from the same division? Unsurprisingly, the NC South is the most hotly contested division in the league. Nobody ever believed in Meyer, but he's getting his shot and not disappointing. He'll have to contend with Tubbs and Erickson.
Austin Austin (#16, WAS) - Well, he was going to make Top 5, until the last two weeks. Was one of the highest performing QBs in the league before two days of 63.7 and 42.3, with 4 picks between them.
The 'What Happened To These Guys?' List
Roy Parrish (#11, DAK) - 14th year, 1.1 QB and the league's best young gun as featured in the 2009 list. Dakota is rolling, but Parrish is doing equal parts good and bad.
Herb Bowers (#18, LVS) - 3rd year, 1.03 pick was trending up before a very uninspiring '22 to date.
Eddie Castillo (#12, POR) - 11th year, 1.03 pick. One of the most talented QBs in the league, period. Seems to have never been the same since his depression, and just a 71.9 rating this year.
Note of interest
#4 is the only number cropping more than once in this article, and is an interesting connection between Randy Boone and Bobby Tubbs. Jay Nori also wears the #4 for Anchorage.
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