![]() ![]() His beginnings in Tampa were promising, but a dislocated shoulder in a preseason game necessitated surgery and prevented him from playing that season. From there, it was one year with the Arizona Cardinals and another with the Tennessee Titans.īy the time he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019, Gabbert had played in eight offenses in eight seasons. The following year, coach Chip Kelly named Gabbert the opening-day starter but benched him after a 1-4 start. There were scrapbook memories from that season, including a 26-20 victory against the Chicago Bears in which Gabbert ran for a 44-yard touchdown with 1:42 remaining and threw a 71-yard touchdown pass in overtime to win the game. In his second season with the 49ers, Gabbert was given the starting job by coach Jim Tomsula after Kaepernick slumped. He endured four head coaches in three years in Jacksonville, then was traded to San Francisco for a sixth-round pick. Gabbert was benched and didn’t play the final 11 games. Gabbert tried to play for four games before acquiescing to season-ending surgery.īy early October of his third season, he had a broken thumb, a lacerated hand that required 15 stitches and a hamstring injury. Six games into Year 2, he tore the labrum in his non-throwing left shoulder. It didn’t get much better in subsequent seasons. “Yeah, it was a sh– show to be completely honest,” Gabbert says charitably. On one December day, Del Rio was fired and Wayne Weaver sold the team. His passer rating of 65.4 was the worst in the league. In Gabbert’s fifth career start, his grit was questioned on national television by then-“Monday Night Football” analyst Jon Gruden.Īt 22, Gabbert became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to start 14 games. Gabbert’s primary receivers were Thomas and Jarrett Dillard, neither of whom lasted two more years in the league. “It was an unfortunate circumstance for him to have to play at that time.” “He was the kind of guy that, because of his college experience, probably needed to sit and watch and really get comfortable with things at the beginning of his career,” McCown says of Gabbert, a college starter for two seasons who played almost exclusively in the shotgun at Missouri. McCown struggled through the first two games, and then it was Gabbert’s turn. “He wasn’t a first-rounder,” Del Rio said.ĭavid Garrard was supposed to be the starting quarterback and the plan was for Gabbert to sit and learn, but the team cut Garrard just before the start of the season. Head coach Jack Del Rio later said he had no idea general manager Gene Smith planned to trade up from 16 to select Gabbert. When the lockout ended on July 25, Gabbert had not had a single day of professional coaching, and the situation he walked into couldn’t have been more dysfunctional. Without a collective bargaining agreement, NFL teams had locked out players in the 2011 offseason. So where does Blaine Gabbert get off having so much fun? He has been a backup to Luke McCown, Chad Henne, Colin Kaepernick, Carson Palmer, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Tom Brady and now Mahomes. In this universe, he’s a 33-year-old with 13 career wins as a starter. In an alternate universe, Gabbert would have walked into a situation like Mahomes did, and Gabbert’s career would have played out in another manner altogether. Six years later, Mahomes was chosen 10th. “The pieces for long-term success are there,” one general manager said before the draft. Many scouts rated him ahead of Cam Newton, who was chosen first. Analysts called him the potential first pick in the 2011 draft. NFL teams saw a quarterback who was big (6-foot-4, 234 pounds), athletic, fast (he ran a 4.66 40-yard dash) and smart (he scored a 42 on the Wonderlic), who could throw a football through drywall. He chose Missouri, where he led an upset of No. He could have gone to almost any college. 1 quarterback in the country, ahead of Andrew Luck. He killed it in high school, and Rivals ranked him the No. He was a fifth grader in Ballwin, Mo., playing on Parkway West’s sixth-grade team. The first pass Gabbert ever threw in organized football was a touchdown. Some wanted to cut ties and start a new life in anonymity. They felt bitterness, anger and disillusionment. Others who have traveled similar paths did not feel what Gabbert feels. ![]() This great game gives us a lot of happiness.” ![]() “Super fun for me to be out there and for me to be in that room. Seeing Mahomes having a blast is making Gabbert have a blast. ![]()
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