I've been pushing a way for ratings college quarterbacks, based on articles in Pro Football Prospectus (hell, it's their theory, not mine) that QBs can be scouted based on the number of games they started in college and their completions (with slight allowances for the calibre of their opponents and the kind of offense they ran). Here's the rankings of the better QBs drafted from the late '90s to 2004, and then a newer batch.

Ben Rothlisberger 38 / 65.5%
Peyton Manning 45 / 62.5%
Carson Palmer 45 / 59.1%

Chad Pennington* 51 / 63.3%
Daunte Culpepper* 44 / 63.9%
Byron Leftwich 35 / 65.1%

Drew Brees 37 / 61.1%
Donovan McNabb 45 / 58.4%
Eli Manning 37 / 60.8%

Patrick Ramsey 32 / 58.9%
Charlie Batch 22 / 58.0%
Kyle Boller 40 / 47.8%

Jake Plummer 40 / 55.4%
Michael Vick 19 / 56.5%
Cade McNown 43 / 55.5%

Shaun King 39 / 55.5%
Quincy Carter 29 / 56.6%
Joey Harrington 28 / 55.2%

David Carr 26 / 62.8%
Tim Couch 25 / 67.1%
Akili Smith 19 / 56.6%

Jim Druckenmiller 24 / 53.8%
Ryan Leaf 24 / 53.8%

************

Philip Rivers 51 / 63.5%
Matt Leinart 39 / 64.8%
Jason Campbell 39 / 64.6%

Jay Cutler 45 / 57.2%
Alex Smith 22 / 66.3%
Vince Young 32 / 61.8%

Kellen Clemens 32 / 61.0%
Rex Grossman 31 / 61.0%
Aaron Rodgers 22 / 63.8%

Tarvaris Jackson 36 / 54.7%
J.P. Losman 27 / 57.8%
Marques Tuiasosopo 25 / 54.9%

JaMarcus Russell 29 / 61.9%
Brady Quinn 46 / 58.0%


So, the thresholds we're looking for seem to be about 35 starts and about a 58 percent completion percentage. So let's look at the batch that just got drafted:

Erik Ainge, Jets 35 / 57.9%
John David Booty, Minnesota 23 / 62.3%
Colt Brennan, Washington 35 / 70.4%
Brian Brohm, Green Bay 33 / 65.8%
Dennis Dixon, Pittsburgh 25 / 63.9%
Joe Flacco, Baltimore 26 / 63.4%
Chad Henne, Miami 47 / 59.7%
Kevin O'Connell, New England 36 / 57.5%
Matt Ryan, Atlanta 34 / 59.9%
Andre Woodson, Giants 38 / 61.9%

My thoughts, appropos of nothing:

- Henne, to me, would be the first guy I would have taken. His fall paralleled Brady Quinn and Matt Leinhart a bit, but he should be very competitive.
- Why Matt Ryan? Maybe the build, or maybe because Atlanta needs a good kid after the fall of Matthew Vick.
- I like both Erik Ainge for the Jets and Andre Woodson for the Giants. Woodson has a hitch in his delivery, but I would think he can work on that.
- The Ravens will be very, very disappointed in Joe Flacco. He doesn't have that many starts, and he played for a I-AA team.
- No one stands out like, say, Manning did.
- I'm rooting for Kevin O'Connell, because he deserves some success after Go! was cancelled so quickly.