Don't know if anyone else has been reading the "london calling" draft series over at the sun. you can get the post draft here. if you have time to read the whole series, its pretty dang interesting and while not entirely accurate as a predictor of miami's drafting, he does often come up with some statistical gems.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports/columnists/hyde/blog/2009/04/london_calling_biggest_longest_1.html

but in doing some research on Pat White Simon came up with some pretty dang interesting stats on why pat white is likely to end up as a very good starting QB in the NFL....

But what if White shows up at training camp believing, as he has every right to do, that he’s in a battle for the starting QB job? After all, this is a guy who’s started 49 games and completed 65% of his passes. Remember way back in Draft Winds 3 when I looked at the statistics on all QB’s selected in the first two rounds in terms of rates of success. They provided a fascinating insight; when you take the number of starts of a quarterback picked in rounds 1 and 2 and their career completion percentage in college and look at those that became successful starters in the NFL, they had at least 35 college starts and at least a 57% completion rating. Any who lacked in one or both departments had varying degrees of success:

QB’s with below 35 starts

1. Kyle Boller - 31 starts 48%
2. Ryan Leaf - 24 starts 53%
3. Joey Harrington - 26 starts 55%
4. Mike Vick - 21 starts 56%
5. JP Losman - 29 starts 57%
6. Akili Smith - 11 starts 58%
7. Tim Couch - 27 starts 67%
8. Alex Smith - 22 starts 66%
9. David Carr - 26 starts 62%
10. Drew Brees - 26 starts 61%
11. Rex Grossman - 32 starts 61%
12. Vince Young - 32 starts 61%
13. Aaron Rodgers - 25 starts 64%

You could argue that only Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have been successful from that group and it’s probably too early to judge Rodgers successfully. On the other hand, check these numbers out:

QB’s with 57% completion percentage and 35+ starts

1. Jay Cutler- 43 starts 57%
2. Carson Palmer- 45 starts 59%
3. Brady Quinn- 46 starts 58%
4. Ben Roethlisberger 38 starts 65%
5. Byron Leftwich 36 starts 65%
6. Matt Leinart 39 starts 65%
7. Philip Rivers 49 starts 64%
8. Daunte Culpepper 43 starts 64%
9. Donovan McNabb 45 starts 63%
10. Peyton Manning 45 starts 63%
11. Eli Manning 37 starts 61%
12. Chad Pennington 35 starts 63%

Those are two pretty telling lists. And White’s numbers stand up against anyone’s. The same completion percentage as two time Superbowl winner Ben Roethlisberger. A better completion percentage than our own deadly accurate Chad Pennington and he had Randy Moss to throw to. Better than McNabb, Manning, Cutler and Philip Rivers. So like I say, why wouldn’t White feel he has a legitimate shot as a starting QB, regardless of the system he played in? He’s not been in a pro style offense for the Mountaineers and that bears out on film; as a pocket passer you’d like to see him move his feet more consistently and he has a tendency to stare down the receiver and rarely look off the safety, but clearly Sparano and David Lee and Dan Henning have a plan for White. Yet I simply refuse to see a way that that plan means giving White a fair shot at beating out Chad’s Pennington and Henne. So what does his drafting truly mean? Well, the Dolphins front office made the comment that they wouldn't be drafting anyone specifically for the Wildcat offense this year, but around draft time, teams lie. Don’t take it personally. They just do. I think that what this pick means for Miami is that they’re simply moving to the next phase of the Wildcat. I had a pretty good conversation with a coach about this after the selection and he told me a number of things about the way the offense will move forward. We both believe that the Dolphins will continue to run a base offense led by one of the Chad's, and in most games that base will be most of what you will see, but the Wildcat, which appeared in most games for a series or two, is clearly going to expand in the future. Pat White will be a very big part of that process. White ran a lot of Wildcat and spread attack plays from under center at West Virginia. As coach said to me, “The key to White's college success is based on great angles, great decisions, and an unbelievable tempo once the ball is snapped.” Scouts and experts refer to Percy Harvin as “a big play waiting to happen”, but you could say the same for White except that in our offense, he has the ability to pass the ball with better accuracy than some Pro Bowlers, however slightly skewed his college statistics may be.

Let’s not forget that even if he has the hands of Iheanyi Uwaezuoke, he is the NCAA career leader in rushing yards for a QB with more than 4,000. Teams will no longer key Ronnie Brown in the Wildcat. The top dog in this next phase of the scheme will be Pat White. Ronnie Brown will be the 2nd or third option, much like Ricky Williams was last year while White becomes the leader of the Wildcat most the time. White may line up at times as a WR in the new system, but unlike Pennington he'll now be a threat on the pass, end around, or reverse. And where we flexed Penny out with Ronnie under center, he was never a threat to catch the ball.

White is. And the scheme is about to make life for the defense a major problem