A year ago, the last thing we’d expect to be writing on the first day of free agency is a story titled “McCown wants to get a deal done quickly.”
Even then, it would have more likely applied to Luke than Josh.
As it stands, the 34-year-old Josh McCown has become a hot name in a fairly cold quarterback market. Appearing Tuesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, McCown said that he hopes to get a new deal with a new team done quickly.
McCown also said his list of potential teams is down to one or two.
He scoffed at the idea that he’s too old to be a starter, calling himself a “young 34.” McCown pointed out that, because he hasn’t played as much as other 30-something starters, he has taken less hits.
Here’s another important point -- plenty of quarterbacks are playing at a high level in their 30s. From Peyton Manning to Tom Brady to Drew Brees to Ben Roethlisberger to Philip Rivers to Tony Romo to Carson Palmer to Aaron Rodgers to Jay Cutler to Eli Manning, many high-end NFL quarterbacks have an age higher than 29.
For McCown, whose eight appearances and five starts in 2013 were his most since starting and playing in nine games for the Raiders in 2007, the question becomes whether he’ll be able to duplicate last year’s performance in a new system. From a 66.5-percent completion percentage to 8.2 yards per attempt to 13 touchdowns to only one interception, McCown hit a level with Bears coach Marc Trestman that McCown has never before seen.
Still, in a league with more teams than competent quarterbacks, someone will be taking a chance on McCown. And there’s a chance that a guy whose reward for winning the NFC offensive player of the week award was to be sent back to the bench could have three or four more years of quality play before calling it quits.