Tom E. Curran • E-mail

Sad because Brett Favre's retirement means there's no offseason quarterback drama to latch onto?

Chin up! The indecisive and oft-intercepted one wasn't the only loose thread at quarterback heading into this offseason.

Grizzled veterans, fizzled out first-rounders, rising stars and journeymen dot the NFL landscape.

In the old guy category, there's at least a whiff of uncertainty (and mentholated rub) surrounding Jeff Garcia, Kurt Warner, Gus Frerotte, Donovan McNabb, Kerry Collins, Byron Leftwich and, now that Daunte Culpepper has been signed through 2009 by Detroit, Jon Kitna.

Want to take a flyer on some other team's sloppy first-round seconds? Alex Smith, Matt Leinart, Rex Grossman or (gulp) Mike Vick might be fits for you.

Feel like dipping into the pool of promise? Perhaps Matt Cassel or Derek Anderson may be of interest.

Seen enough from Vince Young that you think you could pry him loose from the Titans and their tepid backing of him? What about Tarvaris Jackson and/or Gus Frerotte if an odd-man out situation develops in Minnesota?

Or you can opt to grow your own by drafting either Matt Stafford out of Georgia or Mark Sanchez from Southern California. They're the only quarterbacks in this year's draft class that appear to be first-rounders.

Ted Sundquist, who spent 16 years in Denver and was the Broncos GM for six years until being fired by Mike Shanahan last March, understands the lay of the quarterback land. He was with Denver for the Elway years and was running the point as the Broncos cycled through replacements. They finally had success with Jake Plummer and then drafted Jay Cutler.

Considering this year's maelstrom, Sundquist said, "What I find interesting is that the guys run the gamut from short-term fix because they're older, to a guy like Cassel who came out of nowhere and has a little one-year wonder to him. A team on the outside has to decide, 'Is this a short-term fix or a long term fix we're getting?' Most want a long-term fix, but what's making it interesting is these guys like Warner and Kerry Collins who have shown they can come in and make an immediate impact."

Taking a look at the older clientele, there are a few that don't figure to go very far.

Warner's established that, if he returns, he will do so with the Cardinals. And McNabb's stated repeatedly that he wants to stay in Philadelphia (even though Deion Sanders maintains that's not the case).

But what of Garcia, who turns 39 soon? The Bucs don't want him back, but he can still run an offense. Meanwhile, 36-year-old Kerry Collins' fate in Tennessee is tied to Vince Young. And owner Bud Adams would have to swallow a reported $7.74 million cap hit if Young were released. The owner has indicated Young's future is in Tennessee. So if that's the case, doesn't that mean Collins' future is elsewhere (he recently told Yahoo! he feels he has "two or three" years left)?

Frerotte, 37, got the Vikings to the playoffs in 2008 and has started peeing on his territory this week. "I think I've earned the right to be a starter," he told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "It wasn't handed to me. I went in and played well and gave everything I had to the team."

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Sundquist took stock of what kind of team might be interested. "If you're an established club with a good supporting cast, solid defense and running game, bringing an older guy can help get you over the top."

An extreme case of "veteran QB bounce" came in Miami where the Dolphins took a discarded Chad Pennington and allowed him to bring them to the playoffs.

"As a GM, if I feel I'm pretty solid from a roster standpoint, I have to look at an older guy like that," says Sundquist. "Kurt, Kerry, they've proven over and over that they can go from system to system and do what teams are asking them to do. Their agents would probably be fairly understanding about the fact they're not going to get premium dollar."

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