Thinking More About The St. Louis Rams' Backup QB Situation

On the surface, it looks like the St. Louis Rams have a solid plan at backup quarterback. Kellen Clemens made the most of his opportunity last season with Sam Bradford on the shelf. Clemens spent his formative years as a backup for offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, so he should at least be familiar with the system.

Then again, the team sure did put some effort into trying to find another backup quarterback, if you recall. Between the start of free agency and April 17, when they finally signed Clemens, reports circulated citing the Rams' interest in Jason Campbell, Shaun Hill, David Garrard and Brady Quinn. Clearly, Clemens was a plan B ... or even C.

The reason I bring this up is because there are reports out of Cleveland that Colt McCoy is a candidate to be tradedbefore the start of the season. McCoy is a mixed bag, and probably has no business being a starting quarterback. Would he be a better option than Clemens?

McCoy has more starting experience under his belt, 21 games versus just nine for Clemens. In those 21 starts, he has completed a solid 58.4 percent of his passes, which know has much to do with Pat Shurmur's offensive system. Clemens has a career completion rate of 52 percent.

Obviously, having McCoy under center is going to limit what you can do with an offense, which is true of most backup quarterback situations. That is, after all, why they are backups.

McCoy aside, it's the Rams' backup quarterback situation is still iffy. Mike Sando at ESPN's NFC West blog rated it the lowest of any team in the division. The Rams do not want anyone besides Bradford under center, doing so would indicate more serious problems.