Thread: QB Personality Types

Pro Football Reference wrote a short series of blog posts that were just too interesting for me not to share. I'll let him explain the premise:

Some of you may be familiar with the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator Test. If you are not, it basically has four sub-categories (such as introversion versus extroversion), and a person’s Meyers-Briggs personality type is based on the categorization in each of the four categories. There are, as a result, 16 different personality types.

Borrowing from that, I developed four passer personality sub-types, that I then combined into 16 different personality types. I’m not, however, looking at whether a quarterback prefers to read his playbook alone or discuss it in large groups, or whether the quarterback prepares well in advance, or is a procrastinator. Instead, I am using the quarterback’s statistics in five key categories, and the interaction between those categories, to classify the quarterbacks.

1. Bombers versus Completers [B/C]: This category compares performance in yards per attempt versus completion percentage. If a passer is better at yards per attempt, he is a Bomber. If a passer is better at completion percentage, he is a Completer (and if he is really bad at yards per attempt while completing an okay amount, he is a Captain Checkdown).

2. Fun versus Safe [F/S]: This relates back to the Fun QB Index. A passer who is better at throwing touchdowns than avoiding interceptions is “Fun”. A passer who is better at avoiding the interceptions is “Safe and Secure”.

3. Vulture versus Yard Eater [V/Y]: Vulture is for TD Vulture. Vultures are passers who perform better at touchdown percentage than yards per attempt, while Yard Eaters perform better in the yards per attempt category, while others scored the touchdowns.

4. Gambler versus Holder [G/H]: This category combines the completion percentage and interception indexes, and compares them to the sack rate index. A passer who avoids sacks at the expense of throwing a few more incompletions and interceptions is a Gambler. A passer who abides by the belief that “a sack isn’t the worst thing in the world” and is willing to hold the ball rather than put it up for grabs or risk a pass before a player is open is a Holder.

So go here for the first post: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=3459

Go here for the 2nd: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=3566

This article doesn't bode well for Orton.