As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seahawks celebrate 50 years in the league together by facing off Sunday, both have a more immediate reason to celebrate: They have found their next franchise quarterbacks and those guys have them on track to make the playoffs.

This contest, while big in the early NFC playoff picture, is also a lesson in the NFL’s general inability to coach talented quarterbacks into productive ones.

Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold were the No. 1 and 3 overall picks in the 2018 draft, and both were completely unsupported by their first, failing franchises. They were teammates on another bad club for a few games after being traded from their original teams and then finally found places where they could grow into the franchise passers they are today – both secure as the offensive leaders in Tampa and Seattle.

They were victims of the NFL’s ongoing struggle to develop quarterbacks – especially in a system that sends top college passers to the worst teams.

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