When Chris Weinke talked to teams before the 2001 NFL draft, he didn’t receive many direct questions about his age.
But Weinke, a national championship and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Florida State, knew that the numbers 28 and 29 — his playing age when he finished college, and his age when the 2001 NFL season kicked off — were generating as much discussion behind the scenes as his record-setting stats. When the draft began, Weinke waited until the fourth round to hear his name called, after four other quarterbacks had been selected.
“It did play a factor,” Weinke said. “I’m going into my first training camp as a 29-year-old. Take a 20-year-old who played in three straight national championships and won a Heisman. In that same situation, with the same training, that kid who’s 20 has an advantage and probably isn’t a fourth-round pick.”
Quarterback age is a subplot of next week’s NFL draft, as two of the more accomplished college signal callers are also among the oldest. Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, the Heisman front-runner for much of last season after a brilliant two-year run under coach Josh Heupel, turned 25 in January. Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, a Heisman finalist last season who helped the Bulldogs to the past two national titles, will turn 26 in October. Another quarterback draft hopeful, BYU’s Jaren Hall, who started 22 games the past two seasons, turned 25 last month.
Although Bennett and Hall aren’t projected to be among the initial batch of quarterbacks drafted, Hooker is generating more buzz as a potential first-round pick, from ESPN’s Todd McShay, Mike Tannenbaum and others. In modern NFL draft history, only eight quarterbacks aged 25 or older have been selected, with only three — Weinke, Brandon Weeden and John Beck — going before the sixth round, according to ESPN Stats and Information research. Hooker is ESPN’s fifth-rated quarterback prospect, while Hall is eighth and Bennett is 10th. Of the four highest-rated quarterback prospects,
