Steel Sign QB Darron Thomas, Release Danny Southwick

(photo credit: portlandtribune.com)

Steel qurterback Danny Southwick entered the 2016 season with high hopes for the Portland Steel. The 34-year old, five-year veteran of the AFL brought with him a low completion percentage, but decent numbers in touchdowns, attempts/touchdown, and interception percentage.

These held true for last season, split with the Spokane Shock and LA Kiss, and his whole career. A career that had already included a short stint in Portland in which he’d lost his starting job. All of that sounds serviceable, but he had a total of 753 pass attempts entering this season.

That’s about a full season and a quarter for most starting quarterbacks in the league. In other words, for somebody of his age and time in the league, he was rather inexperienced. That inexperience showed itself in full force this season.

After three games this season, Southwick found himself among the league’s worst in completion percentage, touchdown percentage, and turnovers. In a league completely reliant on the quarterback’s ability to move the ball and put up points, Danny Southwick was not fulfilling that role. The Steel were forced to make a move, in a familiar direction.

(photo credit: zimbio.com)

In two seasons as the starting quarterback at the University of Oregon, Darron Thomas led the Ducks to a Rose Bowl championship in 2012, and an appearance in the 2011 National Championship game. He finished his college career completing 61% of his passes, with a total of 66 touchdowns to 17 interceptions, and adding another nine touchdowns rushing.

Thomas skipped his senior year to enter the 2012 NFL Draft. He went undrafted and unsigned. After bouncing around in a couple professional leagues, he signed on with the Portland Thunder for the 2014 season. After losing his starting job, to none other than Southwick, he saw limited playing time for the Thunder through the end of the 2015 season. He was not retained as this season began, but Southwick’s struggles drove Portland to seek out the quarterback they’ve been comfortable having around.

“We are excited to add Darron to our team,” said Steel headcoach Ron James. “Darron possesses a unique skill set at the quarterback position. He has played at a high level in college and is intent on becoming a consistent quarterback.” Thomas having a unique skill set is not off base. It is questionable, however, that the very player who could has proven to not produce for the last two years is being confidently relied on as an answer to the same problem now.