Blaine Gabbert, the idea of hope and the reality of who he has been

It has been a rough season for the Arizona Cardinals as they head into week 11 with the likelihood that they’ll be using their third different quarterback of the season.

That has excited some within the fanbase based off of what Blaine Gabbert looked like in the preseason and the fact that most within the fanbase don’t have a fondness for Drew Stanton.

That begs the question, who is Blaine Gabbert the football player?

I went back into the SB Nation archives, thanks to Ryan Day of Big Cat Country and David Fucillo of Niners Nation, to provide some timely commentary on who Gabbert was and ask the question... Can a player change?

All-22 Film Review: Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert - Big Cat Country
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert isn't the only problem with the Jaguars woeful offense, but on Sunday he left some plays on the field because he was impatient.

This one from BCC was an interesting read. Gabbert is a young player at this point, this is 2012, but was his 19th and worst start of his career as the Jags would fall 41-3 at the hands of the Chicago Bears.

You watch the plays and you wonder, did things get better?

Blaine Gabbert is the worst QB of the DVOA era - Big Cat Country
In not so surprising news, Blaine Gabbert is the worst quarterback of all time in the DVOA era.

This wasn’t hyperbole, but instead a reality of who Gabbert was in his tenure with the Jaguars. He went to San Francisco, and things started to get better.

All-22: Blaine Gabbert is surprisingly effective in 49ers debut, but will it continue? - Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers got a solid performance from Blaine Gabbert in his first start with the team. We break down the good and the bad from his performance, and what to expect moving forward.

Gabbert played well enough to help the 49ers to a 17-16 win over the then bad Atlanta Falcons. You see the variance in the game of Gabbert, with throws that make you get excited about his future, and then throws that make you understand why he’s on his third team in the NFL.

All-22: 49ers' QB Blaine Gabbert continues to impress against tougher defenses of Seahawks, Cardinals - Niners Nation
After back-to-back games against the stingy defenses of the Seahawks and Cardinals, we have a better idea of what to expect from Blaine Gabbert. How did he fare? We break down the tape.

This was maybe the most impressive two game stretch of Gabbert’s career, he performed well enough and it gave him some confidence heading into 2016.

Blaine Gabbert inaccuracy at source of 49ers’ offensive problems - Niners Nation
The 49ers have a quarterback problem and it’s not likely to go away any time soon.

This is where the questions begin.

Gabbert in 2015 with an awful offense, I am talking bad, was actually average to above average. He went 3-5 as a starter, averaged over three more points per game (16 to 13) than Colin Kaepernick and finished with a nice slash:

63.1% completion 2,031 yards 10 touchdowns 7 interceptions.

Not bad at all.

Then, 2016 came, he won the starting competition against Kaepernick and was really, really bad again.

In five starts he went 1-4, 56.9% 925 yards 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

He was benched and that’s all there was for the Gabbert era in San Francisco.

It seems like, when expectations changed, when what he was being counted on to win games instead of just getting a shot on a really bad team, he crumbled under the pressure.

Will a good performance by Gabbert over the next couple of games give him the starting job if/when Stanton is healthy?