Bottom Of The Barrel QBs?

With the College Football Preview for 2025 in the rear-view mirror, I spent some time yesterday thinking synoptically about things I will want to write about regarding the upcoming NFL season.  There is a rather consistent correlation in pro football:

• The “better teams” tend to have “better than average QBs”.

It can be very challenging to figure out if an “average QB” is going to have a career year upcoming which might translate into a surprisingly good year for the team.  Recall that Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson have all been the starting QB on a Super Bowl Champion squad.  All the above is intended to explain how my mind was processing info yesterday afternoon.

• Barring injury, I need not worry about teams like the Bills, Chargers, Chiefs, Commanders, Eagles, Ravens etc. getting positive play from their QBs.
• Barring a miracle, which teams are going to do poorly in 2025 simply because their QBs will be outplayed by most of their opponents?  That is an important question and one that is not easily answered.

As I thought about those teams with problematic QB situations, I came to separate them into two categories – – Potential Trouble and Almost Assuredly Trouble.  I’ll start with Potential Trouble:

• Colts:  Both Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson have shown flashes of ability to date; both have also shown that those flashes are separated by periods of malaise such that neither has been able to establish himself as a solid #1 QB in the league.  Can one of them emerge this year as “the man”?  If neither shows up in that mode, there is no reason to expect help further down on the depth chart from Riley Leonard and/or Jason Bean.
• Jets:  Justin Fields is in the spotlight here.  The Jets will rise and fall with his production.  Behind him are Tyrod Taylor, Adrian Martinez and Brady Cook.
• Seahawks:  Sam Darnold had a wonderful year in 2024; that was the first and only year he was anything better than “merely satisfactory” at QB.  Was that an indication that he has “figured it out” or was that a “one-off aberration”?  Behind Darnold on the depth chart are Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe.
• Titans:  They were a question mark even before Will Levis needed season-ending shoulder surgery.  They have the overall #1 pick from last year’s Draft which will create a tsunami of hope for Titans’ fans.  Sometimes that first pick turns out to be a Joe Burrow or an Andrew Luck or an Eli Manning and all is well in the neighborhood.  And sometimes, that first pick turns out to be a JaMarcus Russell, a Sam Bradford or a Jameis Winston.  The jury is out …
• Vikings:  JJ McCarthy has never taken a snap in a real NFL game.  Behind him are Brett Rypien and Max Brosmer.  The Vikes think McCarthy is the real deal; but if he is not …

            The five teams with Potential Trouble at QB for 2025 are also teams that can be surprisingly positive in the upcoming year.  The next category – – the Almost Assuredly Trouble teams – – ought to be in the mode of battening down the hatches and hunkering down for the next 20 weeks or so.

• Browns:  There is a saying in the NFL: if you have two QBs,  you don’t have a QB.  Well, the Browns currently have SIX QBs on their roster, and they may be hard pressed to find a bona fide starter in that mix.  Forget about Deshaun Watson, he is on IR and is rehabbing an Achillies tendon injury.  Maybe he can be physically available late in the season and maybe not.  The other five QBs on the roster – – in alphabetical order because no other ordering makes sense to me – – are:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Joe Flacco:  He was a Super Bowl MVP – – in 2012.  He is 40 years old.  Flacco will not be an embarrassment on the field; he is too savvy for that.  At the same time, his best years are in the past.
            2. Dillon Gabriel:  A rookie from Oregon.  I did not see him as a top-notch QB in last year’s draft – – but what do I know?
            3. Tyler Huntley:  He has been a competent backup QB in the league but has never made me think he was a “starter in waiting”.
            4. Kenny Pickett:  The Browns will be his third team in three seasons.
            5. Shedeur Sanders:  I did not think he was the top QB in last year’s Draft, but I would start him if I were the Browns simply because he seems to me to have the potential to be better than any of the other QBs on this list for 2025 and beyond.  Put him out there and see if he can produce …

• Saints:  This situation looks to me to be a certified hot mess.  When Derek Carr retired due to a shoulder injury sustained last season, the Saints had no real answer as to who was the “next man up”.  Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler took turns under center, and neither was impressive to be as polite as possible.  The Saints took Tyler Shough in the second round of the Draft; Shough may emerge as the starter there but there are warning signs galore around his candidacy for the job:
  • • He is a rookie AND he is 25 years old.
    • He played at 3 different schools over a 7-year period from 2018-2024.
    • He has an “injury history” in his college career – – collarbone, shoulder and ankle.
• The fourth QB on the depth chart for the Saints is Hunter Dekkers – – an undrafted free agent out of Iowa State and Iowa Western.  The Bible says that the Lord will separate the wheat from the chaff in the final days.  In the NFL, Training Camp is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak.  I fear that the Saints’ QB situation is all chaff…

Finally, hear this from legendary NFL coach, Don Shula:

“Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………