Written by Jason La Canfora at CBS Sports.com
We think quite a bit about coaches and general managers on the hot seat in the NFL. But what about quarterbacks?
Once you start assessing the state of each team’s starting quarterback situations, it’s a little surprising just how much change might be upon us next offseason as well. For how much is made of quarterbacks driving this league, and how difficult they are to find and how essential they are to keep, 2018 could end up being a wacky carousel.
So many QB deals are structured with teams flexible on keeping them, and a bunch of guys atop depth charts today have a tenuous grasp on their jobs. Add in the hype over next year’s quarterback class in the NFL Draft and the fact that a Hall of Famer like Drew Brees could be on the open market, and there is potential for some bold and bizarre moves ahead.
Could a true contender sign Brees short term and trade their high-profile current starter? Could a guy like Mike Glennon, the alleged top free agent quarterback signing of 2017, be out of Chicago in less than a year? Could a veteran Pro Bowl quarterback or two opt to retire?
When you start comparing contracts and talent, it has the potential to be wacky. Surveying the QB landscape, I grouped the starters at risk of being elsewhere next season into three categories. The list ends up comprising nearly half the NFL. And that doesn’t include Tom Savage, because I am assuming Deshaun Watson wins that job outright.
Here are the 14 quarterbacks, rated from scalding to lukewarm to tepid:
Scalding
When a team in win-now mode goes up and makes a move as bold as what Andy Reid and John Dorsey did, and they do it for a top-ranked prospect playing your position, well, you time is pretty much up. And when you bank over $15M a year and you haven’t been able to get the team over the top and you don’t get the ball downfield and they clearly want to get more dynamic on that side of the ball, you have just become a place-holder. A highly-paid placeholder on a team with Super Bowl aspirations … but someone who everyone knows will be making way for Patrick Mahomes II in a year.
This is set up to be a one-year scenario and it will be a one-year scenario. If McCown is able to somehow help groom and bring Christian Hackenberg along to the point he can play a little — then he’s gone. And if he doesn’t, then he’s gone, because the Jets are going to be set up to draft the QB of their liking atop the 2018 draft regardless.
It’s great that they picked up his fifth-year option and all, and maybe that gives him some confidence coming of a brutal 2016 season. But I don’t see Tom Coughlin truly sinking more big bucks into a player at this position who hasn’t developed, and actually has regressed some. This is a huge year for Bortles, without a doubt, and that option is only guaranteed for injury.
It’s difficult to think of him anywhere other than The Big Easy, but that’s obviously not where he has spent his entire career and it might not be where he ends it. The Saintsdon’t seem to be inclined to do more one-year deals in the $22M range and they are going to need to identify a QB of the future soon enough. How much longer does Sean Payton stick around there? There is much uncertainty in New Orleans, and Brees could get one more big deal on the open market.
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