[OC] Ranking all NFL Teams' Backup QBs - 2021
Sept 20, 2021 21:30:13 GMT -6
Reignman, Funkytown, and 1 more like this
Post by Danchat on Sept 20, 2021 21:30:13 GMT -6
Welcome back to my comprehensive Ranking of All Backup QBs in the NFL. This is my fourth year compiling and ranking every single backup QB, including 2 injured backups for a total of 34. I will have a spreadsheet displaying the stats of these QBs below the rankings, and this year I will also provide a list of all of the 3rd / 4th string QBs, practice squad QBs, and even free agent QBs. Without further ado, let’s go!
Note: The “Rating” is an arbitrary number based upon the QB’s past play and/or prospect status. It will give you an idea of how well the QB would play if they ever got a chance to. For reference:
80+ Starting QB / Great Backup
79-77 Good Backup
76-75 Decent Backup
74-73 Mediocre Backup
72-71 Bad Backup
70- Practice Squad caliber
#1: LVR Marcus Mariota
With a few names in 2020 leaving the list, Mariota gets bumped up to the #1 spot. The former Titans’ starter still has the #20 for passer rating (all time), and is the only name on this list (barring the prospects) to have true blow-up potential, a la Ryan Tannehill or Nick Foles.
There were rumors he could be traded, but a trade never materialized, and Derek Carr is firmly in the driver’s seat. Expect Mariota to find a new gig in 2022 where he will likely compete for a job.
#2: CHI Justin Fields
With the list of quality veteran backup QBs shrinking, the two 1st rounders sitting on the bench immediately rise to the top. Fields has immense talent, with a strong arm, blazing speed, and a clutch gene that helps him pull through in close games. His field vision and awareness are lacking and need time to develop, but if he puts it all together he could be a top 5 QB. However, I can’t trust the Bears to make that outcome a reality. Fields will likely be an upgrade when he takes over for Dalton.
#3: SF Trey Lance
Like Fields, Lance has a sky-high ceiling, but has only played a single full season of football at the Division II level. That concerns me, but he instantly put heat on the incumbent Jimmy Garoppolo from the very first practice, and had a sharp preseason. Lance tends to scramble more often and make plays off-schedule, which would work well for a backup being thrust into a game. The 49ers will continue to play Garoppolo as they’re paying him $26M this year, but you have to wonder when Lance is going to get a chance.
#4: NO Taysom Hill
This may be a controversial pick as Hill is not the gameday backup for the Saints (more on that guy later), but when he did start last year, he kept the Saints’ offense afloat. As a dynamic runner, he can move the chains if the pocket breaks down, and he’s a menace in the redzone. He has a surprisingly strong arm, too. My concern for him is poor pocket awareness, as he was sacked at a 10% clip last year, many times taking off to run too early. Even at age 31, I’d take him over most other backups.
#5: BUF Mitchell Trubisky
After busting outright in Chicago, I think Mitch landed in one of the best spots possible in Buffalo. Not only do they have competent offensive coaching, but the Bills understand how to maximize mobile QBs. Trubisky looked sharp in the preseason. Sure, going from Allen to Trubisky would be a massive downgrade, but they wouldn’t have to change their gameplan too much and I could see a scenario in which Mitch looks much better and finds a new home in 2022. His bouts of debilitating accuracy on easy plays probably prevents this from happening, but who knows. Escaping Matt Nagy might cure him.
#6: CLE Case Keenum
We know the story with Keenum, but I am intrigued to see how Stefanski would operate if Mayfield got hurt. He was Case’s QB coach back during his unprecedented run in 2017, but methinks it’s a fool’s errand to believe that magic could be recreated. Still, Keenum is one of a few quality veteran backups in the NFL.
#7: MIA Jacoby Brissett
The Dolphins were wise to sign one of the better backups with Tua’s injury history. Brissett was given every chance by the Colts to be their franchise QB but he flopped hard, and you’d hope he could improve on his 38% win percentage if he had to start games. Miami will be using him in short yardage situations for QB sneaks.
#8: DEN Drew Lock
I thought of Lock as a 1st round prospect, but the NFL didn’t and I can see why now. I liked his tape at Missouri, but he’s had a rough transition to the NFL. Turnovers are his Achilles’ heel, with 15 picks and 8 fumbles in 2020. He does have a strong arm and is willing to fling it deep for big plays, so he has upside. It’s his poor play against strong defenses that prompted them to bench him for Bridgewater - the safer, less sexy QB.
#9: GB Jordan Love
I am not a fan of Love, as I graded him as a 3rd round QB, but I’m not going to kick him down the list because of that (and the fact that he’s a Packer). Love had a solid preseason and looks like a capable backup, but we didn’t see the crazy deep throws that he pulled off at Utah St. He had some “arm angle” highlights, but also had baffling moments of ineptitude. Similar to Lock, I could see turnovers becoming his undoing. God forbid he turns into a franchise QB and gives the Packers more success at the QB position…
#10: KC Chad Henne
Henne was at #20 last year, but due to a couple drives in the playoff game vs Cleveland, Henne gets bumped up. I didn’t understand why Reid chose him over Matt Moore, but clearly Henne has another gear in him that he didn’t have when he was in Jacksonville or Miami. He made some clutch throws and won the game with a 4th down completion. Henne still has a strong arm, but I do wonder how well he’d hold up through a full game.
#11: WFT Taylor Heinicke
You can tell the options are becoming shallow when Heinicke, a guy with 2 career starts, is this high. Heinicke never made it past the #3 QB in Minnesota and went on to back up Newton for a year in Carolina, but then washed out of the league. But then out of nowhere, all of Washington’s QBs got hurt (or got cut due to a situation in a strip club!), putting Heinicke into a playoff game against a great defense, and he held his own. Heinicke has much stronger pocket presence than he has business having. He doesn’t have a special arm or accuracy, but he uses his mobility to make more plays than the average QB with his arm would. If Fitzpatrick flames out as usual (update: wow, that was fast), Heinicke could somehow end up as their starting QB.
#12: BAL Tyler Huntley
A 2020 UDFA, Huntley got to play a bit in the Ravens 2020 season, but won the backup job with some fantastic play in the preseason. Huntley was an underrated prospect who was mostly used as a game manager at Utah, but he’s mobile and has a quick release. The jury is still out on him, but he’s this high because the jury has already ruled negatively on most of the rest of this list.
#13: LAC Chase Daniel
After a poor preseason, it looked as if Daniel might lose his job, but for now, he retains it. Known as the guy who’s started 5 games in 11 years as a backup, he spelled Stafford in a couple games with the Lions last year and looked bad. Now 35, he is likely nearing his end with a net worth of roughly $16M. Not bad!
#14: WFT Kyle Allen
With Fitzpatrick hurt in Week 1, I’ll throw Allen onto the list. Lost in Washington’s bizarre 2020 season was a gruesome ankle injury that Kyle suffered once Rivera lost his faith in Haskins. Allen was playing well statistically, and when starting has at least been able to keep his offenses afloat. Heinicke surged past him for the backup spot, making him the strongest #3 option out there, until Fitzpatrick’s injury.
#15: PIT Mason Rudolph
The Steelers still refuse to replace Rudolph, though they did add Dwayne Haskins, who will wait for his chance as the team’s 3rd QB. Rudolph continues to be a shaky backup who is prone to meltdowns, but is capable of playing a game manager role.
#16: SEA Geno Smith
Geno hasn’t started a game since 2015. The Seahawks seem content with him, and we didn’t get to see much of him after suffering a concussion in the preseason. He’s a complete wildcard, but at age 31 I can’t imagine he has much upside left.
#17: NE Brian Hoyer
Hoyer was once seen as a top prospect, but his horrid play as the Colts’ backup QB caused a downgrade. He then returned to the Patriots in 2020 and threw 24 passes, and looked just as bad. The 35 year old should not be trusted to start games.
#18: LAR John Wolford
The former AAF QB got a chance to play in late 2020 and has a playoff win to his name… despite getting injured and watching Goff win said game. He displayed some strong scrambling skills and has a decent arm, but his inexperience concerns me. There is plenty of room for him to climb, but could also crater with a bad game or two.
#19: ARZ Colt McCoy
Still hanging around the NFL at age 35, McCoy won a game with the Giants last year, but not by his hand. McCoy is capable of managing a game and not much else. I suppose he’s better than Chris Streveler (a guy who wasn’t good enough to start in college and had poor stats in the CFL), but Arizona would be better off developing a legitimate backup QB option.
#20: JAX C.J. Beathard
Beathard finally got a chance to usurp Nick Mullens as San Fran’s backup QB and had a great stat line (787/6/0 7.6 Y/A), but I would chalk that up more to Shanahan’s offensive wizardry rather than Beathard’s abilities. Outside of that, he was terrible in his earlier appearances, which explains his putrid 2-10 record. I can’t imagine the incompetent Jaguars would coax better play out of him.
#21: CAR P.J. Walker
The exciting XFL QB looked lost when given a chance in 2020, somehow tossing 5 interceptions in his first 56 attempts. He’s shown enough in the preseason and XFL so that I won’t penalize him too harshly for those mistakes, but he won’t last long if he keeps playing like that. He is the same guy who was released 3 times by the Colts prior to his XFL stint, and removed from their practice squad a total of 9 times…
#22: NO Trevor Siemian
The Saints have opted to keep Siemian on the active roster as Winston’s gameday backup, while Taysom Hill is the likely backup to start a full game. Siemian failed to make a roster for the first time in 2020 when the Titans cut him in favor of Logan Woodside. Trevor hasn’t gotten a chance to start since his 2016-2017 stint with the Broncos, outside of getting knocked out of his one start with the Jets in 2019. He has below average QB traits, but has won favor with intelligence and poise in the pocket… presumably, since he barely played in the 2021 preseason and hasn’t been seen since 2019.
#23: PHI Joe Flacco
While his overall career passing stats look solid, he downgraded them a bit by playing poorly for the Jets in 4 starts. Sure, he showed that he can still throw a deep ball, but his accuracy isn’t what it used to be and he’s completely immobile. He looked cooked this preseason, prompting the Eagles to acquire Gardner Minshew in a trade, who will vault into the top 8 in this list. Having banked approximately $85M in his career, Flacco should call it quits.
#24: CIN Brandon Allen
I ranked Allen 37th on my 2019 rankings as he had no business backing up for Denver. When he was forced to start, he was one of the least accurate QBs in the modern era with an abysmal 46.4% completion rate. He found his way onto the Bengals’ practice squad and inexplicably got 5 starts when they immediately benched the current backup Ryan Finley before even giving him a start. Allen went 925/5/4 with a 63.4% completion rate… still bad, but he also dropped his sack rate to 4.7% and made a 4th quarter comeback. He’s still a bad backup, but at least he showed minimal progress.
#25: IND Jacob Eason
A 2020 4th rounder who was expected to go higher, Eason has a cannon for an arm but not a whole lot else. Perhaps after more time his accuracy and ball placement will improve, and that’s not to mention he needs to learn how to take some speed off some throws. He was falling behind 7th round rookie Sam Ehlinger on the depth chart before Ehlinger got injured, which is a bad sign for Eason.
#26: NYG Mike Glennon
The Jaguars were so desperate to tank that they gave Glennon 5 starts just for the heck of it. It was clear Minshew was their best QB, but Glennon at least looked better than the rookie Jake Luton. Glennon went for 1072/7/5 and showed a little promise, but he’s a last-gasp backup with a decent arm. The Giants continue to fiddle around with middling backups, and would be wise to upgrade the QB in case Daniel Jones busts.
#27: MIN Sean Mannion
Hey, at least he’s not Jake Browning, right? Unwilling to trust Kellen Mond as the backup, the Vikings went back to their old ways and brought back Mannion. A statue in the pocket with below average accuracy, the Vikings would be screwed if he had to start games. You have to wonder if the Vikings could have it better with Heinicke or Sloter at this point, but in the end they’re not winning a Super Bowl with a backup QB.
#28: TEN Logan Woodside
A 7th rounder in the 2018 draft, Woodside will be the Titans’ backup for a second straight season. He’s mostly an unknown, but had a quality preseason and tends to be a more aggressive QB, but has problems with turnovers. He could shoot up this list.
#29: TB Blaine Gabbert
The Bucs’ fascination with Gabbert confounds me still. Despite spending a 2nd round pick on QB Kyle Trask, the Bucs are still using Gabbert as the backup. Still only 31 years old, when he last played in 2018 he was as turnover-prone as always, and had very poor accuracy. Perhaps this is a Henne-like scenario, but I doubt it. Gabbert has always stunk, and I can’t see even the Super Bowl Champions fixing him.
#30: DAL Cooper Rush
Talk about disappointing! After a season where the Boys fielded Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, and Garrett Gilbert at QB once Prescott went down, this is your solution? Rush flunked out of the backup job in 2020 after being their backup since 2017 and ended up as the Giants’ 3rd string QB. Rush then failed to make NYG’s roster this year and the Boys immediately scooped him up. He’s never started a game and only has a couple strong preseasons to his name, but I have no doubt he’d implode just like DiNucci did if given the chance. Just sign Cam Newton already!
#31: ATL Josh Rosen
The Falcons intended to go forward with AJ McCarron as their backup QB, which would have been a top 14 top in my opinion, but he tore his ACL and now they have to rely on Rosen. Don’t let his lofty pre-draft resume fool you, Rosen is a terrible QB. Not only did the Cardinals give up at the first opportunity, he was also abysmal for the Dolphins. In 2020 he couldn’t even make a roster and ended up on Tampa’s PS, and ended the season with the 49ers. He was evidently bad enough in practice that the 49ers didn’t give him a chance in the 2021 preseason. Rosen has a decent arm, but no pocket presence and terrible vision. He would be a 4th string QB if not for McCarron’s injury.
#32: HOU Davis Mills
Mills is far separated from the other rookies in these ratings for good reasons - the 3rd rounder only started 13 games at Stanford and was a decent QB, having a strong toolset but is one of the rawest QB prospects in the game. Mills had a bad preseason and is part of a trainwreck franchise that is not going to support him well. (Update: Taylor is hurt, he’s going to start several games now. Good luck, kid. You’re going to need it.)
#33: DET David Blough
This spot was supposed to go to Tim Boyle, of whom they landed in free agency after he backed up Rodgers in Green Bay. Blough played exceptionally poorly in his 5 game stint in 2019 and I see no reason to believe he’d take a big step forward this year. He had a decent preseason, but as a non-prospect who had a bad rookie year and was headed to the PS before an injury, he’s clearly one of the worst backups out there.
#34: NYJ Mike White
The bottom spot in my rankings goes to Mike White, a former 5th rounder who failed to beat Cooper Rush for Dallas’ backup job in 2018 and 2019, but then somehow got the Jets’ backup spot in 2020 while Flacco was recovering. Now he’s won it all for himself with only Josh Johnson on the PS. White has repeatedly shown in the preseason that he’s a practice squad-caliber QB capable of throwing checkdowns and not much else. The Jets are already in bad shape on offense, but it could get worse.
As promised here are the rest of the QBs, going by other QBs on the rosters / IR, Practice Squad QBs, and recent free agents:
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
Note: The “Rating” is an arbitrary number based upon the QB’s past play and/or prospect status. It will give you an idea of how well the QB would play if they ever got a chance to. For reference:
80+ Starting QB / Great Backup
79-77 Good Backup
76-75 Decent Backup
74-73 Mediocre Backup
72-71 Bad Backup
70- Practice Squad caliber
#1: LVR Marcus Mariota
With a few names in 2020 leaving the list, Mariota gets bumped up to the #1 spot. The former Titans’ starter still has the #20 for passer rating (all time), and is the only name on this list (barring the prospects) to have true blow-up potential, a la Ryan Tannehill or Nick Foles.
There were rumors he could be traded, but a trade never materialized, and Derek Carr is firmly in the driver’s seat. Expect Mariota to find a new gig in 2022 where he will likely compete for a job.
#2: CHI Justin Fields
With the list of quality veteran backup QBs shrinking, the two 1st rounders sitting on the bench immediately rise to the top. Fields has immense talent, with a strong arm, blazing speed, and a clutch gene that helps him pull through in close games. His field vision and awareness are lacking and need time to develop, but if he puts it all together he could be a top 5 QB. However, I can’t trust the Bears to make that outcome a reality. Fields will likely be an upgrade when he takes over for Dalton.
#3: SF Trey Lance
Like Fields, Lance has a sky-high ceiling, but has only played a single full season of football at the Division II level. That concerns me, but he instantly put heat on the incumbent Jimmy Garoppolo from the very first practice, and had a sharp preseason. Lance tends to scramble more often and make plays off-schedule, which would work well for a backup being thrust into a game. The 49ers will continue to play Garoppolo as they’re paying him $26M this year, but you have to wonder when Lance is going to get a chance.
#4: NO Taysom Hill
This may be a controversial pick as Hill is not the gameday backup for the Saints (more on that guy later), but when he did start last year, he kept the Saints’ offense afloat. As a dynamic runner, he can move the chains if the pocket breaks down, and he’s a menace in the redzone. He has a surprisingly strong arm, too. My concern for him is poor pocket awareness, as he was sacked at a 10% clip last year, many times taking off to run too early. Even at age 31, I’d take him over most other backups.
#5: BUF Mitchell Trubisky
After busting outright in Chicago, I think Mitch landed in one of the best spots possible in Buffalo. Not only do they have competent offensive coaching, but the Bills understand how to maximize mobile QBs. Trubisky looked sharp in the preseason. Sure, going from Allen to Trubisky would be a massive downgrade, but they wouldn’t have to change their gameplan too much and I could see a scenario in which Mitch looks much better and finds a new home in 2022. His bouts of debilitating accuracy on easy plays probably prevents this from happening, but who knows. Escaping Matt Nagy might cure him.
#6: CLE Case Keenum
We know the story with Keenum, but I am intrigued to see how Stefanski would operate if Mayfield got hurt. He was Case’s QB coach back during his unprecedented run in 2017, but methinks it’s a fool’s errand to believe that magic could be recreated. Still, Keenum is one of a few quality veteran backups in the NFL.
#7: MIA Jacoby Brissett
The Dolphins were wise to sign one of the better backups with Tua’s injury history. Brissett was given every chance by the Colts to be their franchise QB but he flopped hard, and you’d hope he could improve on his 38% win percentage if he had to start games. Miami will be using him in short yardage situations for QB sneaks.
#8: DEN Drew Lock
I thought of Lock as a 1st round prospect, but the NFL didn’t and I can see why now. I liked his tape at Missouri, but he’s had a rough transition to the NFL. Turnovers are his Achilles’ heel, with 15 picks and 8 fumbles in 2020. He does have a strong arm and is willing to fling it deep for big plays, so he has upside. It’s his poor play against strong defenses that prompted them to bench him for Bridgewater - the safer, less sexy QB.
#9: GB Jordan Love
I am not a fan of Love, as I graded him as a 3rd round QB, but I’m not going to kick him down the list because of that (and the fact that he’s a Packer). Love had a solid preseason and looks like a capable backup, but we didn’t see the crazy deep throws that he pulled off at Utah St. He had some “arm angle” highlights, but also had baffling moments of ineptitude. Similar to Lock, I could see turnovers becoming his undoing. God forbid he turns into a franchise QB and gives the Packers more success at the QB position…
#10: KC Chad Henne
Henne was at #20 last year, but due to a couple drives in the playoff game vs Cleveland, Henne gets bumped up. I didn’t understand why Reid chose him over Matt Moore, but clearly Henne has another gear in him that he didn’t have when he was in Jacksonville or Miami. He made some clutch throws and won the game with a 4th down completion. Henne still has a strong arm, but I do wonder how well he’d hold up through a full game.
#11: WFT Taylor Heinicke
You can tell the options are becoming shallow when Heinicke, a guy with 2 career starts, is this high. Heinicke never made it past the #3 QB in Minnesota and went on to back up Newton for a year in Carolina, but then washed out of the league. But then out of nowhere, all of Washington’s QBs got hurt (or got cut due to a situation in a strip club!), putting Heinicke into a playoff game against a great defense, and he held his own. Heinicke has much stronger pocket presence than he has business having. He doesn’t have a special arm or accuracy, but he uses his mobility to make more plays than the average QB with his arm would. If Fitzpatrick flames out as usual (update: wow, that was fast), Heinicke could somehow end up as their starting QB.
#12: BAL Tyler Huntley
A 2020 UDFA, Huntley got to play a bit in the Ravens 2020 season, but won the backup job with some fantastic play in the preseason. Huntley was an underrated prospect who was mostly used as a game manager at Utah, but he’s mobile and has a quick release. The jury is still out on him, but he’s this high because the jury has already ruled negatively on most of the rest of this list.
#13: LAC Chase Daniel
After a poor preseason, it looked as if Daniel might lose his job, but for now, he retains it. Known as the guy who’s started 5 games in 11 years as a backup, he spelled Stafford in a couple games with the Lions last year and looked bad. Now 35, he is likely nearing his end with a net worth of roughly $16M. Not bad!
#14: WFT Kyle Allen
With Fitzpatrick hurt in Week 1, I’ll throw Allen onto the list. Lost in Washington’s bizarre 2020 season was a gruesome ankle injury that Kyle suffered once Rivera lost his faith in Haskins. Allen was playing well statistically, and when starting has at least been able to keep his offenses afloat. Heinicke surged past him for the backup spot, making him the strongest #3 option out there, until Fitzpatrick’s injury.
#15: PIT Mason Rudolph
The Steelers still refuse to replace Rudolph, though they did add Dwayne Haskins, who will wait for his chance as the team’s 3rd QB. Rudolph continues to be a shaky backup who is prone to meltdowns, but is capable of playing a game manager role.
#16: SEA Geno Smith
Geno hasn’t started a game since 2015. The Seahawks seem content with him, and we didn’t get to see much of him after suffering a concussion in the preseason. He’s a complete wildcard, but at age 31 I can’t imagine he has much upside left.
#17: NE Brian Hoyer
Hoyer was once seen as a top prospect, but his horrid play as the Colts’ backup QB caused a downgrade. He then returned to the Patriots in 2020 and threw 24 passes, and looked just as bad. The 35 year old should not be trusted to start games.
#18: LAR John Wolford
The former AAF QB got a chance to play in late 2020 and has a playoff win to his name… despite getting injured and watching Goff win said game. He displayed some strong scrambling skills and has a decent arm, but his inexperience concerns me. There is plenty of room for him to climb, but could also crater with a bad game or two.
#19: ARZ Colt McCoy
Still hanging around the NFL at age 35, McCoy won a game with the Giants last year, but not by his hand. McCoy is capable of managing a game and not much else. I suppose he’s better than Chris Streveler (a guy who wasn’t good enough to start in college and had poor stats in the CFL), but Arizona would be better off developing a legitimate backup QB option.
#20: JAX C.J. Beathard
Beathard finally got a chance to usurp Nick Mullens as San Fran’s backup QB and had a great stat line (787/6/0 7.6 Y/A), but I would chalk that up more to Shanahan’s offensive wizardry rather than Beathard’s abilities. Outside of that, he was terrible in his earlier appearances, which explains his putrid 2-10 record. I can’t imagine the incompetent Jaguars would coax better play out of him.
#21: CAR P.J. Walker
The exciting XFL QB looked lost when given a chance in 2020, somehow tossing 5 interceptions in his first 56 attempts. He’s shown enough in the preseason and XFL so that I won’t penalize him too harshly for those mistakes, but he won’t last long if he keeps playing like that. He is the same guy who was released 3 times by the Colts prior to his XFL stint, and removed from their practice squad a total of 9 times…
#22: NO Trevor Siemian
The Saints have opted to keep Siemian on the active roster as Winston’s gameday backup, while Taysom Hill is the likely backup to start a full game. Siemian failed to make a roster for the first time in 2020 when the Titans cut him in favor of Logan Woodside. Trevor hasn’t gotten a chance to start since his 2016-2017 stint with the Broncos, outside of getting knocked out of his one start with the Jets in 2019. He has below average QB traits, but has won favor with intelligence and poise in the pocket… presumably, since he barely played in the 2021 preseason and hasn’t been seen since 2019.
#23: PHI Joe Flacco
While his overall career passing stats look solid, he downgraded them a bit by playing poorly for the Jets in 4 starts. Sure, he showed that he can still throw a deep ball, but his accuracy isn’t what it used to be and he’s completely immobile. He looked cooked this preseason, prompting the Eagles to acquire Gardner Minshew in a trade, who will vault into the top 8 in this list. Having banked approximately $85M in his career, Flacco should call it quits.
#24: CIN Brandon Allen
I ranked Allen 37th on my 2019 rankings as he had no business backing up for Denver. When he was forced to start, he was one of the least accurate QBs in the modern era with an abysmal 46.4% completion rate. He found his way onto the Bengals’ practice squad and inexplicably got 5 starts when they immediately benched the current backup Ryan Finley before even giving him a start. Allen went 925/5/4 with a 63.4% completion rate… still bad, but he also dropped his sack rate to 4.7% and made a 4th quarter comeback. He’s still a bad backup, but at least he showed minimal progress.
#25: IND Jacob Eason
A 2020 4th rounder who was expected to go higher, Eason has a cannon for an arm but not a whole lot else. Perhaps after more time his accuracy and ball placement will improve, and that’s not to mention he needs to learn how to take some speed off some throws. He was falling behind 7th round rookie Sam Ehlinger on the depth chart before Ehlinger got injured, which is a bad sign for Eason.
#26: NYG Mike Glennon
The Jaguars were so desperate to tank that they gave Glennon 5 starts just for the heck of it. It was clear Minshew was their best QB, but Glennon at least looked better than the rookie Jake Luton. Glennon went for 1072/7/5 and showed a little promise, but he’s a last-gasp backup with a decent arm. The Giants continue to fiddle around with middling backups, and would be wise to upgrade the QB in case Daniel Jones busts.
#27: MIN Sean Mannion
Hey, at least he’s not Jake Browning, right? Unwilling to trust Kellen Mond as the backup, the Vikings went back to their old ways and brought back Mannion. A statue in the pocket with below average accuracy, the Vikings would be screwed if he had to start games. You have to wonder if the Vikings could have it better with Heinicke or Sloter at this point, but in the end they’re not winning a Super Bowl with a backup QB.
#28: TEN Logan Woodside
A 7th rounder in the 2018 draft, Woodside will be the Titans’ backup for a second straight season. He’s mostly an unknown, but had a quality preseason and tends to be a more aggressive QB, but has problems with turnovers. He could shoot up this list.
#29: TB Blaine Gabbert
The Bucs’ fascination with Gabbert confounds me still. Despite spending a 2nd round pick on QB Kyle Trask, the Bucs are still using Gabbert as the backup. Still only 31 years old, when he last played in 2018 he was as turnover-prone as always, and had very poor accuracy. Perhaps this is a Henne-like scenario, but I doubt it. Gabbert has always stunk, and I can’t see even the Super Bowl Champions fixing him.
#30: DAL Cooper Rush
Talk about disappointing! After a season where the Boys fielded Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, and Garrett Gilbert at QB once Prescott went down, this is your solution? Rush flunked out of the backup job in 2020 after being their backup since 2017 and ended up as the Giants’ 3rd string QB. Rush then failed to make NYG’s roster this year and the Boys immediately scooped him up. He’s never started a game and only has a couple strong preseasons to his name, but I have no doubt he’d implode just like DiNucci did if given the chance. Just sign Cam Newton already!
#31: ATL Josh Rosen
The Falcons intended to go forward with AJ McCarron as their backup QB, which would have been a top 14 top in my opinion, but he tore his ACL and now they have to rely on Rosen. Don’t let his lofty pre-draft resume fool you, Rosen is a terrible QB. Not only did the Cardinals give up at the first opportunity, he was also abysmal for the Dolphins. In 2020 he couldn’t even make a roster and ended up on Tampa’s PS, and ended the season with the 49ers. He was evidently bad enough in practice that the 49ers didn’t give him a chance in the 2021 preseason. Rosen has a decent arm, but no pocket presence and terrible vision. He would be a 4th string QB if not for McCarron’s injury.
#32: HOU Davis Mills
Mills is far separated from the other rookies in these ratings for good reasons - the 3rd rounder only started 13 games at Stanford and was a decent QB, having a strong toolset but is one of the rawest QB prospects in the game. Mills had a bad preseason and is part of a trainwreck franchise that is not going to support him well. (Update: Taylor is hurt, he’s going to start several games now. Good luck, kid. You’re going to need it.)
#33: DET David Blough
This spot was supposed to go to Tim Boyle, of whom they landed in free agency after he backed up Rodgers in Green Bay. Blough played exceptionally poorly in his 5 game stint in 2019 and I see no reason to believe he’d take a big step forward this year. He had a decent preseason, but as a non-prospect who had a bad rookie year and was headed to the PS before an injury, he’s clearly one of the worst backups out there.
#34: NYJ Mike White
The bottom spot in my rankings goes to Mike White, a former 5th rounder who failed to beat Cooper Rush for Dallas’ backup job in 2018 and 2019, but then somehow got the Jets’ backup spot in 2020 while Flacco was recovering. Now he’s won it all for himself with only Josh Johnson on the PS. White has repeatedly shown in the preseason that he’s a practice squad-caliber QB capable of throwing checkdowns and not much else. The Jets are already in bad shape on offense, but it could get worse.
As promised here are the rest of the QBs, going by other QBs on the rosters / IR, Practice Squad QBs, and recent free agents:
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
... and neither is this Chris guy.