The dominos are falling at quarterback. Brock Osweiler signs with the Texans, Sam Bradford and Kirk Cousins have signed contracts. And suddenly there could be some increased urgency by the teams still looking for quarterbacks. Certainly the Browns, 49ers, Jets and Broncos aren’t done at the position.
With Cleveland and San Francisco, they could be selecting quarterbacks in the first round. Denver and New York, on the other hand, are viable playoff teams who don’t have choice draft slots, and they need somebody who can play right away.
Houston looks like the winner in the Osweiler deal. He’s not a sure thing, but if Sam Bradford is getting $35 million for two years, that makes $18 per year for Osweiler more than fair. Bradford hasn’t been productive and also comes with the long history of injuries.
Washington’s decision to put the franchise tag on Cousins now looks like a no-brainer. He’s under contract for $19 million in 2016. As well as he played last year, especially in the second half of the season, that looks like a very good deal in comparison with Bradford and Osweiler.
Fitzpatrick thus far has declined to sign with the Jets, and that looks smart. His price tag is surely going up. He was way better than Bradford last year, for example, and there are still jobs sitting there available. He’ll likely wind up either starting for the Jets or Broncos.
If the Broncos don’t want Fitzpatrick, they could either take a flyer on RG3 or Colin Kaepernick (or both) or perhaps bring in Brian Hoyer. Kaepernick and Hoyer both are still on rosters, but they’re expected to shake free.
Over the last three years, 31 quarterbacks have started at least half of their teams games. Here’s how they’ve performed, using standard fantasy scoring, when starts are adjusted to per-game figures.
For each quarterback, I’m using on stats accrued in games started. That is, if a quarterback comes off the bench and throws for 200 yards and 2 TDs, those numbers are tossed out. Starting production only.
I’ve got the guys I think are available in bold.
| STATS PER GAME SINCE 2013 (20 starts min) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Pass | TD | Int | Run | TDR | Points |
| Drew Brees | 47 | 318.8 | 2.21 | .85 | 2.9 | .11 | 25.7 |
| Peyton Manning | 41 | 303.7 | 2.51 | 1.02 | -1.5 | .02 | 25.3 |
| Andrew Luck | 39 | 268.3 | 2.00 | .95 | 21.7 | .18 | 24.9 |
| Cam Newton | 46 | 224.8 | 1.67 | .76 | 38.3 | .46 | 24.5 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 41 | 261.9 | 2.10 | .46 | 17.9 | .07 | 24.0 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 43 | 297.0 | 1.81 | .88 | 3.7 | .02 | 23.1 |
| Russell Wilson | 48 | 226.2 | 1.67 | .50 | 40.4 | .17 | 23.0 |
| Tom Brady | 48 | 275.5 | 1.96 | .56 | 2.7 | .06 | 22.3 |
| Philip Rivers | 48 | 282.4 | 1.92 | .88 | 4.2 | .00 | 22.3 |
| Matthew Stafford | 48 | 274.4 | 1.73 | .92 | 6.7 | .10 | 22.1 |
| Kirk Cousins | 24 | 265.5 | 1.71 | 1.04 | 3.4 | .21 | 21.9 |
| Carson Palmer | 38 | 278.2 | 1.84 | .95 | 1.4 | .03 | 21.6 |
| Andy Dalton | 45 | 243.1 | 1.71 | .98 | 11.0 | .20 | 21.5 |
| Blake Bortles | 29 | 245.3 | 1.52 | 1.14 | 24.1 | .07 | 21.3 |
| Matt Ryan | 48 | 287.5 | 1.56 | .98 | 5.5 | .00 | 21.3 |
| Tony Romo | 34 | 247.6 | 2.06 | .76 | 3.3 | .00 | 21.1 |
| Jay Cutler | 41 | 246.1 | 1.66 | 1.00 | 12.4 | .07 | 21.0 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 48 | 253.5 | 1.56 | .85 | 14.4 | .06 | 20.8 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 37 | 228.9 | 1.59 | .95 | 18.1 | .16 | 20.6 |
| Eli Manning | 48 | 263.8 | 1.73 | 1.15 | 2.7 | .02 | 20.5 |
| Josh McCown | 24 | 244.1 | 1.42 | .79 | 11.0 | .21 | 20.5 |
| Nick Foles | 29 | 236.6 | 1.52 | .76 | 10.6 | .14 | 20.0 |
| Joe Flacco | 42 | 254.5 | 1.43 | 1.10 | 5.3 | .14 | 20.0 |
| Sam Bradford | 21 | 257.7 | 1.57 | .86 | 3.3 | .00 | 19.6 |
| Alex Smith | 46 | 218.8 | 1.33 | .43 | 25.7 | .09 | 19.4 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 40 | 204.5 | 1.15 | .58 | 35.5 | .15 | 19.3 |
| Robert Griffin III | 21 | 231.6 | .95 | .86 | 31.7 | .05 | 19.0 |
| Derek Carr | 32 | 226.8 | 1.66 | .78 | 7.2 | .00 | 18.7 |
| Brian Hoyer | 26 | 237.7 | 1.27 | .85 | 3.1 | .00 | 17.3 |
| Teddy Bridgewater | 28 | 214.3 | 1.00 | .75 | 13.4 | .14 | 17.1 |
| Geno Smith | 29 | 189.0 | .86 | 1.17 | 20.7 | .24 | 16.4 |
—Ian Allan

