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Brock Osweiler

Osweiler lands in Houston, leaving Super Bowl champs scrambling

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)
PlayerStPassTDIntRunTDRPoints
Drew Brees47318.82.21.852.9.1125.7
Peyton Manning41303.72.511.02-1.5.0225.3
Andrew Luck39268.32.00.9521.7.1824.9
Cam Newton46224.81.67.7638.3.4624.5
Aaron Rodgers41261.92.10.4617.9.0724.0
Ben Roethlisberger43297.01.81.883.7.0223.1
Russell Wilson48226.21.67.5040.4.1723.0
Tom Brady48275.51.96.562.7.0622.3
Philip Rivers48282.41.92.884.2.0022.3
Matthew Stafford48274.41.73.926.7.1022.1
Kirk Cousins24265.51.711.043.4.2121.9
Carson Palmer38278.21.84.951.4.0321.6
Andy Dalton45243.11.71.9811.0.2021.5
Blake Bortles29245.31.521.1424.1.0721.3
Matt Ryan48287.51.56.985.5.0021.3
Tony Romo34247.62.06.763.3.0021.1
Jay Cutler41246.11.661.0012.4.0721.0
Ryan Tannehill48253.51.56.8514.4.0620.8
Ryan Fitzpatrick37228.91.59.9518.1.1620.6
Eli Manning48263.81.731.152.7.0220.5
Josh McCown24244.11.42.7911.0.2120.5
Nick Foles29236.61.52.7610.6.1420.0
Joe Flacco42254.51.431.105.3.1420.0
Sam Bradford21257.71.57.863.3.0019.6
Alex Smith46218.81.33.4325.7.0919.4
Colin Kaepernick40204.51.15.5835.5.1519.3
Robert Griffin III21231.6.95.8631.7.0519.0
Derek Carr32226.81.66.787.2.0018.7
Brian Hoyer26237.71.27.853.1.0017.3
Teddy Bridgewater28214.31.00.7513.4.1417.1
Geno Smith29189.0.861.1720.7.2416.4

—Ian Allan

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