NFL franchises tend to be built around quarterbacks, and on that front, all 32 teams should have their situations in place at the end of today. There are four or five notable passers who should be placed on new teams within 12 hours.
I’d rank them this way …
1. Kyler Murray
He’s tiny, but he looks like he might be the league’s quickest scrambler, and he’s got a really good arm. He looks like a high school quarterback, but he can zip it. I was watching Hollywood Brown highlight tape the other week, and I saw 4 TD bombs where the ball traveled about 50 yards in the air. I expect Arizona will select him No. 1 overall. I just hope they can get enough around him before he suffers a career altering injury.
2. Josh Rosen (trade)
Arizona couldn’t put Murray and Rosen in the same quarterback room. If they draft Murray, they’ll move Rosen. He’ll land somewhere. I’m not sure which teams are interested, but I expect that somebody believes that he’s still a top-10 talent that can be salvaged. He didn’t have much around him last year. I remember him making a couple of dynamite throws in the preseason. I remember him launching a bomb out of his end zone, with people in his face, against the Chargers. I remember the game at New Orleans, with a perfectly thrown bomb that drew a PI flag and a laser touchdown on third down to end the drive. He’s cheap for the next three years.
3. Dwayne Haskins
Late rumblings, for whatever they’re worth, that Oakland or Washington could be interested in him in the top 10. He threw 50 touchdowns last year. I was watching some Parris Campbell highlights the other day. He had multiple touchdowns last year that didn’t come on “throws” but on two-handed shuffle passes. Those are included in the 50.
4. Drew Lock
Let’s see where they land, but for fantasy purposes, I might prefer Lock over Haskins and even Rosen. He’s a lot more mobile than those guys. He has the ability to score on zone-read plays around the goal line. He threw 44 touchdowns as a junior, when the cast around him was better. Lots of downfield throws, so he completed only 57 percent of his passes in college.
5. Daniel Jones
I’m not sure why he’s in the discussion with the other top 3 rookies. But apparently some teams are interested in him. Or they’re just trying to drum up interest.
I put Rosen on the list, so some could argue that I should also include Derek Carr. If the Raiders draft a quarterback at No. 4, they might be looking to unload Carr. Difference, though, is that Carr has the big contract. No team would want to trade for him at that number. And there would be more potential for the Raiders to keep Carr around as a bridge quarterback this year.
I see 14 teams with some potential to add a quarterback with a first- or second-round pick. I see only three that badly need to add a quarterback, and two of them have given some indication they’re not picking quarterbacks in the first round. The Dolphins might be on a long-term plan, with an eye on taking a quarterback next year. Similarly, the Giants (crazy as it might seem) could be thinking about sticking with just Eli Manning for one more year.
There are three teams with veteran quarterbacks where the team might be thinking said quarterback isn’t good enough for the long term – Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton, Derek Carr.
Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota are both entering their fifth year, and neither has been quite good enough so far. Both are a failed season away from being shown the exit. Bucs have brought in Bruce Arians to try to salvage Winston. Titans already have added signed Ryan Tannehill as a fallback plan.
And there are three teams with veteran starters who’ll eventually need to be replaced – Brady, Rivers, Roethlisberger. With the Steelers, they’ve drafted a couple of quarterbacks in recent years.
On this list, it’s not the likelihood of the team picking (or trading for) a quarterback. It’s how much I think the team needs to address the position.
| NEEDING QUARTERBACKS | |
|---|---|
| Rk | Team |
| 1. | Miami |
| 2. | Washington |
| 3. | NY Giants |
| 4. | Arizona |
| 5. | Denver |
| 6. | Cincinnati |
| 7. | Oakland |
| 8. | Tampa Bay |
| 9. | Tennessee |
| 10. | Jacksonville |
| 11. | New England |
| 12. | LA Chargers |
| 13. | Pittsburgh |
| 14. | Green Bay |
—Ian Allan