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Butch Dill/Associated Press
There is no Kirk Cousins on the move this offseason. With how valuable the quarterback position is, it is rare to find even average quarterbacks hit the market, let alone anyone a team would legitimately want to build around. This offseason falls back into that norm.
In the absence of any true “franchise” quarterbacks, the best available free-agent signal-callers should have some level of starting experience. If they are thrust into a starting role, these should not be green players who need time to develop their senses with the first-team offense. They ought to be ready for the challenge.
Priority free agents in this group should also have a legitimate case to be a starting quarterback in some capacity. Maybe it is only as a bridge to an incoming rookie, but they should sport a decent enough skill set and prior history as a starter to suggest they can hang as one of the NFL‘s 32 best.
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Bill Feig/Associated Press
Nick Foles is the “big catch” in a free-agent crop that does not really have one.
Few players in recent history can match Foles’ career inconsistency. Foles’ peaks with the Philadelphia Eagles of a 27-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 2013 and Super Bowl run in 2017 are some of the most baffling, yet impressive quarterbacking feats in NFL history. Conversely, Foles’ stops with the St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs were nothing of note, and even his second stint with the Eagles was largely forgettable outside of the aforementioned Super Bowl title.
The unreliability of Foles’ on-field product has hurt his market. When Foles is clicking, he is a clearly capable quarterback, but most of his career has been plagued by mediocrity. In turn, the trade market for Foles collapsed, and it is unlikely he fetches the same price on the free-agent market that he would have a year ago.
That Foles can be had at a relative bargain makes him all the more viable for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Connecting Foles with offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, Foles’ quarterbacks coach in Philadelphia, feels lazy, but the reality is that it does make the most sense for both parties. Foles gets a situation he is comfortable with, and DeFilippo gets a quarterback he trusts to temporarily start in place of whichever rookie quarterback the Jaguars draft.
It will require a bit of cap-space magic to make a deal work, as well as back-loading Foles’ contract some, but the Jaguars have enough movable or restructurable contracts to figure it out if they please. Cutting Blake Bortles, Malik Jackson and Tashaun Gipson would free up more than $20 million on top of potentially restructuring the contract of Calais Campbell and cutting a few more players on the fringe of the roster.
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Bill Feig/Associated Press
The steady decline of Tyrod Taylor has been painful to watch. Long over are the days when Taylor was an above-average starting quarterback, but he is still plenty valuable as a high-end backup. Teams with young and/or running quarterbacks should view Taylor not only as a mentor but as someone who can seamlessly take over the offense in a pinch.
Among teams with loads of cap space and a vacancy at backup quarterback, the Houston Texans are a perfect candidate to bring in Taylor. The Texans are set to lose their second- and third-string quarterbacks in Brandon Weeden and Joe Webb. Taylor is an upgrade over Weeden in a vacuum and now makes even more sense with Weeden’s contract expiring.
Given Deshaun Watson’s injury history, in college and the NFL, having an athletically capable quarterback in Taylor behind Watson will make any emergency planning a bit easier. Of course, Watson is a much more willing and accurate passer than Taylor at this point, but that is true of just about any starter-to-backup disparity.
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Bill Feig/Associated Press
The New York Giants do not seem terribly interested in the upcoming quarterback draft class. For whatever reason, general manager Dave Gettleman is adamant about starting Eli Manning in 2019 and working with him for the foreseeable future. If Gettleman is that sold on Manning, that is worrisome, but it could be that Gettleman does not want to invest in Kyler Murray or Dwayne Haskins with an early pick and does not like any of the remaining rookie options.
Teddy Bridgewater is the solution for a Giants team that needs to look toward the future but does not necessarily like this quarterback class. A non-contact knee injury derailed Bridgewater’s career in 2016, but he was a rising star with a Pro Bowl to his name up until that point. Since the injury, Bridgewater has yet to find a real opportunity to play and looked uninspiring in the little action he saw with the New Orleans Saints in 2018.
That being said, if the Giants were to bring in Bridgewater with the idea they could groom him into the post-Manning starter, he may be able to rediscover his form as a starting-caliber quarterback. Signing Bridgewater would be a low-cost, high-reward move for the Giants that gives them an immediate upgrade at backup quarterback at the very least.
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Julio Cortez/Associated Press
Separating Ryan Fitzpatrick and offensive coordinator Todd Monken would be a crime against all football fans.
The quarterback-coordinator duo were together in Tampa Bay last season and far exceeded the expectations for either of them. Monken put together, on paper, one of the most explosive and effective passing offenses in the league with Fitzpatrick’s daring, reckless style leading the way.
Fitzpatrick was forced into action at the start of the year in lieu of starting quarterback Jameis Winston, who was serving a three-game suspension for violating the personal conduct policy. In Fitzpatrick’s first three starts, he threw for 1,230 yards and 11 touchdowns, setting an NFL record for consecutive 400-plus-yard passing games. Fitzpatrick was not able to sustain that level of success throughout his various other starts in 2018, but given that he provided elite production in spurts and kicked off the Bucs season with an unexpected 2-1 record, it was enough to warrant Fitzpatrick’s contract last year.
With Tyrod Taylor now leaving Cleveland and Monken accepting the offensive coordinator job there, slotting Fitzpatrick in with Cleveland is a match made in heaven. Sprinkle on top the notion of a fun-loving, veteran Fitzpatrick helping Baker Mayfield mature and learn Monken’s offense, and it is tough to argue Fitzpatrick should end up anywhere else.
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Matt Ludtke/Associated Press
Aside from conning the Houston Texans out of millions of dollars, Brock Osweiler has been paired with Adam Gase for much of his career. The Denver Broncos drafted Osweiler when Gase was the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2012, before serving as offensive coordinator in 2013 and 2014. After three years apart, the two reunited in Miami last season as Osweiler replaced an injured Ryan Tannehill.
Osweiler has started 30 games in his career and won half of them, with and without Gase. His Texans days stand out most as the most disappointing, but Osweiler has had moments of passable quarterback play. His appearances in relief of Peyton Manning in 2015 and Tannehill in 2018 each went well relative to how a backup quarterback is expected to perform.
As Gase enters a new environment as head coach of the New York Jets, he will need a trustworthy backup behind franchise quarterback Sam Darnold. Josh McCown is set to leave in free agency this offseason and possibly retire, making way for Osweiler to step into his role. After Darnold was banged up last season, forcing him to miss a three-game stretch, it makes even more sense for Gase to prioritize reliable backup play in the event Darnold gets hurt again.
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Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
It feels like an eternity since Trevor Siemian was a starting quarterback in the NFL. After two years as the Broncos starter, Siemian spent last year as Kirk Cousins’ backup in Minnesota, where he didn’t see a single snap. As such, there is not any recent play to project Siemian’s 2019 outlook.
However, Siemian was not an awful starting quarterback for the Broncos. Siemian’s 5.34 adjusted net yards per attempt (ANY/A) ranked 26th of 30 over his two-year span as a starter in 2016 and 2017. That is not an impressive mark, but it did put him ahead of Jacoby Brissett, Jay Cutler and Joe Flacco. Of course, the team needed to make an upgrade, but for a placeholder nobody ever expected to start, Siemian did a fine job. Siemian will provide high-quality backup play for a team looking to retool its quarterback room.
Enter the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers tried experimenting with the likes of Geno Smith and Cardale Jones following years of a lackluster Kellen Clemens, but neither could seem to find his footing. Siemian could come in as a cheap signing and be a slightly better version of Smith: a pocket passer with inconsistent accuracy and decision-making but the confidence to make throws all over the field.
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