As the 2016-2017 NFL regular season proved to be, quite a few teams experienced a game of musical chairs when it came to naming or finding a starting quarterback. In a league where most offensive play is headlined by able quarterbacks escaping the pocket when under pressure and launching sixty yard bombs in the end zone, many of the QB's on this list below will have one common trait: never reaching their potential. All have or had the skills to become the franchise QB for their respective organizations, but a mixture of injuries, stale coaching, poor receiving corps, or underwhelming development at the position have attributed to the plodding growth and evolution of these talent game callers. This list below is purely speculative and subjective criticism for some of the NFL's more statistically disappointing QB's up to this point; who knows, maybe reluctantly one of these guys will be a fresh face on your teams QB depth chart next season.
Chicago Bears - Starter: Jay Cutler Backup: Brian Hoyer, Matt Barkley
The Chicago Bears still have the dreaded contract of cannon armed Jay Cutler, who has completely underwhelmed since being acquired in a blockbuster trade back in 2009. Brian Hoyer looked like the perfect stopgap for a team that was fading quickly, and a bridge between drafting and preparing an NFL prospect, and keeping the team competitive. Hoyer, unfortunately, went down with a broken arm during the season, and Chicago started Cutler until they couldn't anymore. Once Cutler sustained a thumb injury, the starting reigns were handed over to the former unproven USC product Matt Barkley, who overall performed as expected: mediocre. In seven games in relief of Cutler and Hoyer, the Trojan would throw for 1,611 yards, complete 59.7% of his passes, average 7.46 yards per attempt, and top off by threading eight passes for touchdowns, while tossing 14 for interceptions. In the perfect world, Bears head coach John Fox would've had better options than Hoyer and Barkley to start after Cutler, but the more alarming realization should be that when healthy this past year, Cutler put up a 27.8 QBR in his five games he did play. Now, for an NFL Quarterback, a 50 QBR represents the midway point line when it comes to rating his overall performance and poise in the pocket, but Cutler didn't even make it halfway, as he was 22.2 below league average. Big Jay would only throw for 4,000+ yards once in high career, and that was the season that Denver sent him to Chicago for Kyle Orton, and a first round and third pick in the NFL Draft. Also necessary to mention, Cutler has never posted a single season passer rating (out of 158.3) above 93.0 in a single season. After a 2014 season that saw him count $38MM agains the dead salary cap, and 2015 saw him at $29MM, with the upcoming season, Cutler's set to count $2MM against the dead salary cap, and the time has finally come for Cutler to pack his bags, and take his lack of talent elsewhere in the league, or perhaps even up to the CFL where misfit toys and backfires like Cutler can play for fun.
Houston Texans - Starter: Brock Osweiler Backup: Tom Savage
Oh boy, this case just reeks. You can ask NFL guru Chance Eaton and he'll tell you as best as anyone; Brock Osweiler is downright terrible. There hypothetically should be a huge sign near Osweiller that warns all about his inability to scan the field, hold onto the ball way too long, and throw head scratching picks in a bloated secondary where any average NFL QB wouldn't have tossed a pigskin anywhere near. He made encouraging strides in the 2015 season, backing up and filling in for the injured Peyton Manning, where he would register a 61.8 completions percentage, throw 10 TD-6 INT's, and elevate his game to the tune of an 86.4 passer rating. He wasn't perfect, but he was a rookie passer technically, starting for the first real time in his NFL career. Coming off that solid season in Denver, the Houston Texans decided upon the move to offer Osweiler a 4-year $72MM deal to revitalize an offense that had also acquired star RB Lamar Miller. So, to sum it up quickly, Osweiler got completely torched by the league this year, making him look like a kid that should stick to making sand castles in his little sandbox back home. The stats are like nails on a chalk board, and have caused many to cringe back in absolute horror, but Brock completed 59.0% of his passes, threw for 2,957 yards, averaged 5.8 yards per attempt, had a 15-16 touchdown to interception ratio, and for the life of him, couldn't get an offense anywhere but sputtering in the gameday light. I say cut him now! Of course its not that easy, and if it were then you and I would be front office personnel, but with Osweiler set to count $25MM in dead salary cap if released this offseason, its a sure bet he returns to Bill O'Brien's team next season, where the staff will look to help Osweiler transform into at least an average NFL QB, especially considering he gets paid $18MM a season. By all accounts, stay away from him in fantasy leagues, and I would urge you not to watch his games played as his pure ghastly and unspeakable play will most likely cause you to gag, and did I mention it's contagious?
Cleveland Browns - Starter: Robert Griffin III Backup: Cody Kessler, Josh McCown, Kevin Hogan
These guys completely abused the privilege of having a QB in the first place, as they went through four different passers during the past season. RG3 is going to fall into the same group as Cutler; he had the makings of an elite QB scrambling option with as strong as anyone in the league, and even at the time of being drafted, was proclaimed as some as the safer bet to have a successful longterm NFL career than Colts QB Andrew Luck. Well, time would prove those optimistic comments where unfortunately wrong, and not wrong by a small amount, those expectations are completely irrelevant and too much to ask for at this point in RG3's career. Now yes, he did suffer a horrific ACL tear, and he was on point up until that injury, but the guy should at least know how to thread the needle and deliver strikes to receivers on a regular basis if he is no longer capable of breaking out monstrous runs. We've got a meltdown alert here, as Griffin was no better this season, where his QBR was 7.8 below average, and he was only able to throw two TD passes in five games played. The real guy to have watched for in this nightmare of a year for Browns fans was Kody Kessler, yet another former USC product. He completed 65.6% of his passes, averaged 7.08 yards per attempt, and threw six TD's to only two interceptions, while coming in at a 92.3 passer rating. Hey, Hue Jackson, I think we've found the guy! Kessler set fire in his last in the NCAA, throwing 29 darts for TD's, completing 66.8% of his passes, and racking up 3,536 passing yards. Development for a QB isn't a one and done, and keeping Josh McCown on the roster may work to both Kessler and the Browns advantage when it comes down to reaching full potential for Kessler. McCown is a storied, knowledgable and successful QB, and with that he is more than capable of showing Kessler how to maximize his potential and become a successful starting QB in the NFL. Unless they draft another QB in this years draft, odds are Kessler will come into next season with the starting his to lose, so look for some improvements on his part, and on the 1-15 Browns part as well.
New York Jets - Starter: Ryan Fitzpatrick Backup: Bryce Petty, Geno Smith, Christian Hackenberg
Already written off as a wasted pick, we'll hit right off on Hackenberg as multiple personnel within the Jets organization have no faith in "Hack" developing as such was projected. But, in 2015, Fitzpatrick was a ray of sunlight the Jets really wish had returned this past season, as Fitz helped Brandon Marshall put up a career season and help resurrect a sputtering Jets offense. He would throw 31 TD's to 15 INT's, and was good for a 66.7 QBR, which put him up as one of the better QB's in the league at the time. For much of his career, Fitzpatrick has been a place holder QB for a lot of teams; six teams to be exact, and never lasting more than four season with anyone of them. This past year though was the ultimate disaster for Fitzpatrick, most directly highlighted by his six interception game against the Kansas City Chiefs, where he was bad enough to completely only 20 of his 44 attempts and finish that game out with a 5.0 QBR. That game pretty much summed up how Fitzpatrick's entire season would go on, but he would sprinkle in a few encourage starts in between his mess of a year. Only signed to a one-year deal this past offseason, it's obvious Fitzpatrick won't be coming back, and if he'll be coming back to any NFL team next season. Interestingly, Fitz never threw more than 2 TD passes in a game this past season, as opposed to him throwing three or more TD passes in a game three separate times in his highlight 2015 season with Gang Green. Most, if not all competent NFL front office personnel would see that the Jets have to start over from block one with the QB crew they have, as Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith will be leaving as free agents this upcoming offseason, and Hack will remain as dead weight on a team that desperately searches for their future franchise passer. Not to be forgotten, fill in Bryce Petty suited up for some games this past year, losing all but one of his six starts, winning over the San Fransisco 23-17 in overtime, in what was probably Petty's best performance of the season. Petty completed 56.4% of his passes, and tossed seven interceptions in his six games played. It's hard to put a finger on any of the current Jets QB's leading the charge for the team in the future, so a different crew of game callers is expected to be called in next year in hopes of a better result than their 5-11 record this past seaosn.
There's no doubt the NFL is a hard league to play in, as it is the best stage for players with skills to compete at on all of Earth. There will be great turnaround for many teams this offseason in hopes of finding a better and more durable option at the QB position, especially considering the position demands such leadership and determination skills that it is intrinsic to have at least a league average QB in hopes of putting up a .500 season. Soon enough, we'll be looking at all other positions on the field and identifying the strengths and weaknesses for teams at each spot coming up over the offseason.
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