Each NFL team’s backup QB, ranked by tier

Which teams are best primed in case of emergency behind center?

This is the first piece of a four-part series this week on offensive position groups in the NFL. Next up will be running backs.

Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL. So what happens when the centerpiece of one team’s offense gets carted off to the locker room and relinquishes his claim at the top of the depth chart?

Then it’s time for Plan B — and for some teams, that’s a manageable, or even opportunistic swap. Others, like last year’s Bengals or the 2017 Packers, face disastrous returns after downgrading their depth charts. A good backup can keep the offense afloat and even create a permanent change behind center. A bad one will leave the team with little to look forward to besides a strong start at the following year’s NFL Draft.

So who is best positioned to deal with a quarterback injury in 2019? This year’s crop of backup passers can be broken up into seven categories. Here’s how all 32 teams and their collections of Art Garfunkels rate this offseason.

Tier I: Guys who could acceptably start in worse situations

Jacoby Brissett, Colts
Tyrod Taylor, Chargers
Teddy Bridgewater, Saints
Nick Mullens, 49ers
Ryan Tannehill, Titans
Case Keenum, Washington

These are the players who’d likely hover around No. 25-30 in terms of quarterback rating over the course of a full season — good enough to be a fill-in, but not good enough to build a franchise around.

Brissett’s inclusion in this tier is dicey, but I’m willing to chalk up his underwhelming year of starting in Indianapolis to a piecemeal offensive line that allowed him to get sacked every 1 in 10 dropbacks in 2017. Taylor was outright bad for Cleveland last fall, but he only started three games and is less than two years removed from getting the damn Bills to the playoffs, so he can’t be written off entirely. Bridgewater is an enigma, and his lack of free agent interest this offseason suggests the league is still uncertain about his comeback.

Mullens threw for more than 280 yards per game in relief of Jimmy Garoppolo and C.J. Beathard, making an impressive leap from practice squad veteran to league-average quarterback. Tannehill takes too many sacks and is an injury-prone backup to an injury-prone starter, but when healthy he can give you enough production to win around him.

Washington presents an interesting case, as it’s got three quarterbacks vying for a starting role, all of whom fit into different categories. Assuming Keenum backs up first-round pick Dwayne Haskins, he’s stuck here. The journeyman struggled in Denver last season, but his breakout 2017 showcased his potential under the right coaching staff.

Tier II: Our bridge to the future. Maybe

Drew Lock, Broncos
Daniel Jones, Giants
Josh Rosen, Dolphins

Here lie the players selected either in 2018 or 2019 who won’t be guaranteed any starts this fall. While Haskins and Kyler Murray have great odds to start their season openers in 2019, this trio may have to wait behind veterans in the name of development. Jones, in particular, may be waiting two to three years behind Eli Manning, according to his general manager.

Rosen, in his second year, has the best chance to start the most games assuming he can outplay Ryan Fitzpatrick in Miami. Lock is likely looking at a gap year behind Joe Flacco, John Elway’s latest 6’6 or taller quarterback.

Tier III: Career backups

Brett Hundley, Cardinals
Matt Barkley, Bills
Chase Daniel, Bears
Drew Stanton, Browns
AJ McCarron, Texans
Chad Henne, Chiefs
Brian Hoyer, Patriots
Trevor Siemian, Jets

This group is comprised of quarterbacks who accepted they look better on the sideline wearing a headset than on the field wearing a helmet. They’re fine, and you hope to never see them for more than a few garbage-time series per season.

Barkley is the most questionable inclusion on this list, but he was somehow the Bills’ top quarterback last season so he gets to spend 2019 as a “not completely depressing, I guess” option.

Tier IV: Veteran mentors

Matt Schaub, Falcons
Robert Griffin III, Ravens

Like Tier III, but with more experience. RG3 is the guy Baltimore is hoping can convince Lamar Jackson to slide more. Schaub has taken Josh McCown’s mantle as the player whose presence makes you feel oldest.

Tier V: Former starters who no longer (or never did) have it

Blake Bortles, Rams
Mike Glennon, Raiders
Blaine Gabbert, Buccaneers

These three are capable of sustained competence, but they’re known for so much worse. I want to write the rest of this section exactly as much as you’d like to read it, so let’s move on.

Tier VI: Possibly in our longterm plans, but possibly not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Will Grier, Panthers
Gardner Minshew, Jaguars
Nate Sudfeld, Eagles
Joshua Dobbs, Steelers

These are the young quarterbacks who can start in a pinch, but aren’t rock-solid parts of their franchise’s future plans. These are the mid-to-late round picks still in the first few years of their NFL careers with limited regular season resumes from which to build. They don’t inspire confidence, but there’s a certain measure of hope that comes with the announcement they’ll be making an unexpected start.

Rookies Grier and Minshew could each flame out horribly, but they bring a combination of collegiate production and potential to teams that’d prefer to leave them on the bench the next four years. Dobbs was good enough to convince Pittsburgh to release Landry Jones, which means ... something. Sudfeld now gets the chance to fill Nick Foles’ shoes as Philadelphia’s unexpected savior should Carson Wentz get injured again.

Tier VII: Young guys who look in no way ready

Jeff Driskel, Bengals
Cooper Rush, Cowboys
DeShone Kizer, Packers
Sean Mannion, Vikings
Connor Cook, Lions
Paxton Lynch, Seahawks

Maybe they’ll surprise by exceeding the challenges placed in front of them, but these are the players who combine low NFL ceilings and limited experience. Driskel was a major step down from Andy Dalton last season. Kizer was a plunge off a cliff from the play of Aaron Rodgers.

Rush looks like young Andy Dalton trying to sneak into an R-rated movie and had a 1:4 TD:INT ratio last preseason. Mannion has averaged just 4.9 yards per pass in his four-year NFL career. Then there’s Cook and Lynch, who might not even win the backup job for their new teams. Cook hasn’t thrown a regular season pass since 2016 and isn’t guaranteed to beat out Tom Savage. Lynch could easily lose the No. 2 spot to Geno Smith.

If that happens, the Lions’ and Seahawks’ backup situation will move to either Tier III (if we’re being generous) or Tier V.