NFL Season
Preview
Quarterback is the most important position on the field. NFL teams routinely invest heavily in their starting quarterback but injuries are part of football. The Dallas Cowboys have the highest-paid player in the NFL in quarterback Dak Prescott. Dallas has had a losing season twice in the last five years, and they were both years in which Prescott missed at least half the season due to injury.
That’s the importance of having a quality insurance policy behind the starter. It’s easy to say that any team with a bona fide starter is in big trouble if the starter goes down, but that isn’t always the case. When Prescott missed five games in the 2022 season, backup Cooper Rush came in and went 4-1 to keep the Cowboys afloat en route to a 12-5 season.
Before we take a look at the 10 worst quarterback situations in the NFL, a couple of housekeeping things to keep in mind about the rankings. This isn’t just about the starter, but the starting quarterback will weigh more heavily than the backup. The starter was weighed against other starters in the league and the backups were weighed against other backups. Teams with rookie starting quarterbacks were not included because the starter still weighs heavily and there is no NFL track record to consider. The Tennessee Titans, with this year’s No. 1 pick Cam Ward, fell into this category, as did Minnesota, even though J.J. McCarthy isn’t technically a rookie.
