In the National Football League, there are no guarantees. Everyday players are subject to replacement. Not only do they have to perform, they have to perform according to their contract. If you play under the expectation, call it a day. There will already be another young man who just left university who will do it like you for much less money. All positions are immersed in this, including quarterbacks. But which QBs are or might be done with their current teams?
Rumors: Russell Wilson (DEN), Kenny Pickett (PIT)
Russell Wilson got benched before the Broncos' Week 17 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers due to a contract dispute. This might be the last time we saw Wilson in a Broncos Jersey.
Kenny Pickett suffered an ankle injury during the Week 13 loss against the Cardinals, and the Steelers had instability at the position until Mason Rudolph started over Mitch Trubisky for the Week 16 victory against the Bengals. Kenny Pickett has been cleared from his injury but will serve as a backup for Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Mac Jones
The Patriots quarterback has worsened his performance year after year. His numbers under pressure are at an all-time low. During his first season in New England, he played in a conservative way and although he did not win many games, he managed to get the team into the playoffs. In the last two years, the mental aspect of his game has completely fallen off.
He wanted to do more than he could do. His playmakers have not been able to make a difference and he has wanted to compensate for this lack of talent in the receivers with his play. He has taken too many risks on many plays, which has cost him the starting job and possibly his career in the NFL.
His yards per attempt have dropped since his first season from 7.3 yards to 6.1 yards, and his % of turnover-worthy plays has doubled from 2.5% in 2021 to 5.8% in 2023. To sum it up, he has been more aggressive and everything has turned out worse.
Desmond Ridder
The Falcons quarterback was chosen in the third round of the 2022 Draft and his 16 games as a starter in the NFL can only be described with one word: mediocre. His record is 8 wins and 8 losses, and it looks like he has completely stopped a team with a plethora of very high-level playmakers. The Falcons have invested three top-10 picks in players that surround Ridder. Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson. Either due to Arthur Smith or Ridder's limitations, he has not been able to take advantage of them.
Ridder hasn't been able to throw deep; he hasn't generated "the big play" at the critical moment, an attack based on the running game, screens that go nowhere, and passes in the short zone. Desmond Ridder is the 4th quarterback with the fewest pass attempts of 20 yards or more and is the 2nd NFL player with the fewest "Big TimeThrows," according to Pro Football Focus, only behind Zach Wilson.
Sam Howell
The last of these quarterbacks whose career might be in jeopardy. The second-year quarterback started the season well, but his tendency to hold the ball and a poor offensive line caused the sacks to pile up and his confidence to diminish game by game. Howell has been sacked 60 times this season (the highest number in the League) and if he had remained a starter in Washington, he could have gotten closer to that infamous record that David Carr set in 2002, with 76 sacks in 16 games with the Houston Texans.
With a top-3 pick in the next NFL Draft, new ownership, and probably a new head coach in D.C., everything indicates that the team will choose one of the two promising quarterbacks, Drake Maye (UNC) or Caleb Williams (USC), which will get selected this April in Detroit.
3 QBs will be gone in the top 6 picks