Ranking Every NFL Team’s QB situation at Midseason: 26-32

Ranking Every NFL Team’s QB situation at Midseason: 26-32

The worst of the rest. These teams have fallen on hard time and are in dire need of upgrades at almost every position. A couple of these teams have a quality starter but are sorely in need of a backup and/or wide receivers that can catch.

26. St. Louis: Marc Bulger is a Pro Bowl quality player who has been maddeningly inconsistent this season. So inconsistent that Scott Linehan thought it would be a good idea to start Trent “Sneezing Gives Me a Concussion” Green for one game. I don’t blame Linehan, he was looking for answers and scrambling to save his job. Bulger has only thrown more than 200 yards once this season and has only tossed multiple touchdowns once. Both in losses.

Trent Green has nothing left in his tank. He should have retired three seasons and nine concussions ago. Why a team would give him a chance as a backup – let alone starter – is beyond me. Brock Berlin is a second year player with one unimpressive start on his resume.

27. Cincinnati: Carson Palmer has been one of the league’s most consistent quarterbacks since taking over the starting role in ’04. Palmer, however, has missed five games this season with an elbow injury. Not that he was faring that well beforehand, going 0-4 in his four starts. This team’s issues run deep, but without a quarterback they are AFC doormats.

Ryan Fitzpatrick guided the Bungles to their only win this season, but one win in five starts isn’t great. On a better team Fitzpatrick would be a decent backup. Jordan Palmer is untested in this league, but he comes from pretty good stock.

28. Jacksonville: David Garrard was poised and accurate last season, guiding Jacksonville to the playoffs. He only threw three interceptions in twelve starts. Unfortunately that was last season. Garrard has struggled this season. His passing yardage is up, but so are his interceptions, and he’s barely on pace to throw double-digit touchdowns. The Jaguars are underperforming this season and part of the blame has to go to Garrard.

Cleo Lemon is the team’s other quarterback. He started eight games over the past two seasons with Miami, but his statistics are pedestrian. He would not be a better option guiding this team. You have to wonder if Jack Del Rio regrets getting rid of Byron Leftwich after his performance against the Redskins last weekend. (I’m guessing he doesn’t.)

29. Oakland: What is there to say about the Raiders? Al Davis is single-handedly destroying the franchise he built decades ago. I am too young to remember Al Davis as a positive force, so to me he seems like a spiteful, maniacal fool. And he’s ugly too. Davis is axing coaches and players so frequently he’s invested in a black cloak and scythe. That way when he’s done reaping his team’s talent he won’t have to change before joining diehard Raiders fans to witness another loss.

JaMarcus Russell is overrated. He wasn’t first round talent, let alone number one pick talent. Russell can throw a football 70-yards through the uprights from his knees. So what? He can’t hit an open receiver at five yards. He doesn’t make good reads or accurate throws and can’t handle defensive pressure. Russell is suffering from being thrown into the fire way before he was ready. Quarterback is a position that is just as mental as it is physical and you can only learn with practice and experience. Russell excelled in high school and college based purely on physical skill. He needs to learn the nuances of the position like diagnosing coverages and proper mechanics. He shouldn’t be starting right now.

The Raiders field Andrew Walter and Marques Tuiasosopo as backups. Walter started eight games for the Raiders in ’06. He threw 3 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. That’s not going to cut it. Tuiasosopo has seen playing time in 11 games in his 8-year career. He has a total QB rating of 48.0. That’s not going to cut it either. This team needs to sign a quality veteran to tutor Russell for a few years.

30. Detroit: This team started the season with Jon Kitna behind center, but they had to place him on IR midway through October. It’s okay; he was ineffective as a starter anyway. They turned to Dan Orlovsky who managed only five touchdown passes in four starts even though the Lions boasted a receiving corps of Roy Williams, Calvin Johnson and Mike Furrey. Orlovsky was lost to injury last week. Drew Stanton and Drew Henson aren’t ready to take over, so the Lions went out and convinced Daunte Culpepper to come out of retirement.

Culpepper made a career out of lobbing the ball to Randy Moss. Maybe he can resurrect his career lobbing the ball to Calvin Johnson. Culpepper is probably the best quarterback this team has had all season. The learning curve is going to be steep – keep in mind this man came out of retirement this week – but if he can cut down on his fumbles he might put everything together early enough to lead the Lions to a 1-15 record this season.

31. San Francisco: Mike Martz is an offensive mastermind…as long as he has an offense full of all-pros. Unfortunately Frank Gore is the only superstar this 49ers offense boasts, so Mike Martz’s system is actually a detriment to this offense. Alex Smith was supposed to be the future of this franchise, but he hasn’t sniffed the field in a season-and-a-half. Injuries set him back and he fell out of favor with Nolan and Martz. Smith will have another chance, with a different franchise.

J.T. O’Sullivan has played for seven teams in his six-year career. That normally doesn’t bode well, but he had a good preseason and started strong posting two QB ratings over 100 in the first three games. Unfortunately he only broke 60 one time in the next five weeks. There was talk of O’Sullivan losing his job to veteran Shaun Hill, but that’s like trading a red delicious for a granny smith. The team’s not going to rebound. This team is headed towards drafting their second quarterback of the future in five seasons.

32. Kansas City: The Chiefs are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They started the season without a clear option at quarterback. Many people hoped Croyle would take the reigns in his third year in the league. The team’s other viable option was veteran Damon Huard. Neither are top-tier options and both are currently on IR.

It looks like second-year man Tyler Thigpen is the man and he has played well the last two games, but he’s not a long-term solution. If Thigpen were to get hurt then the team would turn to former Jaguars QB Quinn Gray, signed after shelving Croyle and Huard. This team is on the fast track to a top-5 draft pick, which they should use on a franchise quarterback.