As the Seattle Seahawks prepare to let Jalen Milroe play the entire game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night, they aren’t the only team expected to give every opportunity to the third-string quarterback in the preseason finale. The Chiefs are likely to play seventh-round rookie Garrett Nussmeier for the entire game against the Seahawks too.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be our last opportunity to watch a lot of these QBs throw a pass for at least a year, if not for the rest of our lives.
Not to be rude or negative, it’s just true that yesterdays “Jaren Hall” is todays “Aidan O’Connell” and tomorrows “Carson Beck”. Someone has to take the reps in preseason and then the NFL cycles through another batch of quarterbacks. The recycling never ends. Some of them will actually turn out to be long-term backups, every once in a (long) while a starter, but there’s actually a clear delineation between NFL starters and everybody else:
24 of 32 starters were 1st round picks
3 others were 2nd round picks
Just five (Willis, Dak, Brissett, Cousins, Purdy) were neither
And look at those five: Willis, Brissett, and Cousins=High end starters? No. Like Geno Smith and Kyler Murray, all three could be replacement-level free agents that a team is starting simply to survive for one or two years. And Purdy is the only starter drafted after the fourth.
If any current starters fail—we know some will—where do teams go next? They rarely go to the third, fourth or fifth-round pick on their bench.
They use the first round of the draft. They use the trade market or free agency for former first-round picks. When the Seahawks wanted to replace Geno, they didn’t go to Sam Howell. They went to Sam Darnold, a former third overall pick.
So almost everything that matters at quarterback pertains to a team’s starter, who is a former first-round pick 75-percent of the time. However…
The backup QB trade-or-release market is at an all-time high.
From Anthony Richardson to Tua Tagovailoa, from J.J. McCarthy to Mac Jones, there could be more action behind the scenes that ever. We might be well within our rights to ask if the Seahawks will put Milroe on the market.
Woah, woah, woah…I’m just sayin’.
So what IS going on with the NFL’s 32 quarterback rooms? Usually Seaside Joe is solely focused on the Seattle Seahawks. The day of the final preseason game felt like a good time for us to look at the entire league together.
AFC East
Bills - Josh Allen, Kyle Allen
Patriots - Drake Maye, Tommy DeVito, Behren Morton
Jets - Geno Smith, Cade Klubnik
Dolphins - Malik Willis, Quinn Ewers or Cam Miller
Josh Allen’s reign as the best quarterback in the division is…probably not over. Allen accounted for 40 touchdowns last season (15 rushing) and completed a career-high 69.3% of his pass attempts under offensive coordinator—now the head coach—Joe Brady. I won’t be surprised if offseason acquisition D.J. Moore is brought back to life in Buffalo after a couple of frustrating years with the Bears.
Maye is one to watch—the only one to watch—in terms of challenging Allen’s title. The Patriots overhauled three positions, adding WR A.J. Brown, WR Romeo Doubs, and LG Alijah Vera-Tucker in the offseason. New England’s offense was largely “exposed” in the playoffs, as they had to face the three best defenses in the NF, but did the experience make Maye better?
Seahawks-Patriots: Week 1
There are some who believe it’s only a matter of time before rookie fourth-round pick Cade Klubnik replaces Geno Smith. Unless the Jets are the biggest surprise this year, it’s easy to see how racking up losses would lead Aaron Glenn (or interim head coach Frank Reich after Glenn is fired) to bench Geno. Similarly, the Dolphins placed a fully-guaranteed $45 million bet on Malik Willis despite 155 career pass attempts. The timing is a bit strange because Miami has the worst-looking supporting cast in the NFL.
The most interesting backup in the division is Klubnik, but Patriots rookie Behren Morton had to punt in a preseason game this year…and it wasn’t bad.
AFC North
Ravens - Lamar Jackson, Tyler Huntley, Joe Fagnano
Bengals - Joe Burrow, Joe Flacco, Josh Johnson
Steelers - Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Drew Allar and/or Will Howard
Browns - Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel or Taylen Green
NFL’s mainstream media all the time: “Today in Cleveland, the Browns are…”
Me:
I refuse to be tricked into believing I care about the Browns QB competition. It’s the Browns. I don’t care! The entire room will be wiped clean by 2027.
There’s some valid interest in Allar, but he never threatened Rudolph for the backup job and Mike McCarthy said that he wants to keep all four QBs. Rodgers can still throw the ball deep, but it’s unlikely he will do it often as he averaged a career-low 6.0 intended air yards per attempt in 2025. This is the new Aaron Rodgers:
Lamar and Burrow are the two MVP candidates in the division. Whereas Burrow has better receivers, Lamar may have the better offensive line and all-around supporting cast. Ravens OC Declan Doyle is one of three new offensive coordinators in the AFC North, alongside Cleveland’s Travis Switzer and Pittsburgh’s Brian Angelichio.
The most interesting backup in the division is Allar, but Baltimore’s Joe Fagnano has impressed people in preseason and Dillon Gabriel had his best game on Thursday. Shoutout to 40-year-old Josh Johnson.
AFC South
Texans - C.J. Stroud, Davis Mills, Brett Rypien
Jaguars - Trevor Lawrence, Nick Mullens, Joey Aguilar
Colts - Daniel Jones, Leonard Riley or Anthony Richardson
Titans - Cam Ward, Mitchell Trubisky, Will Levis
Just when you think the thumbs are pointing up, things can go sideways.
I’m dumbfounded that in the wake of the Tua Tagovailoa contract disaster in Miami, which was such an obvious “don’t do it!” decision, people will still talk about quarterbacks like Stroud as if it’s crazy if the Texans don’t extend him right now. Stroud is under contract for two more years! If you’re Houston, you’ve ALREADY paid to find out if he’s worth an extension, and from what we’ve seen thus far, he isn’t.