Ranking NFL backup QB situations: Which teams have best, worst plans?

Despite all the various measures the NFL has taken to safeguard its quarterbacks, constant attrition at the position – for a range of circumstances – has essentially become unavoidable. From production (or lack thereof) to injury reduction, it’s now commonplace to see roughly 60 QBs league-wide inserted into the starting lineup in a given season.

Last weekend was a reminder of that veritable inevitability as the Browns, Colts, Commanders, Dolphins, Giants, Raiders, Steelers and Titans were among the clubs that chose or were forced to make a switch under center.

Washington will likely have to start backup Marcus Mariota this Sunday versus Chicago after he spent most of Week 7’s win against Carolina in relief of injured rookie star Jayden Daniels, who is week to week with a rib injury. Fortunately, the Commanders’ faith in Mariota was bolstered by his efficient showing (18-for-23, 205 yards, 2 TDs, 34 yards rushing) and steady hand in a 40-7 walkover.

“You can see the support that Marcus got from his teammates. And I think that goes a long way, of being ready and all the things that happen when no one’s watching. The staying after practice, going through a two-minute (drill) to get ready,” said Washington coach Dan Quinn on Monday. “So, that’s Marcus being ready when called upon.

“I wasn’t surprised to see Marcus perform well. We’ve all seen it.”

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Mariota reflected on his pro experience Wednesday and approach to a position that’s often described as the second-most important on any team yet is so frequently an afterthought.

“I really believe throughout my journey I’ve learned so much about offensive football because of the amount of systems I’ve been in,” said the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick (by Tennessee) of the 2015 draft.

“So, regardless of if I felt I was suited for one or the other, I’m just very fortunate to be able to experience all those things and to have that kind of knowledge because I think it’s really helped me become a better player.”

But executing from a cold start, as Mariota did Sunday, simply isn’t something everybody – even quarterbacks who have made it as far as the NFL – can capably do.

With the position in so much flux at the moment – and there will be changes this weekend regardless of what happens in Washington – it seemed like the appropriate time to rank every team’s backup quarterback situation from best to worst.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

Fluid situation, though we can confidently say Kyle Allen – and don’t forget he has 19 NFL starts under his belt – is QB3. But Russell Wilson’s performance in his Steelers debut last Sunday suggests HC Mike Tomlin has two very solid choices along with Justin Fields, who staked Pittsburgh to a 4-2 start. Both are scheduled to be free agents after the season and I, for one, believe it’s a mistake to not stick with Fields given his potential as the long-term answer under center in the Steel City and the options he provides as a runner. But this seems to be the rare instance, assuming Wilson can sustain the level he showed in beating the Jets while providing more impact in the passing game, where a team with two uniquely skilled quarterbacks … actually has two quarterbacks (as opposed to none, as the trope goes).

2. Indianapolis Colts

If you thought 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Joe Flacco, 39, was a flash in the pan after literally popping off his couch to spearhead Cleveland’s successful run into the playoffs … then you should probably think again. Standing in for Anthony Richardson, he’s already responsible for half of Indy’s wins this season and nearly engineered a third during a 37-34 loss at Jacksonville. The former Super Bowl MVP’s rocket right arm is as live as ever, and his 102.2 passer rating and 65.7% completion rate are well above his career norms – suggesting Flacco’s scads of experience have allowed him to simplify the game, as he’s suggested. He threw for 323.2 yards per outing last season, more than anyone else in the league, and his biggest drawback might be the shadow he’s already casting over the struggling Richardson. Sam Ehlinger is in deep storage but hasn’t shown much in eight career appearances.

3. Kansas City Chiefs

Former Pro Bowler Carson Wentz and his 153 career TD passes are two years removed from what was probably his final opportunity to be a regular starter in the league. That doesn’t disqualify him from being a high-end insurance policy behind three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes as he was for Matthew Stafford in LA last year – and maybe Wentz has evolved into a better game manager after what could be career-rehabilitating stops with Sean McVay and Andy Reid. Chris Oladokun is on the practice squad.

4. New York Jets

Given all the emphasis on and oxygen taken up by Aaron Rodgers, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the NYJ – their 2-5 start notwithstanding – should now be able to much better withstand an absence by the four-time league MVP. Aside from his own proclivity to get injured, QB2s don’t come much better than former Pro Bowler Tyrod Taylor, 35, whose bag includes an arm with horsepower, exceptional mobility and great care with the football – to the degree he can be a little too risk-averse at times. Taylor owns 58 regular-season starts and an 88.5 passer rating that’s better than Rodgers’ 2024 figure. ‘It helps having a guy who has played so much because he can see things through a different lens, because he’s been around for so long,’ Rodgers, who’s long been accustomed to twenty-something backstops, said via ESPN during training camp. ‘He has no obligation to do that for me; he’s just a great teammate.’

Seemingly quarterback-starved for decades, the Jets also have some intriguing developmental prospects. Adrian Martinez, who won a ring and league MVP honors with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions earlier this year, resides on the practice squad. Rookie Jordan Travis, the 2023 ACC Player of the Year, led Florida State to an undefeated regular season in 2023 but is effectively taking a medical redshirt after the leg injury he suffered last November dropped him to Round 5 of the 2024 draft.

5. Cincinnati Bengals

Rough as the 2023 season was, they did find something in the wreckage: backup Jake Browning. He won four of seven starts after Joe Burrow went down with his season-ending wrist injury and actually led the NFL with a 70.4% completion percentage. Browning, 28, couldn’t quite get Cincy back into the playoff field, but he was significantly responsible for making the AFC North the first division with four teams that finished above .500. Projected over a full schedule, he would’ve ended last season with nearly 4,400 yards and 30 TDs, along with his 98.0 passer rating – showing he could play at a high level for a sustained stretch. Fifth-year vet Logan Woodside and his seven career passes are on the practice squad.

6. Washington Commanders

Quinn said Mariota’s superpower is “his ability to improvise” and extend plays and suggested the offense could be in shotgun frequently in order to cater to his comfort level. Now in his 10th season, Mariota’s next start will be his 75th, which doesn’t account for another pair in postseason with Tennessee. He was never quite the uniquely dynamic athlete Daniels is, but he certainly moves well, generally protects the ball, and OC Kliff Kingsbury shouldn’t have to drastically adjust the league’s No. 1 scoring offense for however long Mariota has to operate it. As it pertains to a Daniels facsimile, QB3 Jeff Driskel is another level removed from Mariota yet has a sufficient run-pass skill set (and 12 NFL starts) to keep Kingsbury and Co. relatively in their comfort zone. Undrafted rookie Sam Hartman, who started 57 games in a college career split between Wake Forest and Notre Dame, now toils on the practice squad.

7. Atlanta Falcons

Purely a projection here with rookie first-rounder Michael Penix Jr. – and his estimable abilities – waiting in the wings behind veteran Kirk Cousins, who signed a four-year deal with the team in March. Penix played his first seven regular-season snaps and completed his only throw (for 14 yards) in Sunday’s blowout loss to Seattle. Given the investment, Atlanta’s front office clearly believes in Penix, but it will likely be a while before he can prove whether he was worth it. Nathan Peterman is on the practice squad … and six years removed from his time in Buffalo, when he displayed some of the worst quarterbacking anyone’s ever seen in the NFL.

8. Las Vegas Raiders

If you were a GM, and your QB room included Gardner Minshew II, Desmond Ridder and (currently injured) Aidan O’Connell, you’d probably feel pretty good about surviving a stretch without your franchise passer. Unfortunately for the Silver and Black, they don’t have that guy yet, and Minshew hasn’t shown the Pro Bowl form that helped him nearly lead the Colts into the playoffs last season. Ridder, who was plucked off Arizona’s practice squad Tuesday, had an 8-9 record as Atlanta’s starter on the heels of an illustrious college career at Cincinnati.

9. Carolina Panthers

Uhhh … If you consider three-time Pro Bowler Andy Dalton the backup, they’re in a decent spot – though his numbers have been in steady decline since he was named the starter in Week 3. If you consider Bryce Young the backup, well … he was the No. 1 pick of the draft just a year ago, even though his unsightly play to this point – for a variety of factors – hasn’t justified that investment. After his stunning benching after two weeks this season, Young will get another chance to play Sunday after Dalton sprained his thumb in a car accident. Rookie Jack Plummer may have to come off the practice squad to back up Young in the short term.

10. Los Angeles Rams

After several years as something of a high-end system quarterback for most of his career, Jimmy Garoppolo’s limitations came to the forefront last season during his brief hitch as the Raiders’ starter. Now in his 11th season and nearly 33, it’s probably safe to assume McVay would put Jimmy G. in better position to succeed now. And respect must be afforded to player who’s won nearly 70% of his 69 (playoffs included) career starts while posting a passer rating of 97.6. A championship QB at the University of Georgia, Stetson Bennett seems to have his life in order and now occupies the QB3 role, though he has yet to appear in a regular-season game two seasons into his NFL career.

11. Dallas Cowboys

Cooper Rush hasn’t played much recently, but he did help save the 2022 regular season by winning four of five starts when Dak Prescott was sidelined with a bum thumb. With nearly the entirety of his seven-year career spent in Dallas, Rush knows the personnel and the playbook. With Prescott now signed through 2028, seems likely Trey Lance will be moving on after this season in search of another locale for the No. 3 pick of the 2021 draft to kickstart his thus far disappointing career.

12. Los Angeles Chargers

Easton Stick posted decent numbers in his first four NFL starts last season in place of injured Justin Herbert. However the Bolts went 0-4 with Stick and diversified their depth chart in August by acquiring more-experienced and athletic Taylor Heinicke (25 NFL starts, including one in postseason) from Atlanta. Yet given how new HC Jim Harbaugh has de-emphasized the pass this season, it shouldn’t be as heavy a lift for either if Herbert misses time.

13. New England Patriots

With Drake Maye finally taking the reins, veteran Jacoby Brissett and rookie Joe Milton III are in reserve. Brissett, now in his ninth season, is a total pro and always popular in a locker room. But the narrative that he’s anything more than a guy who can maybe keep you afloat for 4-6 weeks just isn’t accurate – at least with a roster of this caliber. Brissett’s career record now stands at 19-34. Milton is a marvel physically and might be able to throw the ball further than anyone in the league – which is probably why he’s on the active roster rather than exposed on the practice squad – but is also decidedly raw.

14. New York Giants

Tommy DeVito was a pleasant surprise as an undrafted rookie in 2023, arguably the team’s most effective QB in a season when Daniel Jones and Taylor were injured. But he’ll apparently have to wait one more year to lock down the QB2 role after Drew Lock was added to the mix this year. A good blend of experience and potential in a room that could evolve drastically next spring. But, for now, Lock and DeVito can only hope for the garbage time opportunities like the one that surfaced in Sunday’s 25-point loss to Philadelphia.

15. Tennessee Titans

Now in his seventh season, Mason Rudolph is probably an ideal backup for a team like this – capable if not overly threatening to a second-year starter like Will Levis unless the 2023 second-round pick absolutely tanks (which is certainly possible). But Rudolph went on a three-game heater late last season, driving Pittsburgh into the playoffs despite the Steelers’ offensive limitations. He might well be the Titans’ best alternative this year, though it behooves them to do a longer evaluation of Levis first – once he’s healthy enough to return to the field. Veteran Trevor Siemian is on the practice squad. Of his 33 mostly middling NFL starts, 24 occurred with Denver prior to the 2018 season.

16. Seattle Seahawks

Sam Howell showed quite a bit of toughness in suboptimal conditions with the Commanders in 2023 and wound up leading the league with 612 pass attempts … and 21 interceptions and 65 sacks taken. An underrated athlete, it would be interesting to see what he could do with better blocking and in a more-balanced offense – not that Seattle features either at the moment, either. Jaren Hall, currently on the practice squad, was tabbed to make a pair of starts as a rookie with Minnesota last year.

17. Denver Broncos

They’ve got a journeyman (Jarrett Stidham) and potential journeyman (Zach Wilson) behind rookie Bo Nix. Stidham has a grim reaper vibe, supplanting deposed veterans Derek Carr and Russell Wilson the past two years in Las Vegas and Denver, respectively, but wasn’t able to stake a long-term claim to either job. The No. 2 pick of the 2021 draft, after his abject failure with the Jets, Zach Wilson could be an intriguing reclamation project with Sean Payton but probably won’t get a meaningful opportunity here unless Nix gets hurt or goes completely off the rails.

18. Jacksonville Jaguars

As a rookie three years ago, Mac Jones was a Pro Bowler starting for a playoff team in New England. But a steady decline – amplified by the Patriots’ coaching turnover – led to a trade to his hometown Jags earlier this year. Now a backup to Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 draft pick in 2021 (14 spots ahead of Jones), it’s hard to know what Jones will bring to the table given how much he struggled for an offensively impaired Pats squad in 2023. The ability is there, just no guarantee that time and a change of address has repaired his game. Rookie John Rhys Plumlee is on the practice squad.

19. Houston Texans

Aside from Lawrence, Davis Mills has been roughly as good as any of the quarterbacks in the once-vaunted class of 2021 with an 82.9 passer rating and 26 starts – mostly for talent-deficient teams. However he did fall to third-string last season behind now-injured Case Keenum, who started twice in then-rookie C.J. Stroud’s stead. Rookie Kedon Slovis is on the practice squad.

20. Green Bay Packers

Gonna be at least another decade before they make the awkward decision to draft Jordan Love’s eventual successor in the first round. For now, GM Brian Gutekunst appears to have committed highway robbery after acquiring Malik Willis – once regarded by many as the best QB prospect in a thin 2022 draft – from Tennessee in August for a seventh-round pick. Seems like the Titans gave up prematurely on Willis, who quickly took to his new environment and used his formidable running style and high-velocity arm to play the most efficient football of his young career while winning both games Love missed earlier this season with a knee injury. Sean Clifford, a fifth-rounder a year ago, is on the practice squad.

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21. Minnesota Vikings

As they await injured first-rounder J.J. McCarthy’s presumed debut in 2025, the Vikes are rolling deep with journeymen, including and behind resuscitated starter Sam Darnold. Nick Mullens illustrated again last year – while playing in place of injured Cousins – that he can throw you into a game … and can throw you right out. He’s capable of passing for 400 yards and/or three INTs at the drop of a hat. Brett Rypien has more years in the league (6) than starts (4) but provides another fallback.

22. Buffalo Bills

Theoretically, they could survive a short-term injury to perennial MVP candidate Josh Allen. Mitch Trubisky has 59 NFL starts, including two in postseason with the Bears. He’s got solid physical tools, but decision-making isn’t always a strength. Yet since entering the backup phase of his career in 2021, Trubisky’s play has been even spottier. He got two starts last season for Pittsburgh but was benched in favor of Rudolph and later released. The Bills also have vet Mike White on the practice squad – and his performances have mostly veered toward the extremes since 2021, most of his playing time with the Jets.

23. San Francisco 49ers

Eighth-year veterans Joshua Dobbs and Brandon Allen are behind Brock Purdy in Silicon Valley. You’d have to think both are now better players given their current exposure to HC Kyle Shanahan – just look at what Darnold has blossomed into after a brief stint with the Niners last year. Dobbs and his freaky brain are more well known, yet Allen had played more in the NFL until Dobbs split 12 starts between Arizona and Minnesota in 2023, mostly with better-than-expected results. Rookie Tanner Mordecai is on the practice squad.

24. Cleveland Browns

They’d be higher on this list if Jameis Winston, the No. 1 pick of the 2015 draft and a man with a 5,000-yard season on his résumé, wasn’t taking over for injured Deshaun Watson. (And remember, this offense produced at a much higher level post-Watson in 2023.) But Cleveland still has a solid group in reserve. The ceiling seems fairly high for Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who appears to have a good volume of tangible and intangible traits and just needs opportunities to showcase and refine them. But, just in case, Cleveland signed Bailey Zappe off Kansas City’s practice squad Tuesday. He’s not going to intimidate defenses with his arm or legs, but he did win half of his eight starts with the Patriots in his first two seasons and has the makings of a dependable career backup.

25. Baltimore Ravens

No one’s going to replace two-time MVP Lamar Jackson and his signature skills. However history suggests he’s going to miss some games at some point. If so, Josh Johnson, 38, would get the call. He’s got vast experience across other teams, playbooks and leagues and did a very nice job in spot duty between the Ravens and Jets in 2021. However despite his age – like Flacco, he was drafted in 2008 – he doesn’t have all that many on-field snaps in the NFL, starting just nine games (4 in 2009) and completing fewer than 60% of his passes. Hard to foresee this offense doing much more than running through RB Derrick Henry if Jackson were to miss an extended period. Rookie Devin Leary is on the practice squad.

26. Chicago Bears

They’ve definitely taken an unorthodox approach. Rookie starter Caleb Williams’ six games now make him the most seasoned QB on the team, at least in terms of on-field NFL reps. Second-year man Tyson Bagent, who broke all kinds of passing records at Division II Shepherd University, is technically the old man here and did start four times as a rookie in 2023. But the Bears’ confidence in his ability and maturity was evident on “Hard Knocks” this summer as they made the deliberate choice to go with a young room, one that also includes outgoing undrafted rookie Austin Reed. Still, if Williams went down, it stands to reason GM Ryan Poles would quickly poach a veteran from another roster.

27. New Orleans Saints

Rookie Spencer Rattler and sophomore Jake Haener haven’t been able to show a whole lot during Carr’s current absence, but it’s hard to evaluate either given what a mess this offense is. Rattler’s pedigree as a high-profile passer in high school and college – and first quarterback drafted this year outside Round 1 – does create more intrigue around him. But if all else fails, the Saints can always go back to Taysom Hill, too.

28. Philadelphia Eagles

They don’t appear to have anyone who’s going to replicate Jalen Hurts’ ability to make plays with his legs – particularly near the goal line – if he becomes unavailable. Former Steelers first-round washout Kenny Pickett has the most experience with 26 NFL appearances yet has only managed 13 TD passes. Second-year man Tanner McKee has yet to take a regular-season snap, and practice squader Will Grier has never shown that he can translate his prodigious college numbers to the pro level.

29. Miami Dolphins

Trying to navigate HC Mike McDaniel’s offense is an inherently difficult task … and one Tua Tagovailoa’s understudies – Tim Boyle, Snoop Huntley and Skylar Thompson – have collectively failed to accomplish. All of Miami’s QBs have a passer rating south of 80.0 this season for a team that ranks last in scoring after posting the second-most points in 2023. But even with Tagovailoa on the way back, McDaniel and GM Chris Grier are still trying to remediate their depth, adding longtime backup C.J. Beathard to the practice squad this week.

30. Detroit Lions

Among starter Jared Goff’s many positive attributes is his durability. That’s important for the NFC leaders given backup Hendon Hooker has all of 11 regular-season snaps – in garbage time of Detroit’s Week 6 rout of Dallas – and practice squader Jake Fromm had three uninspiring appearances with the Giants in 2021.

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is mostly a function of unknown professional commodities. Kyle Trask, a second-round pick in 2021, has only had the opportunity to throw 10 passes while buried behind Tom Brady and, now, Baker Mayfield. Rookie Michael Pratt is on the practice squad.

32. Arizona Cardinals

Clayton Tune didn’t look great during opportunities to play last season during Kyler Murray’s recovery from a knee injury, but he did beat out more-experienced Ridder for the QB2 job here. Anthony Brown Jr. got a little bit of run in Baltimore two years ago when Jackson was hurt and has a skill set more similar to Murray’s than Tune does … but the dropoff to either is going to be significant.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.