The most important position in the NFL is quarterback. Having a good one means a clear path to contention each fall. Having a shaky one means trying to move heaven and earth to get someone better.
Each spring, the gravity between “have” and “need” sets a carousel of rookie and veteran passers spinning. Teams with win-now roster mortgage draft picks in search of their missing piece behind center. Flawed prospects become top 10 picks as million-dollar lottery tickets. Journeymen add a new section to their Wikipedia pages as their new fanbases spin reasons why their last few stops failed to pan out.
This year, roughly a dozen teams will go into 2022 knowing with absolute certainty who their starting quarterback will be. A handful more have entrenched starters unlikely to leave town, but still have at least a minuscule chance to be moved. Then there are teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, and Washington Commanders, all of whom are looking at their depth charts before cringing and sucking air over their teeth.
So let’s break this down team by team and figure out who’ll be starting where in 2022. And, since I ran down the list and came up with a very boring lineup of incumbents standing still, we’ll roll with a “most likely scenario” candidate and one longshot who probably won’t be the guy, but maybe still could because the world is a hellscape and nothing is unpredictable at this point.