• atlanta falcons Receives the most obvious upgrade. landing kirk cousins This should be considered the biggest improvement at quarterback for any team this offseason.
• 2024 Russell Wilson It is an improvement of pittsburgh steelers: Wilson is not the same player he once was, but there is a clear difference between what he offers and what he offers. kenny pickett In the last two years.
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The NFL offseason is in full swing, with players changing teams through trades and trades. free agent, the most important part of each team, the quarterback, is also on the move, causing some changes in the landscape within the league. While some teams seem to have found their new quarterback of the future, others are still looking. This is the position of a team in transition.
atlanta falcons
While Cousins' upgrade will certainly come at a cost ($45 million per year over four years) and he will be returning from an Achilles injury at age 36, it is a substantial upgrade for a team that has been a top-performing team. is. In each of the past three NFL drafts, 10 skill position players were selected. One of the biggest questions about Atlanta's all-time quarterbacks is marcus mariota, Desmond Ridder or Taylor Heinicke, This was part of the league's worst accuracy issues, plaguing whether star receiving options could provide consistently.
Catchable pass rate and QB ranking | 2022 and beyond. Minutes. 150 attempts
Not only does Cousins bring improved accuracy, but his overall grade and performance over the past three seasons is the sixth-highest wins over replacement, sixth-highest passing grade (88.3), and offensive performance at the position. tied for 7th place (90.4). Barring any setbacks, Cousins appears to be on track to start the 2024 season, and Falcons fans should be excited about a significant upgrade to the offense in 2024 and beyond.
pittsburgh steelers
How much of an improvement Wilson's 2013 version is is debatable kenny pickett, but it's still an improvement. Pickett has had a long streak of solid quarterback play and error-free football early in his NFL career, but he has struggled to generate much offense on a team with more than capable playmakers at the wide receiver, tight end, and running back positions. I couldn't do it.
Pickett has over 800 dropbacks in the NFL, but only 13 passing touchdowns. He averaged 45 passing touchdowns over the past two years for a quarterback who had at least 800 dropbacks in the regular season. Wilson is slightly below his average over the past two seasons (42), but still has nearly 30 more passing touchdowns than the quarterback. Pickett also drops back more than 200 times.
Again, this is not the same Russell Wilson He won a Super Bowl a few years ago, but had the lowest three-season passing grades of his career over the past three years with Seattle and Denver. But Wilson brings a big-play advantage that Pickett didn't have, and that could be the difference in producing more wins in close games, something the Steelers will look to do as they rebuild their system. I think that is required. Pickett entered the 2022 season with a 4.3% walk rate, a career high. Wilson has never dropped below 4.4% in 12 seasons in the NFL, averaging 6.5%, including 5.6% last season. Wilson is more susceptible to turnovers than Pickett, but the Steelers are clearly willing to accept that tradeoff for bigger plays and potential touchdowns.
new england patriots
New England decides to move on from 2021 first-round pick mac jones He lost his starting job in late 2023 and was traded to Jacksonville this offseason after failing to improve on his strong rookie season in which he led all rookies in passing grade (78.5 points).
Unfortunately, Jones declined at that point in each of the next two seasons, ultimately leading the team to advance to the fourth round in 2022. bailey zappe We ended the year, and it wasn't all that great. Jones and Zappe both earned PFF passing grades in the low 50s in 2023, ranking them 40th and 41st, respectively, out of 41 quarterbacks who qualified in 2023. Jones also had the league's worst turnover rate (5.8%), while Zappe tied for the league's worst. 7th worst mark (4.0%).
The Patriots have the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft, and are certainly in position to draft a quarterback. But for now, the team has brought in Brissett, a veteran journeyman who could fill that gap. Brissett has played the best football of his career over the past three years while serving as a stand-in quarterback at Miami, Cleveland and Washington. Among the 59 quarterbacks with at least 250 dropbacks since 2021, Brissett ranks 18th in passing grade (78.4), 24th in turnover value play percentage (3.1%), and air yards completion percentage. It has the third highest score (60.8%). ) about his attempts.
If Brissett has to play as the Patriots' starter this season, or until a potential rookie quarterback is ready, he will be an upgrade over what New England had last season. It should be considered that
las vegas raiders
The Raiders are reshaping their roster, especially on offense. jimmy garoppolo and Hunter Renfroe were released; Josh Jacobs signed elsewhere. With the No. 13 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Las Vegas may not have a chance to land a top quarterback, but it's not impossible if Gardner Minshew or Aidan O'Connell are the starting quarterback in 2024. There is a possibility that you will be pushed to the top.
It appears Minshew was brought in to compete with the second-year quarterback. O'Connellstarted 10 games last season and played in 11 games, earning a 64.6 passing grade and throwing for 2,218 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions.Minshew appeared in 16 games. indianapolis colts He started 13 of those games in 2023, posting a 60.6 passing grade, throwing for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Given their comparable numbers, it should be considered a true position battle heading into camp, but it's hard to imagine either player being Las Vegas' future quarterback.
If one of them wins the starting job and then struggles at all, it wouldn't be surprising for the other to come in and start the rest of the way. As a result, the Raiders' quarterback situation can only be considered “fluid” at this point, and there is a big question mark over their future.
denver broncos
Sean Payton and the Broncos were clearly unhappy with what they got Russell Wilson Over the past two seasons, they took on a historic $85 million dead cap hit by releasing him. Even considering Wilson's recent decline in play, the team's current quarterback Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucciThere's still plenty of time to add to the quarterback room, and you have to believe it will happen, but for now, this should be seen as a clear downgrade from the play the Broncos had in 2023.
Stidham's career-high passing grade (62.8 points) came in 2022 with the Raiders, when he played in just three games and threw for 656 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions. DiNucci, on the other hand, has only had one NFL season in 2020, and in two games he posted a very poor passing grade of 25.5. DiNucci spent 2023 in the XFL, posting a 74.7 passing grade, throwing for 2,954 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. DiNucci was the clear leader in turnover-worthy plays (20) in the XFL, which is a major red flag for him returning to the NFL.
The best-case scenario for the Broncos right now might be to consider drafting a quarterback, which would be complicated at No. 12 overall, but as the article suggests, there's a chance to move up the rankings. Maybe. Trevor Sikkema's latest mock draft.
minnesota vikings
kirk cousins He is officially headed to Atlanta, leaving the Vikings with a huge hole at the quarterback position. Like the Raiders and Broncos, the Vikings have a pick just outside the top 10 in this year's draft, ahead of both teams, so they can take their remaining quarterback (JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix). You might get your first chance to. . That would give us more optimism about the Vikings' quarterback situation. So far, we've seen what Darnold and Mullens offer in the NFL, and it's clearly a downgrade from Cousins.
Darnold has never had a passing grade higher than 67.0 in a season and has never ranked among the 25 highest-rated quarterbacks if he played on at least 20% of his team's dropbacks. Similarly, Mullens hasn't cracked the top 25 in qualifying snaps, which speaks to what the ceiling will be if the Vikings enter this year with either of them as their projected starters.
Given the weapons on offense, it would be a wasted opportunity not to acquire another quarterback, whether through the draft or a trade, but for now, this is a clear downgrade compared to 2023 and the Cousins era. It is.
