NFL QB Situations – Part 1

Don’t forget that I’m still  waiting for all the nominations to roll in for the Greatest Seahawk Ever competition. Get your nominations in ASAP.

Free Agency is about to begin, which marks the beginning of the “football year” for the NFL. Sometime between now and the start of the 2012 season, the Seahawks have many holes to fill, and none of those holes are bigger than QB.

The QB market is one of many buyers and very few available players. So to truly get a feel for what the market looks like, I decided to go through the league, team by team, and examine every team’s QB situation one at a time. After working on this for a while, it’s clear that there’s too much information here to put into one post, so I’ve decided to break this up.

Below you’ll find a list of teams that wont be in the market for a starting QB. Sure, a bunch of them will be looking for a veteran backup with some starting experience, but that isn’t the same thing. I’m talking about teams that are looking for a franchise QB to lead their team.

Now obviously, there’s some room for debate here. I’ve read quite a few accounts that the Viking wouldn’t be afraid to grab an instant upgrade rather than waiting for Christian Ponder to fully develop. The problem with that is that there aren’t enough QBs to go around, and one of the desperate teams will likely outbid them should such a player become available.

Another variable here is Peyton Manning. There are a few teams on this list that would consider signing Peyton since he represents an upgrade over what they have, and because they think they have a chance to win a Super Bowl. Houston would be at the top of the list of such teams. While Matt Shaub is a very good and underrated player, he cannot seem to stay healthy. Perhaps the Texans swap in Manning and jettison Schaub in an attempt to “go for it.”

The reason why I decided to to separate out these teams into a separate list is because, if do sign Manning, then that means that another top QB will become likely become available. So while the names are different, the number of available QBs would remain the same, so it doesn’t really change our discussion.

I should also add that there are legitimate questions about quite a few of the players listed. I’m not trying to start a debate about what QBs are elite and which ones aren’t. This is just an attempt to determine what teams will and will not be in the market for a QB this offseason.

Here are the teams that I believe are set at QB before we even start this process:

Pittsburgh – Ben Roethlisberger

Baltimore – Joe Flacco

Cincinnati – Andy Dalton

New England – Tom Brady

San Diego – Philip Rivers

Oakland – Carson Palmer

Indianapolis – Andrew Luck**

Houston – Matt Schaub

Tennessee – Hasselbeck/Locker

Atlanta – Matt Ryan

New Orleans – Drew Brees*

Tampa Bay – Josh Freeman

Carolina – Cam Newton

Dallas – Tony Romo

NY Giants – Eli Manning

Philadelphia – Mike Vick

Green Bay – Aaron Rogers

Chicago – Jay Cutler

Minnesota – Christian Ponder

Detroit – Matt Stafford

San Francisco – Alex Smith*

St. Louis – Sam Brandford

*Player is a Free Agent, but is expected to be re-signed or franchised.

**We can all assume that this is going to happen.