Ranking Every NFL Team’s QB Situation Heading into 2022 Season | Bleacher Report

0 of 32

Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Here’s a news flash.

There is no position in football more important than quarterback.

I know. It’s a stunner.

Two years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Tom Brady and then promptly won the Super Bowl. Last year, the Los Angeles Rams traded for Matthew Stafford and then won Super Bowl LVI. The team they beat (the Cincinnati Bengals) drafted a young signal-caller named Joe Burrow the year before.

Most of the time, NFL teams will go as far as their quarterbacks take them.

It begs a question. Which squads are best positioned at the most important position? Which teams are in big trouble? And which ones enter the summer of 2022 mired in the gray area that is the in between?

Those are the questions this article will attempt to answer by combining past production, talent and future upside, with backups serving as a tiebreak of sorts, to rank all 32 quarterback corps from worst to first.

The top dogs shouldn’t surprise anyone. And frankly, neither should the league’s biggest mess.  

1 of 32

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Starter: Geno Smith

Backups: Drew Lock, Jacob Eason

It’s hard to say what’s worse for the Seattle Seahawks, the uncertainty at quarterback or the fact that both options are essentially equally awful.

In one corner, there’s Geno Smith, the 2013 second-round pick of the New York Jets who spent the last two seasons backing up Russell Wilson. Head coach Pete Carroll said that Smith’s knowledge of the team’s offense offers him a leg up in the battle to be the Week 1 starter.

“Geno really has the package nailed,” Carroll told reporters.

In the other corner, there’s Drew Lock, who started 21 games for the Broncos over three years before joining the Seahawks in the trade that landed Russell Wilson in Denver.


“He’s hanging with Geno throughout all of this,” Carroll said. “We’re not holding anything back.”

Smith is a noodle-armed passer who topped 200 passing yards once in three starts last year. Lock has a bigger arm but seemingly little control over where his passes go. In 2020, he tied for the NFL lead with 15 interceptions.

Frankly, this is a competition in which there is no winner—except maybe Seattle’s opponents.

2 of 32

Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Starter: Sam Darnold

Backups: Matt Corral, P.J. Walker

Remember when Sam Darnold was supposed to be good?

Yeah, fewer and fewer people do.

After three up-and-down seasons with the New York Jets, Darnold was traded to the Carolina Panthers last year. Unfortunately, his first season in Charlotte looked like his first three in New York. He completed 59.9 percent of his passes for 2,527 yards and nine touchdowns against 13 interceptions over 12 games (11 starts).

However, despite those struggles, Darnold told reporters at OTAs last week that he still thinks he can become one of the league’s best quarterbacks.

“As long as I know what we’re doing, what the defense is doing, I’m confident I can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” Darnold said.

Given that Darnold has completed 60 percent of his passes just once in four years with one 3,000-yard season and has barely more touchdowns (54) than interceptions (52) and a 17-32 record as a starter, it’s understandable if you…