NFL Quarterback competitions: Who will start Week 1?

Week 1 of the NFL regular season is rapidly approaching and teams around the league have their final 53 man roster set as of Tuesday afternoon. While the rosters have been finalized, some quarterback competitions are still up in the air.

We are just over a week away from kicking off the new season, and some teams still haven’t announced their starting quarterbacks for the opening weekend of the regular season. There were a handful of teams that had open competitions at the quarterback position coming into the preseason. Here is how they played out over the last few weeks.

Atlanta Falcons

The post Matt Ryan era doesn’t look to be too promising in the Peach State. Ryan was the Falcons starter for the last decade, and his departure to Indianapolis has left a void in the Atlanta offense that will be almost impossible to fill, at least this year.

Marcus Mariota and Falcons rookie Desmond Ridder were in a bit of a battle just because of the uncertainty at the position after Matty Ice’s change of scenery.

Mariota has been a starter in the NFL, but has thrown just 30 passes over the last two season serving as Derek Carr’s back up Las Vegas. Ridder is a rookie who was taken in with the 74th pick of this year’s draft. He went 34/56 with for 431 yards, three TDs and two INTs.

The Falcons have yet to officially name a starter, and even though Ridder had decent numbers in preseason, it’s doubtful Atlanta is ready to hand the keys to the car to the third round pick.

Carolina Panthers

Matt Rhule and the rest of the Panthers organization maintained there would be an open quarterback competition between Sam Darnold and offseason acquisition Baker Mayfield. Darnold failed to impress last season, and the Panthers even tried bringing Cam Newton back to Charlotte.

Mayfield led the Browns to the playoffs last year despite battling injury most of the season. Before the last week of the preseason Mayfield was named the official Week 1 starter.

Both quarterbacks played two of the three preseason games. Mayfield went 13/22 for 134 yards and two TDs while Darnold went 7/14 for 65 yards and a touchdown during the preseason.

Cleveland Browns

The Browns have without a question the messiest quarterback situation of any team in the league. They took a chance on Deshaun Watson knowing full well that he could be suspended for a lengthy amount of time. In the end the NFL handed him an 11 game suspension after being accused of sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions in Houston.

That leaves Kevin Stefanski with Jacoby Brissett, Joshua Dobbs and Josh Rosen at the quarterback position until Watson makes his return. Brissett has the most experience as a starter. He was the Colts QB1 for two years before being shipped off to Miami where he filled in for Tua Tagovailoa for a few games last season.

Josh Rosen was as starter his rookie season in Arizona, but was shipped away the year after, and has never regained a starting role since. He threw 11 passes last year with the Falcons, two of them were completed and another two were intercepted.

Joshua Dobbs was a back up in Pittsburgh for a couple years, but never got a chance to shine with Big Ben under center at Heinze Field.

It was Dobbs who had the best showing in preseason, although he did see the most action as well. He went 35/53 for 338 yards and two TDs. Rosen was 17/33 for 186 yards with no TDs or INTs, and Brissett went 13/23 for 109 and one INT.

The Browns have yet to make a decision on who their starter will be Week 1, and may not make the announcement until game day.

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans knew their QB situation was a stick one coming into the preseason, and didn’t make many moves to solve their signal caller problems.

Davis Mills was a rookie thrown into the fire last year on a team that was already expected to finish at the bottom of the AFC. Mills handled himself well in a season that could have been much worse. He played in 11 games, going 2-9 as a rookie, but he did complete 66.8% of his passes for 2,664 yards, 16 TDs and 11 INTs.

Houston is expected to keep Mills in at QB1, but Kyle Allen went 11/15 for 107 yards and a TD in the preseason. Allen spent time as the Panthers starter in 2019, but was a back in Washington the last two years.

Love Smith has yet to announce the Week 1 starter, but don’t be surprised if the Texans stick with their resilient second year man.

New York Jets

There really wouldn’t be a QB competition in New York if the Jets first round draft pick from last year didn’t get injured in the first quarter of the preseason. Zach Wilson went down with a knee injury, and isn’t expected to recover by Week 1 of the regular season, so that means Joe Flacco will step in as the Jets starter.

Flacco is a former Super Bowl winner that is in the twilight of his career, but as he showed last year, he still has some good football still in the tank. The only controversy that could arise is if Flacco leads the Jets to a couple of wins before Wilson returns. In that case Robert Saleh would have a tough choice as to who he puts under center the rest of the season.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers are looking for an incumbent after Big Ben retired at the end of last season. It looks like they might have their long term solution sorted with rookie Kenny Pickett who looked fantastic in preseason. But the short term solution seems a bit more difficult for coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers.

If Pittsburgh is looking to avoid throwing their rookie to the wolves, then Mitch Trubisky makes the most sense to start Week 1. He was a starter for Chicago in the early parts of his career, but after four years without much to show he shipped out to Buffalo, where he served as Josh Allen’s back up.

Kenny Pickett had a fantastic showing this preseason going 29/36 for 261 yards and three TDs in his three exhibition games. Had Trubisky struggled in the preseason, the decision might be even tougher for Tomlin, but the former Bear went 24/34 for 283 yards and two TDs.

There is no word out of the Steel City just yet, but Trubisky told reporters he expects to be the Week 1 starter once the second weekend of September rolls around. Pickett will keep the pressure on Trubisky as a home town kid from the University of Pitt.

Seattle Seahawks

Just like the Atlanta Hawks, the Seattle Seahawks are in a period of quarterback abyss after the departure of Russell Wilson. Wilson led the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl in franchise history back in 2014, and now leaves them scrambling at the QB position.

Geno Smith came in relief of Wilson last year when Seattle’s former face of the franchise went down with a broken finger. Smith went 1-3 in his time as a starter, only beating the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.

He and Drew Lock are the options Pete Carroll has to juggle coming into this season. Lock came to Seattle in the Russell Wilson trade after struggling to hold on to his starting role in Denver.

Smith played in all three preseason games, going 23/39 for 256 yards, but didn’t throw a TD or INT. Lock played in two games going 24/39 for 273 yards, while throwing for three TDs and three INTs.

Smith seemed the favorite throughout the preseason, but when Lock was diagnosed with COVID it just solidified Smith’s status as the starter. Pete Carroll named Smith the Week 1 starter after the Seahawks final preseason game.