Having a competent starter under center is more important than ever in the modern NFL, with quarterback play often determining the overall course of a team’s season.
Each new calendar year offers a varied selection of signal callers looking to solidify themselves among the league’s best, and the upcoming season has no shortage of scintillating storylines surrounding the sport’s most important position.
With training camp and preseason set to commence in the coming weeks, we take a look at ten NFL quarterbacks with the most to prove in 2023…
Baker Mayfield
The number one overall pick by the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 NFL Draft, Baker Mayfield had sky-high expectations coming into the league after winning the Heisman Trophy during a captivating and controversial career at Oklahoma.
Despite beginning the 2018 season as the backup to Tyrod Taylor, Mayfield ended his first pro campaign with an NFL rookie record 27 passing touchdowns and totaled 3,725 passing yards in his thirteen starts for the Browns.
Following a turbulent next few years in Cleveland, Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers during the 2022 offseason for a future fifth round pick in the wake of the Browns shocking acquisition of quarterback Deshaun Watson.
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On a new team and in a new scheme, the former Sooner star struggled to recapture his old Heisman form. Mayfield floundered to a 1-6 record as a starter in Carolina and was hampered heavily by injuries and ineffectiveness–eventually being benched in favor of P.J. Walker and Sam Darnold.
After a request to be released by the Panthers was granted, Mayfield was claimed off of waivers by the Los Angeles Rams and looked surprisingly competent in his four starts in Hollywood to end 2022.
His positive late-season production led to yet another opportunity for the well-traveled signal caller this offseason, eventually signing in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers after Tom Brady’s retirement.
Currently locked in a questionable quarterback competition against 2021 second-round pick Kyle Trask for the Bucs starting gig, Mayfield is likely on his last opportunity to prove he is a capable NFL starter.
Geno Smith
The New York Jets selected Geno Smith in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft after a standout collegiate career at West Virginia, thinking they had found their next franchise quarterback.
Unfortunately, Smith had trouble adjusting to the pro game after being thrust into the starting role as a rather raw rookie–throwing 21 interceptions while accounting for just 18 total touchdowns in sixteen starts.
Injuries and poor performance were major factors in Smith’s eventual departure from the Jets, who settled into a backup role with the neighboring Giants before serving as a #2 for the Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks.
After deciding to move on from Russell Wilson in 2022, the Seahawks shockingly selected Smith as their starter and he responded with an unexpectedly unbelievable showing.
The former career journeyman started all seventeen games for Seattle last season, steering the upstart Seahawks to a 9-8 record and playoff appearance while being voted to the Pro Bowl after leading the league in completion percentage.
Seattle rewarded the Comeback Player Of The Year with a three year contract extension this offseason but many still question if the veteran passer can replicate his sparkling 2022 success or if last season was merely a fluke.
Jordan Love
Stepping in for a future Hall of Famer is an unenviable task, but it’s the exact situation facing new Packers starter Jordan Love–as the contentious 2020 first round pick replaces long-time Green Bay great Aaron Rodgers, now with the New York Jets.
Love spent three seasons learning behind one of the best to ever do it, but will now get his chance to prove himself as a full-time starter in the NFL.
Since his unceremonious selection, Love has started just one contest–appearing in ten games over the last three seasons, with the former Utah State star totaling 606 yards passing and throwing 3 touchdowns to 3 interceptions.
Though obviously lacking in-game experience, the Packers’ front office has continued to speak confidently about Love’s development over his time in Green Bay, and based on that confidence, moved to secure their potential franchise quarterback through the 2024 season with a one year contract extension this summer.
Love’s new pact gives the Packers an additional year of evaluation before any potential franchise tag talk comes into play, after Green Bay spent much of this year’s NFL Draft loading up on pass catchers for the first year starter to grow around, selecting three wide receivers and two tight ends in total.
Love will be the face of a new-look Packers’ offense in 2023 and beyond, becoming just the third Week 1 starting quarterback in Green Bay since 1992.
Tua Tagovailoa
Former Alabama standout Tua Tagovailoa was widely projected to be selected first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft until a season-ending hip injury led to LSU quarterback and 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow supplanting him as the draft’s top prospect.
Despite durability concerns, the Miami Dolphins chose the decorated passer with the fifth overall pick as Tagovailoa became the first left-handed quarterback to be drafted by an NFL team since Tim Tebow in 2010.
Sadly the injury bug followed the sensational Samoan signal caller to the pro ranks, as Tagovailoa has dealt with an accosting assortment of aches and ailments, causing him to miss multiple games in each of his first three seasons.
When healthy, Tagovailoa is one of the league’s most promising young quarterbacks and showed as much in 2022, putting together his best statistical season yet–compiling 3,548 yards passing with 25 touchdowns to just 8 interceptions over thirteen starts and leading Miami to its first postseason berth since 2016.
Unfortunately, Tagovailoa missed the end of the season slate including the playoff game due to concussion issues, leading to many rumblings this offseason about the obviously talented but oft-injured players’ viability as a full-time starting quarterback in the NFL.
If Tagovailoa can just prove he can stay upright and available for a full season in 2023, the Dolphins may have found one of the brightest young stars at the game’s most important position.
Russell Wilson
After nine Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl win over ten stellar seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, Russell Wilson was very recently considered one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks.
But following an absolute nightmare first season with the Denver Broncos in which Wilson had career lows in touchdowns and completion percentage, while absorbing a league-leading 55 sacks in his fifteen starts–the former third-round selection must prove he can still play the position effectively in 2023.
Before last year’s debacle, Wilson was the model of consistency–having put together an extremely impressive ten straight seasons of at least 3,100 yards and 20 touchdowns passing.
With new head coach Sean Payton calling the plays, Wilson will look to reverse the negative narratives that arose from last season’s subpar showing and re-affirm his status as one of the NFL’s all-time great quarterbacks.
Desmond Ridder
A third-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in last year’s NFL draft, Desmond Ridder enters 2023 as the Falcons starting quarterback after spending most of last year backing up Marcus Mariota.
The former University of Cincinnati standout started the final four games of last season for Atlanta, going 2-2 as a starter while throwing for 708 yards with 2 touchdowns to zero interceptions.
Encouraged by positive strides in a small sample size, Ridder will begin the 2023 campaign as the Falcons’ starter, hoping to prove that he belongs in the NFL.
Veteran backup Taylor Heinicke was brought in as a mentor and contingency plan, but Ridder will be given every chance to show he has what it takes to be a starting quarterback at the highest level.
With a plethora of young talent flanking Ridder at the skill positions, the Falcons have done a fantastic job assembling a solid core around their second year signal caller and could be one of the surprises of next season should their quarterback simply perform up to par.
Justin Fields
One of the most dynamic athletes playing quarterback in the NFL today, Justin Fields was a first round selection of the Chicago Bears in the 2021 Draft after a decorated career at Ohio State.
After starting just ten games in a disappointing rookie season, Fields showed dramatic improvement in year two despite the Bears going an abysmal 3–14 and finishing as the worst team in football.
In a far less than ideal situation, Fields amassed 2,242 yards passing with 17 touchdowns to 11 interceptions while rushing for another 1,143 yards and 8 touchdowns in fifteen starts for Chicago in 2022.
Though he completed less than sixty percent of his pass attempts, Fields became just the third quarterback in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season, joining Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson as the only players to accomplish the feat.
With upgraded weapons at the skill spots as well as major improvements to the protection along the offensive line, most expect Fields to dramatically improve as a passer and prove to be one of the NFL’s most lethal dual-threats at the quarterback position in 2023.
Mac Jones
The New England Patriots selected Mac Jones with the fifteenth overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, tabbing the Alabama field general to be their next franchise quarterback.
After beating out Cam Newton for New England’s starting job and making the Pro Bowl as a rookie, Jones fell back down to Earth hard in his second NFL season, regressing in nearly every statistical category across the board and even losing playing time to rookie fourth-round pick Bailey Zappe at points during the season.
Jones sophomore slump can largely be attributed to the Patriots unbelievably utilizing two defensive minded coaches as the teams’ co-offensive coordinators in 2022.
With offensive guru Bill O’Brien now calling the plays in New England, Jones has no more excuses in his bid to prove he can be a capable starting quarterback in the NFL–it’s now or never for the former first rounder.
Deshaun Watson
Now known more for his off the field activities than his on-field accomplishments, Deshaun Watson may have the most to prove of any NFL quarterback, especially if you consider the price tag.
Despite his well-documented and fiercely debated off-field exploits, the Cleveland Browns signed the controversial QB to a fully-guaranteed contract extension worth $230 million, the most guaranteed money ever in an NFL contract.
Watson served an eleven game suspension to start last season after sitting out the entire season prior, but in 2020 led the entire NFL in passing with 4,823 yards through the air.
In the six games Watson started last season, Cleveland went 3-3 as the former Pro Bowler struggled to shake off the rust after such a long layoff.
Watson completed just under sixty percent of his passes for 1,102 yards with 7 touchdowns to 5 interceptions, averaging a measly 184 yards passing per game–by far the lowest of his career.
With the most guaranteed money in the NFL by a mile, the pressure is on Watson to prove he is remotely worthy of such a lofty sum.
While only MVP-level play would curtail all conversations, the much-maligned passer could reasonably approach similar numbers to his previous seasons in 2023, now with a full offseason in the Browns’ system and a bevy of talented targets on Cleveland’s underrated offensive attack.
Sam Howell
Once thought of as a potential first round selection, Sam Howell fell to the Washington Commanders in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft after a stellar career at North Carolina.
After spending most of his first season as the third quarterback on the depth chart behind veterans Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke in Washington, the rookie got the nod for the Commanders final contest of 2022 and took advantage of his opportunity.
In an impressive Week 18 win over the rival Dallas Cowboys, Howell completed 11 of 19 passes for 169 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception through the air, while adding 35 yards and another score on the ground.
In a miniscule one-game sample, Howell showed flashes of elite potential as both a passer and runner, displaying fantastic wiggle and arm talent as well as mostly sound decision making.
Former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is now calling the shots in the nation’s capital, and should get the most out of the Commanders’ new starter under center.
Boasting a deep group of dynamic skill players, Washington has the talent and targets for Howell to prove himself as one of the next rising stars at quarterback in the NFL this season.
